The Bank of Japan monetary policy meeting has concluded

BOJ keeps monetary policy steady

  • maintains short-term interest rate target at -0.1 pct
  • maintains 10-year JGB yield target around zero pct
  • Leaves unchanged its pledge to buy JGBs so that its holdings increase at annual pace of around 80 trln yen

BOJ's median real GDP forecasts boosted ... as was widely tipped

  • for fiscal 2017/18 at +1.9 pct vs +1.8 pct projected in July
  • for fiscal 2018/19 at +1.4 pct vs +1.4 pct projected in July
  • for fiscal 2019/20 at +0.7 pct vs +0.7 pct projected in July

Inflation forecasts cut, also widely expected:

  • Core CPI expected +0.8 pct in fy2017/18 vs +1.1 pct projected in July
  • Core CPI expected +1.4 pct in fy2018/19 vs +1.5 pct projected in July
  • Core CPI expected +1.8 pct in fy2019/20 vs +1.8 pct projected in July

Bank of Japan quarterly report on risks:

  • Risks to economy roughly balanced
  • Downside risks to prices are large
  • Household inflation expectations pose both upside, downside risks to prices
  • Still uncertainty about movements in overseas economies
  • Momentum towards 2 pct price target is intact but still lacks strength

Board member Kataoka opposed decision on yield curve control (want to target 15 year yields, less than 0.2%)

  • BOJ decision on yield curve control made by 8-1 vote

BOJ quarterly report

  • Japan economy expanding moderately, likely to keep doing so
  • Inflation expectations remain on weak note
  • Consumer inflation remains weak with gains small when excluding effect of energy price moves
  • Consumer inflation likely to accelerate towards 2 pct reflecting improvement in output gap, medium to long term inflation expectations
  • Economy sustaining momentum for inflation to accelerate to 2 pct
  • There are signs long term inflation expectations are bottoming out and heightening as a trend

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If there is anything surprising in those main points above I'd be ... surprised. USD/JPY popped a few points and is up 10 or so tics as I update.

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Full Statement is here

And the Outlook for Economic Activity and Prices (October 2017, The Bank's View) is here