Trading the U.S. Federal Reserve Interest Rate Decision

The Bank of Japan is expected to announce its interest rate decision at a policy meeting scheduled for Tuesday, January 24^th and the consensus is that they will keep rates on hold at near zero. Recently, the bank stated that Japan’s economic activity continues to suffer as a result of the global financial crisis and the strong Yen. Furthermore, Japan’s exporters have struggled as a large number of them had their Thailand-based operations halted due to recent flooding. For its part, the BOJ has repeatedly expanded the size of its asset purchase program but will continue to hold rates near zero until the Japanese economy regains its footing.