BoJ, March move likely, JPY on the move / Powell ; data dependent, patience / GOLD, precious metals ⬆️ / ECB up next, June signal ?

ECB meeting, will Lagarde prepare markets for a June move ?

Bank of Japan (BOJ) board member Junko Nakagawa said the economy was making steady progress towards achieving the central bank's 2% inflation target and signalled conviction that conditions for phasing out its massive stimulus were falling into place

Bank of Japan now owns nearly 60% of the entire Japanese government bonds..

Wang Yi says U.S. sanctions on China have reached 'bewildering absurdity'. Foreign minister hails Russia ties in closely watched news conference

U.S. Households are now spending a record $573.4 billion on non-mortgage interest payments which for the first time in history is roughly the same as mortgage interest payments

Egypt Central Bank raise rates by 6% to near 28%, and let currency 'float', weakened sharpy to 50 pounds to the $

Several undersea communications cables in the Red Sea have been cut, affecting 25% of data traffic flowing between Asia and Europe

Tesla: Morgan Stanley cuts EV-maker price target, warns this could be the year Tesla loses money

Gold is flying but miners are left in the dirt (for now?) .Cheap targets abound, with some juniors reaching point where investment needs of projects look overwhelming. Platinum market expected to see a deficit of 418K, after a record deficit of 878 in 2023 - WPIC

Bullish Bets on U.S. Tech Stocks are at 3-year highs according to Citi

Markets : U.S ADP was 140K and JOLTS ( slightly weaker than exp), Powell data dependent, patience, rate cut coming, sticky inflation (higher base at 3+ ?)..markets not really diverge from expectations of about 3x cuts in 2024. ECB unch clearly, Lagarde could well give a nod that a cut is coming in June. USDJPY - it could get nasty if we get a decent BoJ move, particularly with slightly softer US data right now, NFP tom !