It’s a packed agenda today.
Bank of Japan Governor Ueda is speaking. Yesterday we heard from Deputy Governor Himino.
- Himino confirmed the BOJ intends to continue raising its policy rate and adjusting the degree of monetary accommodation in line with economic activity, prices and financial conditions
- He said the BOJ will consider the timing and pace of future adjustments while monitoring how Middle East developments affect Japan’s economy and the likelihood of the baseline scenario being realised
- Himino described rises in long-term interest rates as reflecting global concerns about inflation, and said the BOJ will assess bond market conditions and functionality as it reviews its tapering plans
I doubt Ueda’s message today will be too much different. The next Bank of Japan meeting is on June 15 and 16, 2026. expectations for a 25bp rate hike are firming.
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Next up is Neel Kashkari, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. I’ll have more to come on this separately.
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From the Reserve Bank of New Zealand today is likely to be a decision to hold its cash rate at 2.25%. Just over half of survey respondents now expect the OCR to reach 2.50% or higher by end of the third quarter, a sharp reversal from April when fewer than a third foresaw a hike by that point. The end-year median forecast has also moved up, rising to 2.75% from 2.50% in the previous poll.
The hawkish repricing reflects a deteriorating inflation picture. New Zealand consumer prices rose 3.1% last quarter, again breaching the top of the central bank’s 1–3% target band, with oil trading above $100 a barrel for most of the past two and a half months seen as a key upside risk. Rate hikes from July are anticipated, driven by heavily skewed upside risks to the inflation outlook and concern that price pressures could spread from fuel into services and wages.
An hour after the statement Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Breman will conduct the news conference
