That's the big question right now
If the answer is yes, then the USD/JPY weakness makes sense.
There were a lot of people expecting easing in January or April. They've preannounced a new ETF buying program for April, so does that mean they're on the sidelines until then?
The JREIT program is small and the maturity extension is dovish but not anything incredible. it increases to 10% of outstanding issues from 5%. The thing is, maybe this looks like Kuroda has played all his cards. The guidance in the statement didn't indicate any fresh concerns about inflation or the economy, so I certainly can understand that line of thinking.
The second thing arguing against new easing is that there were three dissenting votes. That says there is some significant opposition to more QE. The other side might argue that Kuroda pushed through anyway, so he doesn't care about the dissent.
This sums up the reaction in markets.
From Bloomberg:
"At 300 billion yen, it's on the scale of margin of error. The impact to the stock market will not be big," said Soichiro Monji, chief strategist at Tokyo-based Daiwa SB Investments Ltd. "If it's this small, some investors will think this is the best they can do. Kuroda himself says he never does anything half-baked, but frankly speaking this is half-baked."
Let's hear what he has to say in the press conference.
