BOJ’s Ueda: Spring Wage Talks Key to Price Trend

Ueda is framing the spring wage round as the hinge for Japan's inflation outlook, which matters because the BOJ has tied any policy normalization to durable wage-driven price growth rather than imported cost-push inflation. That makes the shunto outcome a macro catalyst not just for Japanese rates and the yen, but for global carry trades that have leaned on cheap yen funding. Whether negotiated wage gains actually feed into services prices and household spending is the open question.