SINGAPORE : Asian stock markets struggled to make headway on Thursday, after weak U.S. consumer data stoked recession worries and nudged investors toward safe assets such as bonds, while Japan's yen rose as markets doubted the Bank of Japan's policy commitments.
The BOJ has pursued ultra-easy policy settings for decades in an attempt to generate inflation and growth, but markets doubt it can keep that up, and traders have been selling Japanese government bonds and buying yen to bet on a shift. April was another possibility, she added, since by then the BOJ would have a new governor."My guess would be that more speculators would look to build positions going into these meetings."
"The decline in retail spending and industrial production adds to the theme of the economy slowing and heading into recession in 2023, and pushes back on the soft landing narrative dominating markets since January," said National Australia Bank's head of market economics, Tapas Strickland.