U.S. stocks open mixed after Bank of Japan’s surprise policy tweak

U.S. stock indexes opened mixed on Tuesday after the Bank of Japan stunned markets with an unexpected change to its controversial yield curve control policy, triggering big swings in the equity markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 44 points, or 0.1%, at 32,791. The S&P 500 shed 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.4%. The Bank of Japan made a surprise decision on Tuesday that would let the yield on the country’s 10-year government bond trade as high as 0.5%, up from 0.25%. The central bank has maintained a target range around zero for the benchmark government bond yield since 2016 and used that as a tool to keep overall market interest rates low. The yen soared over 3% versus the U.S. dollar, while the yields on 10-year Japanese government bonds rose 16 basis points to 0.418%, after moving up to 0.46% earlier in the session.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.