JPY Forex Weekly Archive

Daily Economic News -May 16, 2008

Yesterday, the JPY moderately rose across the board as investors reduced demand for riskier assets such as stocks after a series of relatively weak U.S. economic data added to anxiety over the country's growth picture. The JPY rising trend was further supported by the Preliminary GDP figure which showed that Japan's economic growth unexpectedly picked up pace in the first quarter thanks to firm exports and consumption. Such a result allayed fears that deepening global financial market problems may take a toll on the world's second-largest economy. The JPY hiked to a session high of 104.40 and was last trading around the 104.50 level, up 0.4 % on the day. The low-yielding Yen tends to attract flows during periods of uncertainty as the low Interest Rates reflect Japan's capital surplus. Considering that the Japanese Interest Rate is only 0.5%, an ascending inflation is a real risk for the economy and investors are well aware of that. Today, traders should look forward for some more bullish attitude regarding the JPY, and keep watching carefully for news arriving from the U.S and the Euro-zone, as they will be the main factors in the JPY progress for today.

Daily Economic News -May 15, 2008

Yesterday was an extremely bearish day for the JPY as it saw falling trends against most of its major counterparts. It has continued it's freefall since the beginning of the week vs. the USD, the EUR and the GBP. The only news regarding the JPY that came out yesterday was Core Machinery Orders, which reflected an 8.3% fall in March, making the value of orders in March the smallest since May 2005. It is the second straight monthly fall following a 12.3% decline in February, and for now it seems that the JPY is continuing to nurture its deterioration. On tap for today, the Japanese Gross Domestic Product is scheduled. This survey measures the total value of all goods and services produced by the economy. Analysts forecast it to come in lower than last month, and such unfavorable results will probably continue to contribute to the JPY downfall. Traders should bear in mind that the Gross Domestic Product results will be published only at 23:50 (GMT). Hence until then the JPY will be mostly influenced by global economic developments, especially from the U.S. This day is promising to be a very volatile day for the Forex market, and the JPY shouldn't be any different.

Daily Economic News -May 14, 2008

Despite broadly weak data the JPY managed to gain last week, as unsavory conditions for the carry trade weighed on the USD/JPY following the G7 finance ministers statement that global economic prospects have weakened and financial market losses will continue. The Yen also rose against all of the major currencies as General Electric Co.'s first quarterly decline in profit since 2003 led to sharp declines in stocks and encouraged investors to reduce holdings of higher-yielding assets. The JPY first dropped to as low as 101.97, down from around 101.00 level in late New York trade, but later trimmed its losses and stabilized around 100.89. In the next 48 hours, there is no fundamental data expected to come out of the Japanese market. Later, on Thursday, the news suggests that Japanese Industrial Production and the Household Confidence will remain low for the foreseeable future. Today, traders should keep an eye on the U.S. Retail Sales data as higher then forecasted printing might pull the U.S. currency up against the JPY.

Daily Economic News - May 12, 2008

Yesterday the JPY saw bearish trends versus most of its major counterparts, and especially the USD, which was boosted by positive news from the U.S. economic markets. The economic data released from Japan yesterday beat out forecasts and was quite positive for the struggling JPY. The Corporate Goods Price Index was announced at 3.7%, 0.1% higher than forecasted. Japan's Current Account was measured at 2.1T, which is a lot higher than the previous 1.45T and even higher than the already high forecast of 1.95T. Nevertheless, the JPY drop went on fairly independent from any Japanese news releases as it continued to accumulate a bearish momentum vs. the USD. Looking ahead to today, Core Machinery Orders is expected to be announced and compared to the previous release, a positive figure is expected. This may be the time investors being timing their positions and take advantage of the recent decline in the Yen's value.