The Japanese yen (^USDJPY) on Thursday soared to a 4-month high against the dollar after comments from Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Ueda and comments Wednesday from one of his deputies bolstered speculation the BOJ was close to ending its negative interest rate policy. Market attention will now focus on the December 19 BOJ meeting and whether BOJ Gover Ueda gives any indication of policy changes.
Thursday’s comments from BOJ Governor Ueda to the Japanese parliament jolted financial markets when he said that handling monetary policy "will become even more challenging from the year-end and through next year," stoking speculation that the BOJ would soon end its negative interest rate monetary policy. Ueda’s comments came after BOJ Deputy Governor Himino signaled on Wednesday that the BOJ was inching closer to ending negative interest rates after he laid out a hypothesis for what might happen if rates go positive.
