NEWS / Foreign Exchange

BoJ Keeps Rates at 0.50 pct. as Expected

The JPY fell to new lows after the Bank of Japan kept rates fixed at 0.50 pct. Furthermore, the BoJ signaled that they see no need to hurry raising rates adding to the JPY-weakness.

Overnight News Bullets

• SZ Industrial Production QoQ/YoY (4Q) out at 7.8%/8.9% vs. 3.5%/4.7% expected.
• CA International Securities Transactions (Jan) out at -C$3.764 vs. C$0.500 expected.
• CA Wholesale Sales MoM (Jan) out at -0.5% vs. -0.6% expected.
• US NAHB Housing Market Index (Mar) out at 36 vs. 38 expected. Prior figs. at 40.
• AU Dwelling Starts (4Q) out at -0.8% as expected.
• BoJ Target Rate out at 0.5% as expected.
   

Markets

• FX: JPY weaker after the BoJ release
• Fixed Income: Bunds and 10yrs dropped. JGB??™s a tad higher today.
• Stocks: Bullish sessions in both the EU and US. Nikkei rose 0.9% today.
• Commodities: Precious metals continue higher. Crude rose and is trading above $60.5/bbl.
   

O/N Data Heat map:

Calendar

Today's Highlights:

This and Next Week??™s Highlights:

What's going on?

• Bank of Japan keeping rates fixed and stating in their monthly report that inflation is expected to be around zero in the coming months telling us that the JPY will weaken further in the short to medium term.
• AUDUSD broke 2004 highs but did not manage to close above. We see more upside in the pair towards 1996 highs at 0.8214.
• US stocks gain on high M&A activity. Expect Europe to move higher today.

FX