The Bank of Japan shocks investors
By lifting its bond-market peg, the bank may herald a period of tightening
In recent months anticipation had grown that in 2023 the Bank of Japan (boj) would at last tighten monetary policy after years of no-holds-barred stimulus. Almost nobody expected it to happen in 2022. But on December 20th the bank lifted its cap on ten-year government-bond yields from 0.25% to 0.5%. The Christmas surprise caused the yen to surge—and set off speculation about what might come next.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “No time like the present”
Finance & economics December 24th 2022
From the December 24th 2022 edition
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