Nikkei soars as BOJ launches blitzkrieg on deflation.

The Nikkei (NKY) surged and the yen (FXY) plummeted after the Bank of Japan defied all expectations in its battle to end deflation. Following its first policy meeting under new Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, the BOJ will change its target when setting policy from the overnight call rate to the monetary base, which the bank aims to double within two years by purchasing ¥60-70T of assets a year. These include government bonds of all maturities and not just short-term debt. The plan is open-ended, and, significantly, was unanimously approved. The dollar was +2.6% vs the yen at the time of writing.