The Bank of Japan quietly made a big change to its monetary policy program

Thomson Reuters Although the Bank of Japan insists that they want to continue ultra-easy monetary policy, their massive quantitative easing program has dramatically slowed down. The BOJ's massive balance sheet actually shrunk slightly in December. That suggests tightening could be on the way. An amazing – or on second thought, given how central banks operate, not so amazing – thing is happening. On one hand… Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda keeps saying that the BOJ would “patientl...