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The surprise decision sent the yen skidding against other currencies and bond yields tumbling the most in decades, as investors unwound bets they made anticipating the central bank would overhaul its yield control policy. At a two-day policy meeting, the BOJ kept intact its yield curve control (YCC) targets, set at -0.1% for short-term interest rates and around 0% for the 10-year yield, by a unanimous vote. The central bank also made no change to its guidance that allows the 10-year bond yield to move 50 basis points either side of its 0% target. Underscoring its resolve to keep defending the cap, the BOJ beefed up a key market operation tool to more effectively curb rises in long-term interest rates. "By showing its resolve to use market tools more flexibly, the BOJ wanted to signal to markets it won't make big monetary policy changes under Kuroda."

☆ Japan yields tumble below policy cap after BOJ keeps status quo
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Kevin Buckland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The 10-year yield was last down 10.5 basis points at 0.395%, which would mark the biggest one-day decline in seven years. It was at 0.51% prior to the BOJ decision. Ten-year JGB futures jumped when they resumed trading following the midday break, trading up as much as 1.81 points to 146.65, the highest since Dec. 20. "If they had expanded the band again or terminated YCC, yields would rise, which would be a de facto rate hike," said Naomi Muguruma, senior market economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. The 10-year yield has repeatedly breached the BOJ's ceiling, only to close back at the 0.5% limit on each day.

☆ China's property sector shrinks 5.1% in 2022 - NBS
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, Jan 18 (Reuters) - China's property sector fell 5.1% in 2022 from a year earlier, value-added data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Wednesday, heaping more pressure on policymakers to revive the sluggish sector in 2023. The figures indicated that the property sector was one of the biggest drags on the economy last year. China's economic growth in 2022 slumped to one of its weakest rates in nearly half a century, hit by a property market slump and by pandemic controls and COVID-19 outbreaks that especially affected the second and the fourth quarters. Despite that effort, investment in real estate in 2022 was still 10.0% lower than in 2021, the first decline since records began in 1999, and property sales slumped the most since 1992, NBS date showed on Tuesday. Vice-Premier Liu He said at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos on Tuesday that China would support healthy development of the property market as the sector was still a pillar industry for the economy.

[1/2] A man walks at the headquarters of Bank of Japan in Tokyo, Japan, January 18, 2023. At a two-day policy meeting, the BOJ kept intact its yield curve control (YCC) targets, set at -0.1% for short-term interest rates and around 0% for the 10-year yield, by a unanimous vote. The central bank also made no change to its guidance that allows the 10-year bond yield to move 50 basis points either side of its 0% target. The decision to keep settings unchanged sent the dollar surging nearly 2% against the yen, its biggest one-day percentage jump since June 17. It also revised up the inflation forecast for fiscal 2024 to 1.8%, from 1.6% seen three months ago.

☆ Asian shares tentative, Japan yields close to policy cap ahead of BOJ meeting
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Stella Qiu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

SummarySummary Companies Asian shares mixed; Nikkei up 0.6%Markets eye change to yield policy from BOJ meeting on WedJapan yields retreat from policy cap; Yen eases from 7-mth highOil extend gains on China optimismSYDNEY, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday while Japanese yields hugged a policy cap, with markets anxiously awaiting a pivotal Bank of Japan (BOJ) meeting that could see the world's third largest economy shift away from decades of ultra-low interest rates. In early Wednesday trade, however, the 10-year yield fell to 0.485% before returning to 0.5%. China's blue chips (.CSI300) rose 0.2%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (.HSI) was 0.2% lower. It has been undermined by falling U.S. bond yields as markets wager the Federal Reserve can be less aggressive in hiking rates. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes rose slightly to 3.5402% from its U.S. close of 3.535%, partly in anticipation of the BOJ tweaking its policy.

☆ Asian shares mixed, yen tumbles after BOJ keeps yield policy unchanged
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Stella Qiu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

read moreThe 10-year yield stayed at 0.5100% on Wednesday. In a Reuters poll, 97% of economists expected the BOJ to maintain its ultra-easy policy at the meeting. Mahjabeen Zaman, head of FX Research at ANZ, now expects any further rises in the Japanese yen might have to be delayed until April when the new BOJ governor assumes position. A survey of global fund managers by BofA Securities out on Tuesday showed that expectations of further appreciation in the Japanese yen in January were the highest in 16 years. After Bank of Japan decision, the dollar strengthened 2.4% to 131.18 yen , pulling away from Monday's seven-month low of 127.21 yen.

☆ Canada summons Russian ambassador over attacks on civilians in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Ismail Shakil | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Officials had summoned the ambassador to "make clear we do not accept the sheer brutality of Russia's recent attacks against civilians in Dnipro," Joly told reporters in Toronto. The attack on an apartment building in Dnipro on Saturday was the deadliest for civilians since the start of a three-month Russian missile bombardment campaign. Ukraine says the building was struck by a Russian Kh-22 missile. Canada, like other Western nations, has slapped broad sanctions on Russia over its invasion in Ukraine, and Joly said Ottawa would continue to hold Moscow accountable. Earlier on Wednesday, Canada announced the supply of 200 Senator armored personnel carriers as part of its military assistance to Ukraine.

☆ Brazil's Lula says intelligence services failed ahead of Brasilia riots
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Ricardo Brito | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BRASILIA, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday his intelligence services had failed on Jan. 8, when Brasilia buildings were stormed by supporters of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro. "We made an elementary mistake: my intelligence did not exist (that day)," Lula told TV channel GloboNews in an interview. "We have Army intelligence, Air Force intelligence, ABIN (Brazil's Intelligence Agency); none of them warned me." The Brazilian insurrection resembled the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump. The Brazilian president said he was also set to meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Brazil later this month, as Reuters first reported last month.

☆ Japan yields stay above policy cap as BOJ sticks to status quo
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Kevin Buckland | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond yields remained above the central bank's 0.5% policy ceiling on Wednesday, after the Bank of Japan unanimously decided to keep its yield curve controls in place. The benchmark yield was up 1 basis point at 0.51% as of 0250 GMT. In a relatively volatile session for cash bonds, the yield had started out flat and then eased as much as 1.5 basis points at one point to 0.485%. The 10-year yield has repeatedly breached the BOJ's ceiling, only to close back at the 0.5% limit on each day. Ten-year JGB futures were in the midday break at the time of the policy decision.

☆ Column: Europe's gas price plunge churns up global coal markets
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Gavin Maguire | Thomson Reuters | Gavin Maguire Is The Global Energy Transition Columnist. He Was Previously Asia Commodities | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

However, thanks to a recent plunge in European natural gas prices - down 60% since December 1 on mild winter temperatures, filled storage tanks and diminished industrial use - European coal prices and demand have slumped so far in 2023. WIDE SPREADThe divergent tones of Europe's and Asia's coal markets are captured by the record-wide price spread between them. This week, that spread surpassed $200 a tonne as Asia-focused Newcastle coal prices held firm around $370 a tonne while European coal prices slumped to $165. Over the near term, such actions will likely narrow the arbitrage window by applying pressure to Asia's coal prices. Those high stocks have in turn been a major driver behind the gas price falls seen since December.

☆ Fed's Harker says he is ready to downshift to 25-basis-point rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Michael S. Derby | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

To get there, Harker, who will hold a voting role on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee this year, is ready to raise the central bank's benchmark overnight interest rate beyond the current 4.25%-4.50% range. Harker said he is expecting the Fed to get rates over 5% and added that uncertainty about the stopping point is why the central bank should slow the pace of its rate hikes. At the Fed's last meeting, officials penciled in a 5.1% stopping point for rate rises this year. Harker said the U.S. economy should grow 1% this year, adding that he doesn't believe it will fall into a recession. Harker also expects the U.S. unemployment rate, currently at 3.5%, will rise to 4.5% this year before falling back to 4% in following years.

SINGAPORE, Jan 18 (Reuters) - General Electric's (GE.N) turbine manufacturing unit said on Wednesday it had agreed with Japan's IHI Corp (7013.T) to develop gas turbines operating on ammonia to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. GE and IHI would work to develop technology that would allow some of GE's existing gas turbine products to safely burn 100% ammonia by 2030, the companies each said in separate, almost identical statements on Wednesday. "We will focus our efforts on satisfying domestic and overseas demand for large-scale ammonia gas turbines, stimulating further demand for fuel ammonia and expanding the fuel ammonia value chain," Hiroshi Ide, president of IHI Corp said. Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Bradley PerrettOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Russian crude export volumes have held up since Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, but only because China and India have stepped in to buy steeply discounted Russian oil. But while China's crude imports have been rising, a greater share appears to have been captured by Russia. If imports from Russia are excluded, it shows that June imports were 6.97 million bpd and November's were 9.52 million bpd. The increase for imports from all sources in November over June was 2.67 million bpd, but the total ex-Russia was 2.55 million bpd. This raises the possibility that Russia's share of China's crude imports will rise even higher.

☆ Blinken says U.S. 'appalled' by execution of British-Iranian national
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The United States is appalled by Iran's execution of Alireza Akbari, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, vowing that Tehran's abuses in its crackdown of widespread demonstrations will not go unpunished. "We were appalled by the execution of Mr. Akbari just as we've been appalled by everything we've been seeing on the streets of Iran over the last months since these protests began: mass arrests, sham trials, the executions, the use of sexual violence as a tool for protests' suppression," Blinken said at a news conference. Together with many other countries, we've been moving forward with a variety of unilateral actions, multilateral measures, using U.N. mechanisms, to try to hold Iran to account," he added. Akbari, 61, a British-Iranian national who once served as Tehran's deputy defence minister, was handed a death sentence on charges of spying for Britain. Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Simon Lewis; Editing by Bradley PerrettOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Yen perched near 7-month high as BOJ looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Tom Westbrook | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SINGAPORE, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The dollar drifted off multi-month lows on Tuesday, while the yen was perched near seven-month highs as investors held their breath for a potential policy shift at the Bank of Japan. The euro reached a nine-month high on Monday at $1.0874, but was last loitering around $1.0830. The yen rose 3% against the dollar last week, and one-week implied volatility for dollar/yen is at its highest since March 2020. "The yen would explode higher, Japanese government bond yields would explode higher and global yields would go higher," he said. The New Zealand dollar held at $0.6394.

According to the document, Aramco's investment would be used to support development of decarbonization technologies for gasoline engines. SUBJECT TO BOARD APPROVALSThe oil company's deal with Geely and Renault still needs approval by the boards of the automakers, one of the people said. For Geely, the deal with Renault extends its pattern of building partnerships to expand beyond China. In that kind of arrangement, gasoline engines could be designed to operate in an "exceptionally efficient mode," one of the sources said. Geely has a previously announced a hybrid gasoline engine development deal with Mercedes-Benz (MBGn.DE) and holds a stake in the German automaker.

☆ NBA champions Warriors praise Biden on Griner, gun control in White House return
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 17 (Reuters) - WNBA star Brittney Griner and gun control were on the agenda as the Golden State Warriors visited the White House on Tuesday, celebrating their fourth championship title in eight seasons with U.S. President Joe Biden. Klay Thompson and other members of the team chuckled and looked down sheepishly as Biden said, "Let me just say that the Golden State Warriors are always welcome in this White House," adding emphasis to "this." The Warriors' title win in June capped a remarkable turnaround for the franchise, after the previous two seasons had ended in disappointment. Head coach Steve Kerr and players Thompson and Moses Moody attended a roundtable discussion with senior White House staffers on gun violence and gun control. Kerr famously made an impassioned plea for stricter gun control after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, last year.

☆ Japan's yield control faces biggest test to date as BOJ debates policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

But with inflation exceeding its 2% target, the BOJ is facing its biggest test so far for its stimulatory policy, which is called yield curve control (YCC). The cap for the 10-year bond therefore became 0.5%. Market expectations of an early rate hike have boosted yields broadly, with the eight-year moving higher than the 10-year yield. In considering the BOJ's options, some analysts bet it will further widen the band and allow the 10-year yield to rise as far as 0.75%. Others expect the central bank to raise the 10-year yield target above 0%, change it to one targeting a shorter-dated maturity, or abandon it altogether.

☆ Republican candidate arrested in shootings of Democrats' homes in New Mexico
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 16 (Reuters) - An unsuccessful Republican state House candidate in New Mexico was arrested on Monday and accused of orchestrating recent shootings at four local elected officials' homes, the Albuquerque Police Department said. Police said on Monday they had arrested Solomon Pena, 39, and accused him of conspiring with, and paying, four other men to shoot at the homes of two county commissioners and two state legislators, all Democrats. Pena lost his election for the state House in November to an incumbent Democrat who garnered more than 73% of the votes. Police said at a press conference Pena had denied his election loss and had approached the commissioners and lawmakers at their homes, claiming election fraud was involved. On Jan. 3, three bullets fired into a state representative's home had gone through her 10-year-old daughter's bedroom, the paper reported.

☆ Economists say BOJ's Amamiya is top governor candidate, tightening this week unlikely
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Kantaro Komiya | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Of the 24 economists who replied to the Jan 5-12 poll, 16, or 67%, chose Amamiya as the most likely candidate to become the next BOJ governor. Four economists in the poll, or 17%, chose Nakaso, who is seen less dovish than Amamiya, as the most likely candidate. In a September poll that asked the same question, Amamiya and Nakaso received 61% and 33% of economists' votes, respectively. Five analysts expected the unwinding of easing to start in April, at the first BOJ meeting under the new governor. Elsewhere in the poll, 83% of economists said Japanese nominal wages were unlikely to outpace rising consumer prices in 2023.

☆ Explainer: What is happening in Japan's bond market?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Junko Fujita | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

TOKYO, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Market forces have pushed Japanese government bond yields above policy targets. Here is what is happening and what it means:WHAT IS JAPAN'S BOND MARKET? To stimulate lending, growth and inflation, the Bank of Japan has pinned short-term interest rates at -0.1% and 10-year yields around zero since 2016. That swap yield may indicate where the 10-year bond could be if the BOJ left the market alone. "Unless the BOJ reduces its presence in the market and changes its stance that it is controlling the yield level, market liquidity won't improve."

The International Air Transport Association, which represents global airlines, is predicting full recovery in 2024. The crippling impact of COVID-19 saw dozens of airlines go out of business and wiped billions of dollars off balance sheets. In public, airlines and leasing firms have deplored delivery delays and are seen likely to press aircraft makers for compensation. Inflation is driving up aircraft parts and prices, while raising questions over the resilience of travel demand. Overall, more than half of the world's airline fleet is controlled by global leasing companies rather than owned directly by airlines.

☆ Dollar wobbles as U.S. inflation fuels hopes of slower Fed rate path
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Ankur Banerjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The dollar index , which measures the U.S. currency against six others, rose 0.059% to 102.220 but was languishing around its lowest level since June. Traders of futures tied to the Fed's policy rate bet heavily on a downshift to quarter-percentage-point rises starting at the Jan. 31 to Feb. 1 meeting and a pause just below 5%, with interest rate cuts priced in for later in the year. Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said the Fed would likely take comfort in the inflation report and the U.S. dollar would continue to ease. Meanwhile, the yen strengthened 0.12% to 129.10 per dollar, having touched a fresh seven-month high of 128.65 per dollar earlier in the session. The Australian dollar fell 0.11% to $0.696, while the kiwi fell 0.34% to $0.637.

Jan 13 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Friday, set to gain more than 6% for the week, on solid signs of demand growth in top oil importer China and expectations of less aggressive interest rate rises in the United States. Brent crude futures rose by 5 cents to $84.08 a barrel by 0746 GMT, off a session low of $83.50. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained 13 cents to $78.52 a barrel after falling to $77.97 earlier in the session. Brent has jumped 6.7% so far this week and WTI is up 6.2%, recouping most of last week's losses. A weaker greenback tends to boost demand for oil, as it makes the commodity cheaper for buyers holding other currencies.

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