Bank of Japan policy board member Noguchi:
- Biggest focus is whether wage hike momentum will be maintained or not
- Raising of YCC allowance band does not signify a tightening of monetary policy
- If central banks hold rate hikes and inflation comes down, the risk of hard landing will be reduced
- Japan's economy recovering gradually
- When inflation expectations are in a stage of rising, some flexibility is needed to continue easy policy under YCC
- Chinese economy facing risk of deflation or 'Japanisation'
- Need to pay close attention to fiscal, monetary policy response to low inflation by Chinese authorities from now on
- There are signs of upward price pressures coming down
- BOJ's near-term mission is to realise a situation where wage growth does not fall short of inflation as soon as possible through persistent monetary easing
- The trend of passing on costs for raw materials is widely continuing
- Japan needs to shake off the 'zero norm' of prices and wages in order for nominal wage increase to exceed 2% as a trend
- 3% nominal wage growth would correspond with 2％ inflation target
USD/JPY is barely moving. Waiting on the US CPI tonight is the theme for the day today.
