After pressuring Governor Masaaki Shirakawa, the Bank of Japan came through, setting a formal 2% inflation target (CPI contracted 0.2% in 2012) and unveiling a new open-ended asset purchase program (QE).
In an era of unprecedented efforts by the U.S. central bank, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke took another step along an unproven path Thursday by launching an open-ended asset purchasing program.
The European Central Bank unleashed its open-ended bond buying program after Mario Draghi promised to do all he can to save the monetary union, and Fed chief Ben Bernanke announced his version of open-ended bond purchases, dubbed QE3.