Via a Goldman Sachs note today, analysts at the bank were previously forecasting an April rate hike but have brought that forward to this week's meeting.
Goldman Sachs citing:
- stronger-than-expected wage rises at the annual shunto negotiations
- multiple Japanese news reports of an exit from negative rates at the BOJ’s March meeting
- “The BOJ has not sent any signal denying the news so far”
- “Together, these developments imply that the BOJ probably no longer needs more data for the policy change, nor to wait to justify the policy change with the quarterly Economic Outlook report in April.”
