BoJ March meeting minutes: Several board members said consumer, household sentiment could sour rapidly

In the Bank of Japan March meeting minutes, it has stated that several board members said consumer, household sentiment could sour rapidly if markets remain unstable.

Key notes

• A few members said spread of pandemic was inflicting severe impact on Japan's economy via drop in inbound consumption, supply chain disruptions.
• One member said firms may hold off on CAPEX amid uncertainty over outlook.
• One member said economic damage from pandemic could be enormous, may not be temporary.
• A few members said it was uncertain whether economy can make strong rebound after pandemic is contained.
• One member said companies, regardless of size, were seeing profits fall sharply.
• One member said ramping up BoJs cp, corporate bond buying now would forestall risk of deterioration in market conditions.
• One member said doubling of ETF,J-REIT buying would heighten market confidence, also gives BoJ some flexibility on future operation by saying move would be 'for time being'.
• One member said BoJ can hold emergency meeting to respond flexibly to pandemic fallout, can buy JGBs at annual pace of up to 80 trillion yen.
• Govt representative: hope BoJ sends strong message to markets that govt, BoJ share sense of crisis and will work closely together.
• Govt representative: BoJ's move is swift, appropriate response to stabilise markets.

USD/JPY update

• USD/JPY spiking as USD reemerges from the doldrums