From the Wall Street Journal (is often gated, so if you’re unable to access the article try a search of Google news using the headline): Bank of Japan Expands Loan Programs; Leaves Main Policy Stance Unchanged

  • BOJ left unchanged its main policy program
  • Maintained its optimistic view of the economy

Extended and enlarged the two lending programs, which were set to expire at the end of March:

  • Both offer cheap loans to commercial banks
  • One of the programs aims to channel money into sectors of the economy BOJ officials believe have high growth potential, such as health care and tourism
  • The BOJ extended the program’s expiry by one year, and doubled its size by to ¥7 trillion ($68 billion)
  • The fund was already near its initial ¥3.5 trillion ceiling
  • The other program rewards banks that have increased their outstanding loans, by allowing them to refinance new loans with cheap cash from the central bank
  • The BOJ, which has so far offered ¥5 trillion through this program, pushed back the expiry date of this program by one year and the BOJ added it will lend twice as much as the net increase in banks’ outstanding loans

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There is more on this from Fast FT (gated)

The significance (of extending and expanding these loan programs) might not be the details, but merely that the BoJ has just proven it’s willing to amend its policy to help the economy

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Here is an ungated take on it:

In a broad sense, the Bank of Japan held the course, just as economists had expected:
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But there was some news at least: The BOJ board also said it would extend by a year two programs that offer to banks cheap loans as a way to juice overall lending and certain key sectors of the economy.
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This may seem like a minor move, but for the markets, this was huge. Huge!
After tipping higher for about a minute, the yen lurched downward with the dollar climbing from ¥101.98 up to ¥102.35.
Stocks also went nuts, with the Nikkei Average doubling its gain to trade 1.9% higher.