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Yen weakens after string of Japanese data
The yen is on track for an eighth straight day of declines. The dollar recovered this morning after having made losses on Monday following some disappointing US data. The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, the core personal consumption expenditures price index, missed expectations and rose 1.7 per cent in February on an annual basis.
The disappointing outcome dimmed prospects for an imminent hike in U.S. interest rates, which some Federal Reserve officials last week said could be as early as next month if the economy maintained its momentum.
The euro traded at $1.1193 today.
Japanese economic data this morning were a mixed bag, that initially saw the yen strengthen for a while. But the Japanese currency started to sell-off and then the dollar rose to 113.69 yen, its highest since March 16, and the euro reached a two-week high of 127.15 yen.
Japan released a series of data today. The unemployment rate ticked up a tenth of a percentage point higher in February to 3.3 per cent, which is still close to October’s multi-decade low of 3.1 per cent. But there was a more mixed picture on consumption and spending.
Overall household spending rose 1.2 per cent year-on-year last month, its biggest – and first – rise since August. However, retail sales dropped 2.3 per cent month-on-month in February, well below expectations and their biggest drop since April 2014, when sales fell 13.4 per cent as the government raised the national sales tax for the first time since 1997.
Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, and West Texas Intermediate, the US marker, were both down 0.4 per cent this morning at $40.11 a barrel and $39.26, respectively. Both were on track for their fourth consecutive session in the red.
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