The U.S. dollar gained on Thursday after a hotter-than-expected inflation reading for the first quarter, affirming expectations that the start of the Federal Reserve’s easing cycle could be pushed later in the year. The yen, meanwhile, hit a fresh 34-year low versus the dollar and a 16-year low against the euro on Thursday as investors expect a Bank of Japan policy meeting that ends on Friday to not be hawkish enough to support the Japanese currency. The focus, however, has been on the U.S. gross domestic product data and the ...

As the yen plumbs three-decade lows and pressure grows on Japan to intervene or make monetary policy changes, traders figure there is not much Tokyo can do to reverse the currency’s slide while interest rates and momentum are heavily skewed against it. The Bank of Japan (BOJ) sets policy on Friday with almost no expectation of a rate rise. It has no currency mandate but a weakened yen, which is at a 34-year trough on the dollar and record low levels in real terms, affects inflation because it raises import ...

There will be quite a lot of attention on today’s first quarter US core GDP price deflator and what it means for tomorrow’s release of the March core PCE figure. Analysts will be looking at the second decimal point on today’s release to infer whether tomorrow’s number is on consensus at 0.3%, 0.4% or 0.2% MoM. The outcome will have implications for the dollar. USD: Reading through the first quarter data tea leaves There has been much speculation this week over the outcome of tomorrow’s release of the US March ...

The yen hit fresh 34-year low versus the dollar and a 16-year low against the euro on Thursday as investors expect a Bank of Japan policy meeting that ends on Friday not be hawkish enough to support the Japanese currency. A day earlier, the buoyant dollar broke above the 155 yen level for the first time since 1990 after having traded in a tight range over several days. On Thursday, the greenback rose to a 34-year high of 155.74 yen and was last 0.2% higher at 155.62. The euro hit ...

Japan’s ruling party is not yet in active discussion on what yen levels would be deemed worth intervening in the market, though the currency’s slide towards 160 to the dollar could prod policymakers to act, party executive, Takao Ochi, told Reuters. “There is no broad consensus right now, but if the yen slides further toward 160 or 170 to the dollar, that may be deemed excessive and could prompt policymakers to consider some action,” Ochi said in an interview on Tuesday. Right now, however, there has been little active discussion ...

The yen dropped against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday to its weakest since mid-1990, with markets alert to any signs of intervention from Japanese authorities to prop up their currency. As the yen slid, the greenback edged higher, recovering against most currencies from falls caused by Tuesday’s data showing U.S. business activity slowed this month. The dollar rose as high as 155.17 yen, its strongest since mid-1990, before falling back in choppy trading, a sign of market nervousness around the 155 level. It was last at 155.08, up roughly 0.2% ...

The yen dropped to multi-year lows against the U.S. dollar and euro on Tuesday, keeping investors on heightened intervention watch ahead of this week’s Bank of Japan meeting, while dovish policy maker comments left sterling near its weakest in months. The euro reached 165.71 yen, its highest since 2008, after data showed business activity in the euro zone expanded at its fastest pace in nearly a year, primarily due to a recovery in services. Europe’s common currency was last up 0.4% at 165.59 yen. The dollar rose to 154.88 yen ...

One by one, scenarios of a dollar demise are getting batted away yet again. A source of currency market hand-wringing for decades, tales of the dollar’s decline as the dominant world currency are nothing new. And they mostly founder on the lack of a serious credible alternative or the resilience of the U.S. economy and the openness, sheer scale and liquidity of its asset markets. While the exchange rate of the greenback ebbs and flows with relative interest rate cycles – and it’s surging again this year as the Federal ...

USD: Going steady The dollar has returned to consolidation mode after last week’s run on the upside. Friday’s March core PCE deflator release remains the biggest number of the week and will determine whether US short-dated yields need to rise any further. Indeed, many investors might find US two-year Treasury yields very attractive at 5% given the dangerous geopolitical backdrop. For today, we doubt the US April PMIs or new home sales data will have much impact on the dollar. And, at the margin, it may be the threat of ...

The yen hit fresh multi-year lows against the dollar and the euro on Tuesday, keeping investors on heightened intervention watch ahead of the Bank of Japan’s meeting this week, while dovish policy maker chatter left sterling around its softest in months. The euro, which climbed broadly after stronger than expected business activity data in France and Germany, reached 165.62 yen, its highest since 2008. “That’s a combination of the stronger euro today, with the services data moving back into expansionary territory, an encouraging sign that the headwinds to growth for ...

The yen weakened on Monday to its weakest levels against the dollar since June 1990, with markets alert to any signs of intervention from the Japanese authorities to prop up the yen. The decline in the yen comes after a string of strong U.S. inflation data pushed the dollar to five-month highs and reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to be in a rush to cut interest rates this year. The yen’s slide against the dollar has revived anticipation of currency intervention. Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki and ...

USD: US GDP and PCE figures this week Weekend news has helped ease market-perceived geopolitical risk, and sentiment is generally supported across asset classes as the week starts. All interested parties appear to have chosen the path of downplaying the size and consequences of Friday’s Israeli strikes in Iran. Bent trading below $90/bbl signals that fears of a broader conflict in the region have abated. Another important piece of news for geopolitics was the approval by the US House of the much-debated $95 aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. ...

The dollar held steady against the euro and the yen on Monday after the most volatile week of trading for the currency market in months, as investors assessed policy and geopolitical developments. The market is laser-focused on the yen ahead of the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) policy review on Friday. The yen traded around 154.69 per dollar, a whisker away from last week’s 34-year low of 154.79 and close enough to the 155-level that is next on traders’ radars for possible intervention by Japanese authorities. “There will be a focus ...

The safe-haven Swiss franc and Japanese yen pared gains on Friday after Tehran signaled it has no plans to retaliate against Israel, which launched what has been described as a limited-scale attack on Iran overnight. Both currencies jumped against their peers after news of Israel’s action, but their gains have slowed. In afternoon trading, the dollar fell 0.2% against the Swiss franc to 0.91 franc . It dropped as low as 0.9011 franc overnight, a roughly two-week low, following news of Israel’s move. Against the yen, the dollar was last ...

USD: FX to trade only on geopolitics today It was reported overnight that Israel launched a retaliatory strike on the Iranian city of Isfahan. For now, it appears that Iranian media are downplaying the size of the attack, and reassured that nuclear facilities have not been affected. The news has had ramifications for different asset classes already, although the initial impact has partly been unwound in the early morning hours. After spiking above $90/bbl, Brent is trading at $89 at the time of writing, while the Nikkei dropped to as ...