Yen Rises on Growing Concerns for US Economy

The Japanese yen went up to the highest level since November 2009 against the US dollar and advanced versus all other most traded currencies after the economic reports suggested that the US economy would require additional stimulus measures, spurring the risk aversion sentiment.

The pending home sales in the US unexpectedly dropped 2.6 percent in June, while the economist expected growth by 0.5 percent. The factory orders declined by 1.2 percent, significantly more than the analysts predicted. The forecast promised increase of the personal income and the personal spending. They proved to be wrong, as the indicators were almost unchanged. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 0.3 percent

The focus of concerns turned nowadays from Europe to the US, where fears of the double-dip recession plague the traders. In this kind of environment the yen thrives in its role of the safe currency.

USD/JPY rose from 86.50 to 85.81 today as of 19:21 GMT. EUR/JPY traded near 113.52, while GBP/JPY traded at about 136.82.

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