Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda has followed in the footsteps of his U.S. and European counterparts, Ben Bernanke and Mario Draghi, as he swung the central bank from incremental moves to unprecedented stimulus in his first policy meeting as chief.
The BOJ will double the monetary base by the end of 2014 through the purchase of government bonds, the central bank said, in the nation's biggest round of quantitative easing. JPMorgan Chase & Co. said the BOJ and U.S. Federal Reserve are now "in the same camp" when it comes to monetary stimulus.
With the Fed, the European Central Bank and the BOJ now pulling in the same direction, the risk for Kuroda is that taking an activist role may fuel expectations for more measures that he won't be able to deliver. The yen fell to its weakest since 2009 Friday and stocks surged for a third day as investors expect the new governor to revive an economy where prices are back at 1992 levels.