The Bank of Japan has raised interest rates to the highest level since 2008, while the US Fed has held rates again with signs of a potential cut in September.
While the Bank of Japan (BoJ) continues to print money and buy bonds, despite the bank's first rate hike since 2007, the Bank of Singapore believes that the country's stock market rally will continue.
China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan could all have new central bank chiefs within months. The newcomers, or the incumbents if they stay, all face important policy challenges.
Dragging Japan out of its deflation mindset is proving tough, despite the tumbling yen and Bank of Japan’s determined programme of quantitative easing.
There are few surprises in the central bank’s latest monetary gambit, but a faint hope that the BoJ and the government are moving towards concerted action.
Despite its direct intervention in currency markets and a ¥10 trillion extension of its monetary stimulus, Japan has little hope of reversing yen appreciation.