Expectations were that Japan's third quarter GDp result would be a poor one, based on natural disasters and trade tensions weighing on the country's exports.

But, wow, the result is much worse than was expected

The BOJ has said they will be keeping monetary policy loose and accommodative, given inflation (core CPI) is way below target. but they have been quietly paring back JGB purchases (not secretly, they do acknowledge they are buying less than target even though they have not changed the policy target for purchase). Based on today's data the BOJ might be prompted prompted to loose further (only last week kuroda denied the need for looser policy).

Unless the GDP result is brushed aside, I guess.





Yen is losing a bit after earlier flows into it on US stock falls:





















