BOJ’s Himino: We will hike rates if outlook for economy, prices in July report is achieved

• We are witnessing record high wage increases in Japan
• Policy board is going to look at the totality of the data as it makes decisions
• It will be done on a meeting by meeting basis
• Real interest rates are still negative
• Will have more data on pass through of wage hikes on prices later in the year
• Also more data on how things are shaping up for next year’s spring wage negotiations

A little more give and take by the BOJ at the moment. On the one hand, they’re claiming that markets still remain somewhat “unstable”. But on the other hand, they don’t want to explicitly rule out further rate hikes. USD/JPY is down 0.2% to 148.95 currently, not doing too much so far on the day.

This article was written by Justin Low at www.forexlive.com.