The Japanese yen strengthened today the stocks dropped and the number of the jobless claims in the US rose more than expected, driving the investors to seek the safety of Japan’s currency.
The analysts estimated previously that the jobless claims decreased last week. The actual figure shook the markets, as it demonstrated the increase by 19,000 to 479,000. The Standard & Poorâs 500 Index declined by 0.4 percent and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index went down 0.3 percent.
The uninspiring data today reignited the speculation that the Federal Reserve would perform the monetary easing to support the struggling economy. Considering the pessimism, caused by today’s news, it’s not surprising that the yen shines in its role of the safe currency under such conditions.
USD/JPY fell to 85.87 from 86.27 as of 18:21 GMT. In the same time, EUR/JPY traded near 113.19, while GBP/JPY dropped to 136.37.
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