Bank of Japan – hold steady for now

New stimulus was announced but waiting to do possibly more at the next meeting in September.  In short, they decided to assess their approach, so a cautious approach.

The move today is also a recognition that policy might be at the end of the line in reviving the economy and inducing inflation.

Due to demographics, Japan cannot grow GDP beyond 0.5 to 1% roughly.  They need labour growth and this can only happen by more women in the workforce or immigration.  Policies have been implemented by the current government to increase women but since immigration has not happened due to the closed society of Japan.

The bond players were hurt since the BOJ did not drop rates further.   The market was disappointed due to the bare minimum that BOJ Kuroda did today.  A minor increase of $26 Billion in ETF purchases was announced.