Bank of Japan tweaks ultraloose monetary policy in bid for flexibility
The BOJ announced a rare set of monetary policy changes Tuesday, outlining a more flexible blueprint designed to let long-term interest rates “move upward and downward”.
Japan's commercial lenders lobby BOJ to stop buying corporate bonds at negative rates
Commercial lenders are privately complaining to the central bank about its purchases of corporate bonds at negative interest rates and are asking it to stop the practice, according to people familiar with the matter. The trigger for the grievances is that the Bank of Japan ...
Household assets in Japan hit record-high ¥1.83 quadrillion at end of 2017 fiscal year
Financial assets held by households stood at a record ¥1.83 quadrillion ($17 trillion) at the end of March, climbing 2.5 percent from a year earlier thanks to a rise in share prices, the Bank of Japan said Wednesday. The figure marked a record-high on a ...
Japan's Mizuho loses Saudi bond role in ongoing Gulf rift with Qatar
Japan's Mizuho Securities has lost a bond mandate for Saudi Arabia, on top of another for Qatar, banking sources said, highlighting how international banks have been caught up in Qatar's ongoing dispute with its neighbours. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, last ...
With Kuroda staying at the BOJ, Japanese firms rush to issue long debt
Japanese companies are selling superlong bonds amid expectations that Haruhiko Kuroda's reappointment as central bank governor will prolong easy monetary policy, even as increases in overseas yields put pressure on domestic market rates to rise. Less than a week after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nominated ...
Moment of truth for the Bank of Japan
The BOJ continues to provide significant stimulus to the economy, but with inflation still well below target the central bank finds itself between a rock and a hard place.
Despite jumpy market, Bank of Japan watchers don't expect a policy change anytime soon
Economists who follow the Bank of Japan aren't buying the idea that the central bank is nearing the point where it will begin to normalize its ultraloose monetary policy. Slightly more than half of those surveyed said they saw no chance of any change to ...
China is adding to bond investors' jitters as traders brace for what they fear could be the end of a three-decade bull market. Senior government officials in Beijing reviewing the nation's foreign-exchange holdings have recommended slowing or halting purchases of U.S. Treasurys, people familiar with ...
The Bank of Japan reported Tuesday a net income of ¥550.2 billion for April-September, in a turnaround from a net loss a year earlier. The net profit for the fiscal 2017 first half is attributable to the yen's easing against the dollar and other currencies, ...
Cash levels pile up as investors continue to wait-and-see
Investors' wait-and-see approach this year is leading to a growing problem. Cash. Having sold a record amount of overseas bonds in April, as well as domestic debt, Japanese investors have mostly held off reinvesting the proceeds. Excess reserves at the Bank of Japan from the ...
Political risk scares away Japanese investors in French bonds
Japanese investors, traditionally among France’s most loyal lenders, are not yet convinced that French political risks have faded and are staying away from buying the country’s bonds.
Le Pen fears prompt Japanese to dump record amount of French bonds ahead of election
Japanese investors dumped a record amount of French bonds in February, rattled by the rising popularity of far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the upcoming presidential election, data from the Ministry of Finance showed Monday. Japanese investors, who were major foreign buyers of French debt ...
