Today, Asian traders corrected the US dollar against the Japanese yen. They were focused on outcome of the Bank of Japan policy meeting. The Bank of Japan decided to retain the short-term interest rate unchanged at -0.1%. Besides, the policy makers kept the intention to buy government bonds in a volume of 80 trillion yen annually. Nevertheless, they indicated moderate growth of the domestic economy and consumer inflation. Interestingly, one of the officials voted against the ultra-easy monetary policy and spoke in favor of shifting towards more hawkish rhetoric. The USD/JPY pair declined from 110.70 to trade at about 110.50.
At the same time, the US dollar index is still trading close to a 7-month high. However, experts warn that the situation could change in the near term. Citing well informed sources, President Donald Trump approved tariffs on about 50 trillion dollars of Chinese goods. The White House is expected to mark the official statement on Friday, during the early North American session. However, it is not clear when the tariffs would go into effect. If the tariffs are imposed in practice, the US dollar might lose favor with investors. Later in the global trading day, the University of Michigan will publish flash consumer sentiment index. Nevertheless, political developments are still setting the tone on forex.