JPY Forex Weekly Archive
Daily Economic News - Apr 30, 2008
All of the JPY crosses have sold off yesterday with the biggest drop seen in GBP/JPY and NZD/JPY. The low yielding Yen also strengthened against the USD - sparked by a rise in risk aversion. Investors are seeing signs of an economic slowdown in Japan, and yesterday's news events from the Asian powerhouse only added to such assumptions. Japanese PMI fell on news that rising production costs have contributed to a lag in exports. Also yesterday we saw the lowest return of Japanese Industrial Production in just around 5 years. The 3.1% drop was much deeper than initial forecasts of 0.7%. An unexpected drop in unemployment rate as well as overall Housing Starts numbers rates has contributed to poor Japanese economic outlook. The Japanese currency is likely to remain bearish ahead of today's JPY Housing Starts figures and the US Interest Rate announcement. Apart from that, there is no important economic news expected to be released from the Japanese markets. Investors should look toward global news, to chart the next JPY movement.Daily Economic News - Apr 29, 2008
The Yen appreciated versus its major currency competitors yesterday. This is reversal of the Yen's bullish trend from last week. The most notable gain was against the CHF as the CHF lost more than %1 against the JPY. In other important economic news from Japan, on Sunday Retail Sales rose slightly over the forecast to 1.1%. This increase was assisted by greater spending on fuel, due to higher global prices of Crude Oil. This rise is the eighth consecutive month in which Retail Sales increased, including a 3.2% rise from last February. Showa Day was observed in Japan on Monday and economic indicators were not published. Today the most important notable figure to be released is the Industrial Production, which measures the total value of output produced by industrial companies. The forecast is for it to come in as low as -0.7%, which should cause the JPY to trend downwards. The Japanese, who own 12% of U.S. government debt (586.6 Million), lost nearly 7% in the first quarter of the year when the Dollar fell to lowest levels since 1995 versus the Yen. Forex traders should expect a continuation of yesterday's bullish trend for the first half of the day, and a negative trend during the second half of the day after the publication of the new economic indicators. Volatility should be the name of the game today.Daily Economic News - Apr 28, 2008
The JPY depreciated sharply against the USD on Friday, as a part of the global bullish trend of the USD. The USD\JPY opened the trading session at the rate of 104.36, and locked at the rate of 104.70, growing 0.2% in one single day. Japan's economy supplied traders with almost only negative data, raising speculations that the country is currently on the fast lane to local financial crisis and even a sharp recession, even though the world's economy starts to blossom and is showing signs of recovery. March's Tertiary Industry Activity Index, released on Sunday, came well bellow expectations with a reading of -1.7%, showing a deep damage to the services sector. Also, Tuesday's Trade Balance report showed a non-expected sharp decrease in value between imported and exported goods and services. Last week's figures drew a very gloomy picture, reminding us of the late 80's financial crisis in Japan. Considering that Japan is mainly affected by the Asian markets, and that its limited to only 3% imported rice, it is very interesting to see how the Bank of Japan will handle the increasing prices of cereals and meat. The BoJ have nothing to do with the increasing inflation rate and there is no key rate cut possible for the country. Today there is no trade in Japan due the Showa Day; traders may expect the Yen to remain calm and to be mostly sensitive to US data release. March's Industrial Production report, which is expected to be released tomorrow, is forecasted to show a 0.7% decrease in value of output produced by factories, mines, and utilities in Japan.