Yen Dips as Bank of Japan Adopts Cautious Approach; US Bond Investors Await Treasury's Debt Strategy Amid Fed Meeting

Yen falls after BoJ decision, US bond investors hopeful on Treasury's plan to spend 'less' 

By Ipek Ozkardeskaya, Senior Analyst | Swissquote Bank  

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) kept interest rates unchanged, redefined the 1% limit on the 10-year JGBP yield as a loose 'upper bound' and scrapped its promise to keep that level intact. Alas, the move was less aggressive than expected by the market and sent the yen tumbling. Japanese policymakers' insistence that they won't hesitate to take additional easing measures 'if needed' also spoiled sentiment. The USDJPY trades just above the 150 mark this morning after the BoJ decision, although the spike in the 10-year JGB yield to almost 1% should've pulled the pair lower – especially after the news that the US Treasury will be borrowing less money in the last three months of this year. 

The US Treasury will borrow less; the Fed is expected to announce no change. Yet... 

The US Treasury Department said yesterday that they are planning to borrow around $776 billion in the final quarter of the year. That's still a historically high borrowing, but it has the merit to be below the expectation of around $800bn and it's well below the $1 trillion that they borrowed in the July-to-September period, and which wreaked havoc in the US bond market, sending – especially the long-end of the US yield curve rallying. 

Today, the Federal Reserve (Fed) starts its two-day policy meeting. Yes, the FOMC announcement on interest rates is often a big event for investors, but this time around, it won't be the only shining star of the week. First, because we know that there won't be any rate hikes this week. The probability of no change is priced as being almost 100% sure. The Fed members will still be raising their eyebrows given the strength of the recent economic data, the uptick in inflation and global uncertainty. But they won't necessarily be raising the rates. Therefore, what they will say they will do will matter more for the market pricing than what they will do. And the rate expectations will be played for the December and January meetings – which both hint at no rate hike either, by the way. That could change, but for now, no more rate hike is what investors are betting on.  

So, in the absence of a surprise rate decision, or a surprise forward guidance about a rate decision, what will really, really matter this week for the US sovereign space and the faith of the US yields, is the US debt situation, and the Treasury Department's quarterly announcement on details regarding the size and the maturity of the bonds that they will issue to borrow that extra $776 bn this quarter. 

The composition of the US Treasury's bond issuances will be crucial. Shifting toward shorter maturity debt could relieve the pressure on the US long-term papers but the problem with the short-term bills is that the US Treasury already sold plenty of them - they came close to their self-imposed limit of 20% last quarter- and that's why they decided to sell more longer maturity bonds since September. The latter shift towards longer-term maturity debt explained why the long-term yields took a lift since September. Therefore, it's not a given that the Treasury's issuance calendar will fully calm down the bond investors' nerves on Wednesday.