BOJ hikes interest rates to 17-year high
The Bank of Japan voted to raise interest rates by 25 basis points at the January 23-24 meeting to 0.5%, the highest since 2008, the third such Japanese rate hike since policy normalization started last year.
It was an 8-1 margin vote in favor of the hike, indicating increasing confidence by Japanese policymakers in the pace of growth for wages and prices.
The BOJ decided at the March 2024 meeting to exit negative rates, and raised short-term interest rates by 20 basis points then to 0.1%, the first such hike since 2007.
Trump threatens the world in Davos speech
US President Donald Trump spoke ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, in words that were aggressive, alarmist, and threatening at times.
Trump spoke about tariffs, inflation, international relations, and said he’s going to push for lower rates in the US and worldwide.
He believes that overspending led to a catastrophic inflationary problem and historically high interest rates.
He also sent a message to each country in the world, to come and build their products in the US with very low taxes.
But if they refused to shift their manufacturing to the US, he threatened heavy taxes.
US crude stocks fall for ninth straight week
The Energy Information Administration reported a drop of a million barrels in US crude stocks last week to 411.7 million barrels, while analysts expected a dip of 0.1 million barrels.
Gasoline stocks rose by 2.3 million barrels to 245.9 million barrels, while distillate stocks fell 3.1 million barrels to 128.9 million barrels.
Wall Street gains ground as investors analyze corporate results
Most US stock indices rose on Thursday ahead of more corporate results later this week, while investors assess Trump’s expected policies.
Trump said his administration is considering a 10% tariff on Chinese imports, in addition to 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports, in addition to likely tariffs on European imports without getting into details.
The tech sector was boosted by Netflix’s excellent fourth quarter results.
Earlier US data showed unemployment claims rose by 6 thousand to 223 thousand last week, while analysts expected 221 thousand.
On trading, Dow Jones rose 252 points to 44408 points as of 16:59 GMT, while S&P 500 added 0.1%, or 6 points to 6093 points, as NASDAQ shed 0.2%, or 50 points to 19,958 points.