Japan’s $4 Trillion Offshore Funds Will Ignore First BOJ Hike

  • Stocks and bonds in the US insulated from impact, survey shows
  • S&P 500 expected to beat Nikkei, Chinese stocks this year

A limited rise in the BOJ’s policy rate may keep yield gaps between the Asian nation and other major economies too wide for Japanese investors to cross. 

Photographer: Kentaro Takahashi/Bloomberg

Japanese money is poised to stay offshore as the central bank creeps toward tighter policy, according to the latest Bloomberg Markets Live Pulse survey.

Only about 40% of 273 respondents said the first interest-rate hike by the Bank of Japan since 2007 will prompt the nation’s investors to sell foreign assets and repatriate the proceeds back home. That’s good news for US stocks and bonds.