At the Monetary Policy Meeting (MPM) held today, the Policy BOard of the Bank of Japan decided upon the following guidelines for market operations and asset purchases. 1. Yield Curve Control The Bank decided, by an 8-1 majority vote, to set the following guideline for market operations for the intermeeting period. The short-term policy interest rate: The Bank will apply a negative interest rate of minus 0.1 percent to the Policy-Rate Balances in current accounts held by financial institutions at the bank. The long-term interest rate: The Bank will purchase a necessary amount of Japanese government bonds (JGBs) ... (full story)