Is Bank of Japan finally ready to really raise rates?

TOKYO – After years of head fakes, prevarications and disappointments, is the Bank of Japan finally on the verge of a credible monetary tightening?

A growing number of investors are betting that the BOJ’s July 30-31 policy meeting will be the moment global markets have been waiting for several years now. One big reason: May saw the biggest base pay jump since 1993, an increase that could seal the deal for an interest rate hike.

Are markets right? Only time will tell given punters’ dreadful track record of predicting BOJ pivots. For 15 years now, the BOJ has pledged ad nauseam that it would “normalize” interest rates and end a quantitative easing (QE) experiment first launched in 2001.