It seems that the BoJ has decided that the equity market rally (for now) takes precedence over a JGB market 'intervention'. After oscillating around unchanged for much of the late morning, Japanese stocks are testing the highs after the break - up around 1% (dominated by Consumer Goods and Industrials up around 2% as Utilities are hammered -4.75%). The problem is that Japanese government bonds are becoming the high beta correlated unintended consequence of this effort. While stocks are near their earlier highs, JGB futures are notably lower relatively speaking. JPY is not helping as the correlation to that devaluer-of-first-resort seems to have faded. Of course, to the clueless onlooker, a 0.50 drop in the price of a JGB would seem negligible [4], but as we have discussed [5], it is relative to the capital reserved to cover these swings. Today's move is a 3-Sigma swing in price for what is still considered high-quality repo-able collateral (for now) [6].
[7]
Once again it seems, be careful what you wish for is the order of the day for equity bulls - as the market is clearly not happy to just accept the BoJ's word that they have control and that this swing does not represent fundamentals...
and some context for the equity bounce...
[8]
Charts: Bloomberg