JGB futures have marched higher, although......>

JGBS: JGB futures have marched higher, although there has been little in the way

of fundamental news in Japan, outside of continued speculation re: a gloomier

economic assessment from the BoJ, which has already been widely touted

elsewhere.

- The rally continued in the Tokyo afternoon, with the latest round of BoJ

Rinban ops providing little in the way of impediments for bulls (details below).

Futures +32, just off highs, 30s outperform in cash, swaps wider excl. 10s-20s.

- In terms of the details, BoJ Rinban ops saw steady purchase amounts for 3-5 &

5-10 Year JGBs. The breakdown of the ops revealed that both buckets saw notably

tighter spreads vs. prev ops, with the offer/cover ratio ticking higher on the

3-5 Year side and easing a touch for 5-10 Year paper.

- Also worth noting that Economy Minister Nishimura has hinted at deeper

lockdown measures in Japan (see previous bullet).