Bank of Japan on hold for foreseeable future

With the yen weakening dramatically since the US election and incoming data showing GDP growth strong last quarter, there is now little pressure on the Bank of Japan to ease further. Less positively from the Bank’s perspective, underlying inflation looks likely to fall to zero by the end of this year. But it should then rebound in 2017. The upshot is that the Bank will likely leave policy settings unchanged for the foreseeable future.