Forex Flash: In search of market stimuli – Deutsche Bank

According to the Macro Strategy Analysts J. Reid and C. Tan at Deutsche Bank, “With the US markets closed for President's Day and no major economic releases in the last 24 hours, the focus has remained squarely on the yen, which has had yet another volatile overnight session.” Indeed, the yen rallied higher against the American dollar in early Asian trading after a number of comments from Japan's finance minister Taro Aso. Aso told a news conference that there are no intentions of buying foreign bonds, a day after Prime Minister Abe said such a policy could be an option for future easing.

Aso also told reporters that for the time being the government has no plan to revise the BoJ law, also seemingly at odds with Abe's suggestions to parliament on Monday. The yen has managed to retrace some of its gains though, after the release of minutes from the BoJ's January meeting where the central bank described the economy as remaining "relatively weak". Several board members also proposed the extension of the maturity of JGB purchases to around 5 years.