Kuroda Negative Rate Bazooka Fizzles on Overnight Lending Freeze

``Japan's banks have almost stopped lending to one another in the overnight market, threatening to undermine the impact of the central bank's negative-rates stimulus. The outstanding balance of the interbank activity plunged 79 percent to a record low of 4.51 trillion yen ($40 billion) on Feb. 25 since Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Jan. 29 announced plans to charge interest on some lenders' reserves at the monetary authority. Bond volatility has soared to a 2 1/2-year high as the evaporation of trading volumes in the call market dislocates funding of a range of debt investments.''