The election of Donald Trump has created all manner of unexpected winners. Think of US energy companies, holders of Russian roubles or Wall Street banks. Another institution which has reason to be cheerful about the US presidential election result is the mighty Bank of Japan.
The rally in US markets and the dollar, along with this week’s increase in US interest rates, has created a glimmer of hope that Japan might be heading out of the twilight world of deflation and negative rates. If so, that would be extremely welcome — never mind the fact that the trigger for the tipping point has come from an unlikely source.
By any standards, Japan’s central bank badly needs something to create an economic jolt. In recent years it has launched a bewildering list of policy experiments, with disappointing results.