BOJ governor Ueda says the possibility of further rate hikes will be data-dependent

• Lower risks to inflation and growth triggered conditions for a rate hike today
• Underlying inflation is running above the 0% mark

So far, market players are not all too convinced. And pardon me for also reserving some skepticism towards the probability of Ueda really hitting back at the government for a second time. They won the first round today but as mentioned earlier, the threshold for the next rate hike will be even higher than this one.

Ueda has left the door open for that but he’s not being overly pushy or explicit about really wanting to stick to another rate hike in March. For now, “data-dependent” seems to be the best alternative in terms of communication that they can offer.

USD/JPY is continuing to climb on the day, up to 156.38 currently. Key resistance from the earlier highs in December at 156.90 levels will be the next big technical points.