Thursday, April 20, 2017

Today's Headlines

Bloomberg:
  • Kuroda Says Current Purchase Pace to Continue for Some Time. (video) The Bank of Japan will continue with very accommodative monetary policy and maintain the current pace of asset purchases for some time, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said in an interview. While Japan’s economy is doing better than thought a few months ago, the inflation rate is still quite sluggish, Kuroda said in New York on Thursday. Speaking a week before the BOJ’s next policy meeting, when the board will also update its estimates for growth and consumer prices, he said the exchange rate could affect inflation in the short term and that if the yen appreciates, there is a chance of a delay in hitting Japan’s 2 percent price goal. He added that depreciation would have the opposite effect.
  • Treasuries Fall as Haven Bid Ebbs Ahead of French Election. (video) Treasuries fell, lifting yields further off year-to-date lows reached on Tuesday, amid steeper declines for most European government bond markets ahead of the French election on Sunday. Yields were higher by two to three basis points at 10:30 a.m. in New York, with the 10-year at 2.24 percent. Most of the move off session lows occurred during European trading hours, concurrently with the move in European yields led by Spain, where demand was soft for a multi-part debt auction. U.S. yields extended their climb during U.S. trading, tracking the dollar-yen rate after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the current pace of bond purchases would continue for some time.
  • Subway Shuts Hundreds of U.S. Stores. The company lost 359 U.S. locations in 2016, the first time that Subway had a net reduction. The store count dropped 1.3 percent to 26,744 from 27,103 in 2015, but Subway remains the nation’s most ubiquitous eatery.
Wall Street Journal:
Zero Hedge:

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