How Bank of Japan’s Massive Market Operations Make and Break Investors
- Japanese policy makers are diving deeper into markets
- They’re buying up more assets and doling out more loans
A pedestrian wearing a protective mask walks past the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo.
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Just when it seemed impossible to do more, along came the coronavirus, spurring the Bank of Japan to double-down on its already massive market operations.
The BOJ’s presence is now felt in virtually every corner of Japan’s financial markets and its actions continue to shape global money flows. The first quarter of 2020 saw the central bank add a staggering 30 trillion yen ($278 billion) of bonds, stocks and other assets to its balance sheet, on top of which it pumped 35 trillion yen of liquidity into the financial system via operations such as repurchase agreements and dollar loans.