These are difficult times for central bankers as the threat of a global trade war and fears of a US recession grip economies and the markets. This morning the Bank of Japan has put its finger on the problem – policymakers simply can’t predict what will happen next. Speaking to reporters, the BoJ governor, Kazuo Ueda, said: “In the past month or so there have been rapid changes in the scope and speed of US tariffs. However, there are aspects we may not know even beyond April, so uncertainty remains high. "We will scrutinise how the US trade policy unfolds, how it affects the US and other global economies, and how that all impacts Japan’s economic and price outlook.” Ueda also cautioned that “overseas uncertainty has heightened sharply lately”, and that it was hard to quantify the risks at this stage. Ueda was speaking after the BoJ decided to leave Japan’s interest rates on hold at 0.5%, even though Japan’s annual wholesale inflation rate hit 4% in February. In the weeks leading up to today’s meeting, the US president, Donald Trump, had imposed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports to the US and pledged to bring in "reciprocal and sectoral" tariffs on 2 April, to balance out any imbalances. However, he has also pulled back from his trade war with Canada and Mexico by temporarily delaying tariffs on many goods from the two countries, adding to the trade policy uncertainty. The value of X has reportedly rebounded back to the level that Elon Musk paid for the social media platform back in October 2022. According to the Financial Times, investors valued X at $44bn when they bought a stake in the company earlier this month. That would be a rebound for Musk and the investors who helped him buy Twitter (now renamed) three years ago. X’s value had tumbled under Musk’s early ownership, with some advertisers cutting their spending on X because of concerns that extreme content on the platform could damage their brands. At the start of 2024 the mutual fund Fidelity revealed it had cut the value of its stake by 71%, which implied X’s value then had fallen to about $12.5bn. The agenda • 10am GMT: eurozone inflation report (final estimate) for February • 11am GMT: US weekly mortgage application data • 6pm GMT: US Federal Reserve interest rate decision • 6.30pm GMT: US Federal Reserve press conference We'll be tracking all the main events throughout the day …
You are receiving this email because you are a subscriber to Business Today. Guardian News & Media Limited - a member of Guardian Media Group PLC. Registered Office: Kings Place, 90 York Way, London, N1 9GU. Registered in England No. 908396
