After much fanfare and anxiety, the Bank of japan announced its latest monetary policy decision, leaving its benchmark interest rate at -0.10% while refraining from adding to its existing quantitative and qualitative easing program. The new steps undertaken by Japan’s Central Bank include its decision to make yield curve control the central yardstick of its new structure, eliminating the maturity range for bond purchases and abandoning the target to expand the monetary base by 80 trillion Yen annually. Furthermore, the BoJ stated that it would resort to buying 10-year JGBs to enable the yield to float around zero percent. Following the outcome, economists now expect the bank to not just target asset purchases, but also keep an eye on bond yields, allowing greater flexibility with regards to the remaining tools available. In response to the decision, EURJPY rallied to the highest point since September 16th before pulling back from intraday highs.
