"The BoJ ... takes out our award for the most unpredictable central bank of 2022"

I somehow missed this, doing a catch-up now.

Good for a giggle (because its true!)

NAB on the Bank of Japan:

• the expansion of the tolerance band around the YCC target to +/-0.5% from +/-0.25%, something that Governor Kuroda has been telling anyone who would listen in recent months was not under consideration, since it would, he said, be tantamount to a rate rise.
• Last night he told us, ‘The move is not a rate hike’.
• The BoJ thus takes out our award for the most unpredictable central bank of 2022.

And, implications:

• the expansion of the tolerance band around the YCC target to +/-0.5% from +/-0.25% ... whatever the BoJ (and government) will have us want to believe, (has) been interpreted as putting the writing on the wall for a policy shift next year almost regardless of the 2023 wage round. It is also seen as signifying a formal end to tolerance/desirability of Yen weakness.

I posted earlier on another factor that's going to drive yen higher in 2023:

• repatriation flow out of non-yen FX and into yen (i.e yen buying). Yen strength should be the result in the coming months, there's a lot to come home!