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The Bank of Japan on Wednesday maintained ultra-low interest rates, including a bond yield cap it was struggling to defend, defying market expectations it would phase out its massive stimulus programme in the wake of rising inflationary pressure.

The surprise decision sent the yen skidding against other currencies as investors unwound bets they made anticipating the central bank would overhaul its yield control policy.

At a two-day policy meeting, the BOJ kept intact its yield curve control (YCC) targets, set at -0.1% for short-term interest rates and around 0% for the 10-year yield, by a unanimous vote.

The central bank also made no change to its guidance that allows the 10-year bond yield to move 50 basis points either side of its 0% target.

In a sign of its resolve to keep defending the cap, the BOJ beefed up a key market operation tool to more effectively curb rises in long-term interest rates.

“Widening the yield band or dismantling YCC now would have made the BOJ even more vulnerable to market attack,” said Izuru Kato, chief economist at Totan Research.

“By showing its resolve to use market tools more flexibly, the BOJ wanted to signal to markets it won’t make big monetary policy changes under Governor Haruhiko Kuroda.”

Kuroda’s second five-year term ends in April.

The decision follows the BOJ’s surprise move last month to double the yield band, a tweak that analysts say has failed to correct market distortions caused by its heavy bond buying.

The dollar rose 2.4% to 131.20 yen <JPY=EBS > on the BOJ’s announcement, marking its biggest one-day jump since March 2020, while the Nikkei stock average jumped by more than 600 yen.

The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond fell 10.5 basis points to 0.395%.

Since December’s action, the BOJ has faced the biggest test to its YCC policy since its introduction in 2016 as rising inflation and the prospects of higher wages gave traders an excuse to attack the central bank’s yield cap with aggressive bond selling.

Kuroda has repeatedly said the BOJ was in no rush to dial back stimulus, let alone raise interest rates, until wages rise enough to boost household income and consumption, allowing firms to lift prices.

In a quarterly report released on Wednesday, the BOJ raised its core consumer inflation forecast for the current fiscal year ending in March to 3.0%, from 2.9% projected in October.

It also revised up the inflation forecast for the fiscal year ending March 2024 to 1.8%, from 1.6% seen three months ago.

But the inflation forecast for fiscal 2023 was maintained at 1.6%, a sign the board is sticking to the view prices will moderate as the effect of past surges in raw material costs dissipate.

The BOJ also slashed its economic growth projections for fiscal 2023 and 2024, amid worries slowing global growth will weigh on the export-reliant economy.

Japan’s core consumer inflation has exceeded the BOJ’s 2% target for eight straight months, as companies raised prices to pass on higher raw material costs to households.

Data due out on Friday is likely to show inflation hit a fresh 41-year high of 4.0% in December, according to a Reuters poll, although analysts expect price growth to moderate later this year reflecting recent declines in global commodity prices.

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Millions of urban workers were on the move across China on Wednesday ahead of the expected Friday peak of its Lunar New Year mass migration, as China’s leaders looked to get its COVID-battered economy moving.

Unfettered when officials last month ended three years of some of the world’s tightest COVID-19 restrictions, workers streamed into railway stations and airports to head to rural hometowns, sparking fears of a broadening virus outbreak.

Economists are scrutinising the holiday season, known as the Spring Festival, for glimmers of rebounding consumption across the world’s second largest economy after new GDP data on Tuesday revealed a sharp economic slowdown in China.

While some analysts expect that recovery to be slow, China’s Vice-Premier Liu He declared to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland on Tuesday that China was open to the world after three years of pandemic isolation.

National Immigration Administration officials said that, on average, half a million people had been moved in or out of China per day since its borders opened on Jan. 8, state media reported.

But as workers flood out of megacities, such as Shanghai, where officials say the virus has peaked, many are heading to towns and villages where unvaccinated elderly have yet to be exposed to COVID.

As the COVID surge intensified, some were putting the virus out of their mind as they headed for the departure gates.

Travellers bustled through railway stations and subways in Beijing and Shanghai, many ferrying large wheeled suitcases and boxes stuffed with food and gifts.

“I used to be a little worried (about the COVID-19 epidemic),” said migrant worker Jiang Zhiguang, waiting among the crowds at Shanghai’s Hongqiao Railway Station.

“Now it doesn’t matter anymore. Now it’s okay if you get infected. You’ll just be sick for two days only,” Jiang, aged 30, told Reuters.

The infection rate in the southern city of Guangzhou, capital of China’s most populous province, has now passed 85%, local health officials announced on Wednesday.

In more isolated areas, state medical workers are this week going door-to-door in some outlying villages to vaccinate the elderly, with the official Xinhua news agency describing the effort on Tuesday as the “last mile”.

Clinics in rural villages and towns are now being fitted with oxygenators.

While authorities confirmed on Saturday a huge increase in deaths – announcing that nearly 60,000 people with COVID had died in hospitals between Dec. 8 and Jan. 12 – state media reported that heath officials were not yet ready to give the World Health Organization (WHO) the extra data it is now seeking.

Specifically, the U.N. agency wants information on so-called excess mortality – the number of all deaths beyond the norm during a crisis, the WHO said in a statement to Reuters on Tuesday.

The Global Times, a nationalistic tabloid published by the official People’s Daily, quoted Chinese experts saying the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention was already monitoring such data, but it would take time before it could be released.

Doctors in both public and private hospitals were being actively discouraged from attributing deaths to COVID, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

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George Santos (left) and Scott Kelly.

Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call; Robert Markowitz/NASA via AFP Getty Images

• Astronaut Scott Kelly mocked congressman George Santos on Tuesday.
• In a tweet, Kelly called Santos a “former NASA astronaut and moon walker.” 
• Santos on Tuesday was tapped for positions on committees overseeing science and small businesses.

Astronaut Scott Kelly took to Twitter on Tuesday to mock Rep. George Santos over his new committee assignments. 

“Awesome to have former NASA astronaut and moon walker, Representative George Santos @Santos4Congress on the House Science Space and Technology Committee,” Kelly tweeted. “To infinity and beyond!” 

Kelly is a retired astronaut who went to the International Space Station on three expeditions and spent a year in space. The tweet was a jab at Santos, who on Tuesday was tapped by House Republican leaders for seats on two House committees: one overseeing science, space, and technology, and another overseeing small businesses.

The tweet appeared to reference the embattled Santos’ many scandals. Santos has admitted to lying about going to university, being Jewish, and working at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. Questions about the congressman’s real name have also been raised after he was seen introducing himself as “Anthony Devolder” in a video clip from 2019.

Santos last week did express some interest in serving on the House panel on science, space, and technology. On a January 11 episode of the podcast, “War Room: Pandemic,” Rep. Matt Gaetz asked Santos which committees he’d like to be on.

“I came to DC without really any preconceived notions of what committees to serve, but rather what I can give to the American people,” Santos said. 

“Whatever committee I’m given, whether it’s I don’t know, science and technology, or education and labor, or whatever committee is thrown my way, I will deliver 110%, because that’s what I know how to do,” Santos said. 

The congressman also called himself a “workhorse” during the podcast.

“I’m going to outwork any of the pundits and talking heads that are out there saying that I should resign, that I’m unfit for office,” Santos said.

Prosecutors in Long Island said on December 28 that they have opened an investigation into Santos. Long Island Republicans and the New York State GOP in January also called on Santos to resign, but Santos has refused to do so.

CNN’s Manu Raju on Tuesday spoke to the chairman of the House Small Business Committee, Rep. Roger Williams, who said it was not his “role” to condone Santos’ behavior.

“He was elected. He represents a million people,” Williams told Raju. 

Representatives for Kelly and Santos did not immediately respond to Insider’s requests for comment.

The Bank of Japan on Wednesday maintained ultra-low interest rates, including its 0.5% cap for the 10-year bond yield, defying market expectations it would phase out its massive stimulus programme in the wake of rising inflationary pressure.

At a two-day policy meeting, the BOJ kept intact its yield curve control (YCC) targets, set at -0.1% for short-term interest rates and around 0% for the 10-year yield, by a unanimous vote.

The central bank also made no change to its guidance that allows the 10-year bond yield to move 50 basis points either side of its 0% target.

The decision follows the BOJ’s surprise move last month to double the yield band, a tweak that analysts say has failed to correct market distortions caused by its heavy bond buying.

Markets had anticipated a possible change to policy at the meeting. The decision to keep settings unchanged sent the dollar surging nearly 2% against the yen, its biggest one-day percentage jump since June 17.

“I rather they abandon, or don’t do anything at all,” said Christopher Wong, currency strategist at OCBC in Singapore.

“With expectations running high, a no move would disappoint JPY bulls and weakness can return. But this is likely to be temporary.”

The market’s focus now shifts to the next meeting in March, which will be the final one Governor Haruhiko Kuroda chairs before his term ends in April, Wong said.

Since December’s action, the BOJ has faced the biggest test to YCC since its introduction in 2016 as rising inflation and the prospects of higher wages gave traders an excuse to attack the central bank’s yield cap with aggressive bond selling.

In a quarterly report released on Wednesday, the BOJ raised its core consumer inflation forecast for the current fiscal year ending in March to 3.0%, from 2.9% projected in October.

It also revised up the inflation forecast for fiscal 2024 to 1.8%, from 1.6% seen three months ago. The forecast for fiscal 2023 was maintained at a 1.6% increase.

Japan’s core consumer inflation has exceeded the BOJ’s 2% target for eight straight months, as companies raised prices to pass on higher raw material costs to households.

Data due out on Friday is likely to show inflation hit a fresh 41-year high of 4.0% in December, according to a Reuters poll, although analysts expect price growth to moderate later this year reflecting recent declines in global commodity prices.

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A general view of atmosphere during the Mass in Memory of Ivana Trump (with her portrait by painter Sacha) at Church of Assumption in Saint Tropez on August 09, 2022 in Saint Tropez, France.

Foc Kan/WireImage

• Ivana Trump’s last will is now a matter of public record, following her death last July. 
• She left a majority of her estate to her children: Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka, and Eric, records show.
• Ivana left her dog and a $1 million condo to her former nanny, and donated her clothing.

After her death in July 2022, Ivana Trump’s $34 million estate was divided amongst her children, friends, and charity.

Her will carefully itemized everything of value in her life: her dog, clothes, and multi-million dollar properties, leaving cherished items to a former nanny and recent ex-husband, while her most notable ex-husband, former President Donald Trump, received nothing.

According to probate records reviewed by Insider, Ivana Trump’s last will and testament bequeathed a majority of her personal property, including her jewelry and any funds from the sale of her collection of furs to her children: Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, and Eric Trump. 

Her remaining clothing was donated to The American Red Cross and Salvation Army, the charities acknowledged in probate records. 

As for her multi-million dollar real estate portfolio, Ivana Trump’s children along with Donald Trump received control over her Upper East Side townhome, a property in France, and a property in the Czech Republic.

A Florida condo owned by the socialite and businesswoman, estimated by Redfin to have a value of $1,148,407 was left to the socialite’s friend and former nanny, Dorothy Curry. 

Curry, who became a lifelong friend of the Trump family after working as a nanny for the children, was also left to watch over Ivana Trump’s surviving Yorkshire terrier, Tiger Trump. Curry spoke at her funeral last July, alluding to Ivana Trump feeling isolated and in pain.

Notably, though they reconciled and her remains were buried on the property of one of his golf clubs, individually, she left Donald Trump nothing in her final will. The pair’s divorce was finalized in 1990. 

Ivana Trump went on to marry twice more before her death at age 73. Her most recent ex-husband, Rossano Rubicondi, died in 2021, though her will — written and notarized in 2019 — laid out plans to bequeath him a property in St. Tropez, France.

The pair had an on-again-off-again relationship and were married in 2008 before divorcing in 2009 and reconciling shortly after, according to Page Six. They continued to casually date each other until 2019, People reported.

According to probate records in Miami-Dade County, Florida, where Ivana claimed her permanent residence despite living part-time in New York, the execution of Ivana’s final wishes was completed late last year.

The prophecy has been around since the beginning of time. Time and time again, prophecies have been made, and some have come true. “Beware the Ides of March” was such a prophecy. That one came true for Julius Caesar tragically. People should listen to prophecies. Nobody should ever laugh one off. They should REALLY not laugh it off if it comes from one of their own.

“If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed……and we will deserve it.” This prophecy came from South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. The words were stark and eerie in their basic simplicity, but they did indeed come to pass. Trump was, in fact, their nominee. And he did, in fact, ruin the GOP. Or perhaps that is not correct. The GOP’s simpering cowardice and blind devotion to Trump was their ruination.

Graham’s words were shrugged off at the time. And he was not the only one who made that prophecy. Others, such as Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, ALSO predicted doom should Trump become the nominee. They spoke in thunderous voices about the doom that would encompass them should Trump’s wishes to be the nominee come to pass. They should have listened — to themselves.

We are not even a month into the Republicans House leadership. And yet the people have turned on them. A new poll done online by Civiqs has come out with new popularity numbers for the GOP.

The GOP’s favorable numbers are at 26 percent. That should send a shiver down the spine of ALL Republicans. It shows the prophecy has done its work and is continuing to destroy the party of no shame.

The GOP’s unfavorables in this same poll are at 64 percent. Just think about that! Republicans beware! This isn’t just bad news; it’s catastrophic. The message this sends is of a political party in shredded ruins. The prophecy delivered by members of their own party — has taken on a life of its own.

The GOP’s continuing show of horrible judgment, such as attacking women’s reproductive rights, has resulted in an almost mythological turn of events that has rendered the party a joke. The once powerful and proud grand old party has become an ancient and weak wasteland.

It, of course, need not have happened this way. If only the GOP had listened to itself. But they chose to put their hands over their ears and resist their own dark prophesies. And now they have become more unpopular than perhaps ever before.

The post Republican Party’s favorability numbers plunge into the toilet appeared first on Palmer Report.

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) plans to cut thousands of jobs with some roles expected to be eliminated in human resources and engineering divisions, according to media reports on Tuesday.

The expected layoffs would be the latest in the U.S. technology sector, where companies including Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) have announced retrenchment exercises in response to slowing demand and a worsening global economic outlook.

Microsoft’s move could indicate that the tech sector may continue to shed jobs.

“From a big picture perspective, another pending round of layoffs at Microsoft suggests the environment is not improving, and likely continues to worsen,” Morningstar analyst Dan Romanoff said.

U.K broadcaster Sky News reported, citing sources, that Microsoft plans to cut about 5% of its workforce, or about 11,000 roles.

The company plans to cut jobs in a number of engineering divisions on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported, according to a person familiar with the matter, while Insider reported that Microsoft could cut recruiting staff by as much as one-third.

The cuts will be significantly larger than other rounds in the past year, the Bloomberg report said.

Microsoft declined to comment on the reports.

The company had 221,000 full-time employees, including 122,000 in the United States and 99,000 internationally, as of June 30, according to filings.

Microsoft is under pressure to maintain growth rates at its cloud unit Azure, after several quarters of downturn in the personal computer market hurt Windows and devices sales.

It had said in July last year that a small number of roles had been eliminated. In October, news site Axios reported that Microsoft had laid off under 1,000 employees across several divisions.

Shares of Microsoft, which is set to report quarterly results on Jan. 24, were marginally higher in late afternoon trading.

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Philippine Nobel laureate Maria Ressa and her news site Rappler were acquitted by a court of tax evasion charges on Wednesday, a judge said, handing Ressa a victory in a case the veteran journalist has described as part of a pattern of harassment.

Ressa, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize alongside a Russian journalist in 2021, is head of Rappler, which earned a reputation for its in-depth reporting and tough scrutiny of former president Rodrigo Duterte and his deadly war on drugs.

“This acquittal is not just for Rappler it is for every Filipino who has ever been unjustly accused,” Ressa said after the verdict, describing it as a win for justice and the truth.

“These charges… were politically motivated… A brazen abuse of power,” she said.

The tax evasion case stemmed from accusations by the state revenue agency that Rappler had omitted from its tax returns the proceeds of a 2015 sale of depositary receipts to foreign investors, which later became the securities regulator’s basis to revoke its licence.

The Philippine’s justice department said it respected the decision of the court.

Ressa, 59 is currently on bail as she appeals a six-year prison sentence handed down in 2020 for a libel conviction.

She has been fighting a string of government lawsuits that have stoked international concern about media harassment in the Philippines, one of Asia’s most dangerous places for journalists.

The Philippines ranked 147 out of 180 countries in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index, and the Committee to Protect Journalists ranks the Philippines seventh in the world in its 2021 impunity index, which tracks deaths of media members whose killers go free.

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