We know the Fed Ended QE earlier this week. But almost on cue, Japan’s jumped into the fray, running its printing machine for yet another extension of their Quantitative Easing program.
Having printed money up the wazoo and not seeing any inflation that they richly deserve after 20 years (or so they believe), the Bank of Japan today voted to increase their quantitative easing program by 80 trillion yen ($724 billion) from the current level of 70 trillion yen. The Nikkei stock index was up nearly 5% after the announcement.
The USDJPY trade went all the way to 111 (remember, it was as low as 78 post the last crisis). The weaker yen spurs Japanese Exports.
Japan’s running at 1% inflation, after considering the sales tax increase recently (up from 5% to 8%). They plan to further increase the sales tax next year. We don’t exactly know why.