The Japanese yen is finishing the trading week mixed against several major currencies as trade and inflation data were in focus among investors. With new polls suggesting that the nation’s business leaders are bearish on the world’s third-largest economies, it is anyone’s guess as to whether Japan enters a recession or not. But the numbers are not pleasing to investors.
The Japanese yen rose today despite a signal from the nation’s central bank that it may ease its already extremely accommodative monetary policy as soon as at October’s meeting. The currency likely got support from the market sentiment that was favorable to safe currencies.
The euro today rallied higher against the US dollar as investors bid up the single currency lifting it away from yesterday’s lows triggered by the FOMC decision. The EUR/USD currency pair today rose steadily as the markets reacted to comments from the French calling for immediate fiscal stimulus measures.
The euro rallied today after the release of positive economic sentiment figures for Germany as well as the whole eurozone. But economists are worried that the eurozone economy is still extremely vulnerable and the improvement of the sentiment does not reflect the underline strength of the economic activity.
The euro today spiked higher after the European Central Bank cut its deposit rate by 0.10% as expected before quickly reversing direction and crashing to new weekly lows. The EUR/USD currency pair had attempted to rally higher after the release of Germany’s consumer price index data earlier today given that the print met expectations.
Macroeconomic data released in Japan on Thursday was better than expected. But as usual, the Japanese yen paid more attention to the general market sentiment than to domestic reports. And the sentiment was not supportive of the Japanese currency. Currently, though, the yen managed to bounce against some of its rivals.
The euro today fell drastically against the US dollar after having traded sideways for the past two sessions as investors anticipate a rate cut at tomorrow’s ECB meeting. The EUR/USD currency pair fell for the better part of today’s session even as the empty European docket meant that there were no fundamental releases to boost the single currency.
The euro fell a bit versus some rivals but was about flat versus most of them on Tuesday. That was a surprisingly good performance considering that eurozone macroeconomic data released during Tuesday’s session was universally bad. The monetary policy outlook was also negative for the currency.
The euro rallied against most major currencies today. Some analysts attributed the rally to reports that Germany plans to stimulate its economies. Others pointed at today’s positive data as the main catalysts of the euro’s advance. The rally may be short-lived, though, as most market participants are not bullish on the euro ahead of this week’s European Central Bank monetary policy meeting.
The Japanese yen opened above Friday’s close today, though by now the currency has retreated against most of its major rivals. Today’s macroeconomic data in Japan showed that economic growth slowed last quarter while other indicators missed expectations.
