Japan's GDP in the fourth quarter exceeded expectations, and the market's expectations for interest rate hikes have intensified.

According to the Kyodo News Agency on February 17, the yield on Japan's 5-year government bonds once reached 1.030%, hitting the highest level in about 16 and a half years since October 2008. Influenced by the release of Japan's economic resilience indicators, market expectations for the Central Bank of Japan to raise interest rates further rose, leading to dumping of bonds. The initial GDP value for the fourth quarter of 2024 published by the Japanese Cabinet Office on the 17th showed a real seasonally adjusted value excluding the impact of price fluctuations, rising by 2.8% year-on-year, higher than the market's forecast of a 1% increase. Katsutoshi Inadome, a senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management, pointed out, "Expectations for the eventual point of interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan in the near term imply a potential increase beyond previous expectations."