from ZeroHedge:
Less than a week after the yen freaked out and tumbled on media reports (by Japan’s Nikkei) that Japan’s PM Fumio Kishida would nominate prominent dove and BOJ Deputy Governor Masayoshi Amamiya to replace Haruhiko Kuroda whose tenure ends April 8, in what was a clear trial balloon meant to gauge investor, early this morning we got news (once again from Japan’s Nikkei, the government’s preferred mouthpiece especially for market trial balloons), that the PM will nominate Kazuo Ueda instead, a professor and former Bank of Japan board member, but most importantly a far greater hawk than Amamiya, after the job was reportedly declined by the former.
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The news came as a major surprise to market participants with the yen initially jumping as much as 1.4% against the dollar, suggesting investors initially interpreted Ueda as a hawkish choice.
Additionally, the government is also reportedly moving to appoint BOJ Executive Director Shinichi Uchida and former Commissioner of the Financial Services Agency Ryozo Himino as deputy governors, taking over from current deputy governors Masayoshi Amamiya and Masazumi Wakatabe.
Who is Kazuo Ueda?
Well, as Fed whisperer Nick Timiraos points out this morning, “Ueda has a Ph.D. in economics from MIT and, like his classmate Ben Bernanke, was advised by Stanley Fischer” adding that he has “largely supported the policies of Kuroda, as the next central bank governor.”
— Nick Timiraos (@NickTimiraos) February 10, 2023
He served as a BOJ Policy Board Member from 1998 until 2005, and his appointment would mark the first time in the post-war period that someone from an academic economics background takes on the role of BOJ governor. At the start of this week, reports emerged that the government had sounded out Deputy Governor Masayoshi Amamiya to take over as the next governor, but that he declined (February 10, Nikkei). Up to now, the governor post has been filled alternately by candidates from the Ministry of Finance and the BOJ, and the appointment of Kazuo Ueda would mark a departure from this practice.
