BOJ governor Kuroda with his press conference post-BOJ meeting - 23 January 2018
- BOJ member Kataoka dissented to forecast that inflation would reach 2% by 2019/20
- Will adjust policy as needed to maintain momentum towards 2% price target
- Sees downside risks to prices as larger
- Even though economy growing, prices are still weak
- BOJ not in a situation to consider exit from QQE
- Still some distance to meeting inflation target
- Need to maintain powerful monetary easing policy
- Have not observed excessive activity in the stock market
- Sees no need to change ETF purchases for now
- Will make appropriate judgement in ETF purchases in the future - taking into account the economy and prices at that time
- Not at a point to consider policy exit
Bolding what I feel is relevant. The comment about prices having a larger downside risk in essence should take away the positive spin on the initial response to the BOJ announcement earlier.
USD/JPY spiking a bit from 110.80 to 110.92. EUR/JPY meanwhile is back above 136.00.
The last one basically throws away all those that hoped that the recent "taper" in debt purchases meant a signal to change monetary policy.
USD/JPY now at session highs to 111.05.
