The Japan flag is juxtaposed against a Japanese yen bank note.
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What you need to know today
No reprieve
Major stock markets in Asia sank Tuesday, as the 10-year Treasury yield hit its highest level since 2007. Korea's Kospi slumped 1.2% to multi-month lows, while the Hang Seng Index slipped 0.9% to lows last seen in August. S&P 500 futures were largely flat Tuesday after U.S. stocks snapped a four-day losing streak Monday.
Bezosphere tweaks
Blue Origin's chief executive Bob Smith will be replaced by outgoing Amazon executive Dave Limp, according to notes to Blue Origin staff written by Smith and Bezos that were obtained by CNBC. Smith is retiring effective Dec. 4 and will remain with the company until Jan. 2 for the CEO transition.
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No assumptions please
Europe has launched an investigation into Chinese electric vehicle subsidies, but no assumptions should be made about the probe's outcome, the head of trade for the European bloc's executive branch said Tuesday.
Coy launch
Huawei kept mum on any details about its new phone or reported advanced chip breakthrough at a high-profile launch event Monday. Instead, the company teased two new electric cars — its first sedan and a high-end SUV — and launched new wireless earbuds, among other products. Huawei partners with an auto manufacturer to sell cars under the Aito brand.
[PRO] Luxury plays
Bank of America upgraded three luxury stocks that are bucking the negative trends afflicting the broader sector in Europe. The MSCI Europe luxury index has fallen 16% from its most recent high on April 24 as evidence emerges of slowing demand in the third quarter. The investment bank expects profit margins to decline by one percentage point for the sector even as third-quarter revenue is seen growing modestly.
Money Report
The bottom line
Does Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda have a communication issue?
Or, are investors just too eager in parsing for any hints the BOJ is finally doing away with its ultra loose monetary policy that they become unwitting victims of confirmation bias?
At the end of its September policy meeting Friday, the Japanese central bank maintained its ultra-loose policy and left rates unchanged, mindful of the "extremely high uncertainties" on the growth outlook domestically and globally.
For some market watchers, this ran against the spirit of what Ueda appeared to be alluding when he told Yomiuri Shimbun in an interview published Sept. 9 that the BOJ could have sufficient data by the end of this year to determine when it could end negative rates.
Many economists brought forward their forecasts for a quicker exit from the BOJ's ultra-loose monetary policy to sometime in the first half of 2024 after that interview.
Then on Monday, Ueda appeared to further walk back on his Yomiuri Shimbun comments at a meeting with business leaders in Osaka, where he said the "sustainable and stable achievement of the price stability target of 2%, accompanied by wage increases, has not yet come in sight."
Ueda is a working economics professor with a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he studied under Stanley Fischer. Is his professorial tendency to think aloud and entertain various scenarios getting in the way of clearer market communication?
"It wasn't as if any time frame for achieving our price target had changed. I thought that by ruling out the possibility completely would bind the discussion of upcoming policy-setting meetings," Ueda said Friday at a press conference following the release of the BOJ policy statement, in a Reuters translation of his comments.
To be fair, market expectations for further tightening were already entrenched when the BOJ loosened its yield curve control at its July policy meeting, allowing longer term rates to move more in tandem with rising inflation. It was Ueda's first policy change since assuming office in April. After all, core inflation has exceeded the central bank's stated 2% target for 17 consecutive months now.
The BOJ will meet again in October and December this year. Reading the policy tea leaves is now almost a competitive sport.
