UEDA said he will consider upside inflation risks when deciding monetary policy,
a comment that reinforced market expectations of a Bank of Japan rate hike at
the meeting later this month. He declined to comment on strong market bets for a
September increase but said recent economic data are consistent with the BOJ's
prior outlook. U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent's call this week for the BOJ to
take appropriate policy action added to tightening bets; overnight index swaps
show a roughly 99% probability of a September hike.