Muto Says BOJ Policy Won't Hinge on Christmas Season (Bloomberg)
Summary: Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Toshiro Muto commented today in Japan that, "Christmas sales numbers will be an important indicator to assess the U.S. economy. But it doesn't mean that we won't be able to make any policy changes until we see those results." Muto also said the BoJ doesn't base its policy decisions solely on consumer prices, referring to the forthcoming November Japanese consumer price data due out in December. While Muto doesn't think financial markets will react negatively to an immediate rate hike, he did maintain the BoJ's stance that rates will be raised "gradually."
Related links: Full article • Significance of the Surprisingly Weak Yen • BoJ's Tankan Surprises to Upside, Investment Implications
Potentially impacted stocks and ETFs: Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MTU), iShares MSCI Japan Index ETF (EWJ) and iShares S&P/TOPIX 150 ETF (ITF)
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