This was in part why the Japanese yen has started off on a weaker note in European morning trade, with the report stating that BOJ officials are seeing little need to hastily end negative interest rates amid a lack of evidence of wage growth that would support sustainable inflation.
The sources cited also say that policymakers are of the view that the potential cost of waiting for more information to confirm solid wage growth as not very high. That just means that the policy meeting this month should be a rehash of their current stance and not to suggest an imminent shift or a pivot just yet.
Again, I don’t think this should be much of a surprise – even when already reading into Ueda’s remarks from last week. I’ve said it before, the drop in USD/JPY looks a lot more to do with a squeeze on yen shorts than a major change in direction from the BOJ itself. And we are seeing some supportive argument from the technicals since Friday last week.