Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc.Higher rates would help bank margins, but the article only discusses rate-hike odds and SME stress, not SMFG specifically.
In the Bank of Japan's September Tankan survey, the business conditions diffusion index for large manufacturers improved by 2 points from the previous survey, reaching its highest level since March 2018. The non-manufacturing index worsened by 2 points but remained at a high level, underscoring the resilience of the corporate sector. Firms' inflation expectations stood at 2.6% one year ahead, 2.6% three years ahead, and 2.5% five years ahead, holding above 2% even as they stayed flat to slightly lower. Many in the market see a December rate hike as the main scenario, and expectations for a consecutive hike at the October meeting have receded somewhat, with bond market pricing for an October hike falling from around 30% at the end of last week to around 20% shortly after noon on the day. Meanwhile, Tokyo Shoko Research analyzed 321,953 small and medium-sized companies that carried interest-bearing debt in 2025 and found that if funding rates and lending rates both rose by 0.50 percentage points, average ordinary profit would fall by about 1.8%, and the share of loss-making companies would rise from 27.7% to 29.4%; a 0.75-point rise would push that share to 30.2%. Maruyama Rinto, senior rates and foreign exchange strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities, said the content supports the BOJ's rate-hike path, but it is hard to imagine the situation is so urgent that the bank cannot wait until December.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc.Higher rates would help bank margins, but the article only discusses rate-hike odds and SME stress, not SMFG specifically.
Tankan supports BOJ rate-hike path, keeping upward pressure on JGB yields even as October hike odds fade.
Fading October BOJ hike bets and preference for December weigh on the yen versus the dollar.