23 For 25 Or Simply: ‘Since 1992’

All hail the sacred equity cow.

Over the weekend, BoJ chief and man who will spark hyperinflation if it kills him, Haruhiko Kuroda, gave a speech to local business leaders in Nagoya. He also answered some questions. Suffice to say he does not see the utility in taking his foot off the easing pedal any time in the foreseeable future.

“I don’t think any change is needed in the ETF purchase program right now,” Kuroda mused, referring to the bank’s ongoing quest to own the entire free float of multiple publicly traded companies. “It’s possible that the BOJ would adjust ETF buys in the future,” he went on to say, reiterating one his best zingers. You’ve got to love a central banker who, when asked if there’s a chance he will ever stop buying stocks with money he printed out of thin air, says this: “It’s possible.”

Of course, the hilarious thing about this situation is that the BoJ actually didn’t buy that much in October – “just” JPY18 billion yen through October 23, as compared to nearly JPY700 billion in August and some JPY475 billion in September. That’s the irony here – when people are frontrunning central bank buying, it obviates the need for the central bank to buy. Psychology has now taken over.

Part of the optimism last month revolved around the election, which saw Abe consolidate his power thanks in no small part to public support for his hardline stance on North Korea. But even that’s a bet on the BoJ because after all, Abe is expected to reappoint Kuroda. Just ask Koichi Hamada, an economic adviser to the Prime Minister who, in an interview with Jiji on Monday, said he too supports reappointing the Governor.

All of that lays the groundwork for stocks to rally still further, because irrespective of what he buys in any given month, Kuroda still has a yearly target.

So given all of that, you probably won’t be surprised to learn that the Nikkei closed up 1.7% on Tuesday to 22,937 – that would be the highest level since January 1992: