The Japanese yen back off today following yesterday’s rally as markets calmed somewhat and demand for safety abated. Worse-than-expected macroeconomic reports from Japan also contributed to the retreat of the currency.
Recently, concerns about China’s slowdown, timing of an interest rate hike in the United States and the drop of Glencore stocks led to high volatility on markets. Today, markets calmed a bit, especially after Glencore rebounded. Most analysts think that the calm will likely be short-lived though.
Meanwhile, negative domestic data added to pressure on the Bank of Japan to stimulate economy. Retail sales showed growth of 0.8 percent in August from a month ago, significantly less than 1.2 percent predicted by experts. Industrial production was down 0.5 percent last month from July instead of rising 1.1 percent as economists had forecast.
USD/JPY rose from 119.73 to 119.86 as of 1:38 GMT today. GBP/JPY gained from 181.38 to 181.65 and EUR/JPY inched up from 134.69 to 134.87.
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