Bank of Japan Keeps Rates Steady, Paves the Way for April Hike Amidst Market Disappointment
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JPY: Ueda disappoints markets, but April hike on the table
The Bank of Japan kept rates unchanged today as widely expected, but disappointed market hawkish expectations. The Bank kept its dovish guidance unchanged (“take additional monetary easing steps without hesitation if needed") which forced markets to abandon speculation of a rate hike in January.
The yen took a hit, falling almost by 1.0% against the dollar after the announcement and press conference by Governor Ueda, but we identified a few changes in the Bank’s assessment of the economic outlook that likely endorse the market’s lingering expectations for a hike in April. In particular, the BoJ noted that private consumption has continued to increase modestly, that inflation is likely to be above 2% throughout the 2024 fiscal year and that underlying inflation is likely to increase. Those statements are aimed at paving the way for policy normalisation in 2024, in our view. We expect the yield curve control to be scrapped in January and a hike to be delivered in April.
From an FX perspective, the yen may simply revert to trading primarily on external factors (US rates in particular) after the BoJ ignored market pressure and likely signalled the path to normalisation should be a gradual one. We remain bearish on USD/JPY in 2024, as the oversold yen can still benefit from the end of negative rates in Japan and we see the Fed cutting rates by 150bp, but the pace of depreciation in the pair will be gradual in the near term, and we only see a decisive break below 140 in 2Q24.
⚠️ Did the #BOJ fall asleep on the $JPY 🖨️ print button or what? 🤭
— JustDario 🏊♂️ (@DarioCpx) December 19, 2023
Almost makes you wonder if someone out there is in desperate need of liquidity… 🤔 https://t.co/EdRfXb9vUH pic.twitter.com/z2dN3YVtuH
