The Japanese yen has returned to the course of devaluation against the US dollar. The current USDJPY quote is 143.01.
The yen reacts to macroeconomic reports selectively, but today is the case.
The latest statistics showed that consumer prices in Japan increased faster than expected in May. At the same time, a tendency towards inflation acceleration intensified. Thus, prices excluding fresh food rose by 3.2% y/y. This is less than in April when core inflation stood at 3.4%. Nevertheless, the statistics surpassed expectations of a 3.1% increase. The primary inflation indicator was also up to 4.3% y/y, reaching the highest level since 1981.
Most observers believe that the Bank of Japan may revise its quarterly price forecasts at a July meeting. An abrupt shift in position could trigger adjustments to the yield curve monitoring programme of the Bank of Japan. This will be the first step to changing the structure of the BoJ’s monetary policy.