Japan’s Treasury Vice-Minister Kanda said he had nothing to say about U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s weekend comments on foreign exchange. If you missed Yellen’s comments, please refer to the Kanda link above. However, in a nutshell, she only expressed her mild support for Japanese intervention. As a result, Japan appears to be acting alone in its intervention efforts, despite touting international cooperation.
USD/JPY rallied towards 154.30 before regaining full strength, but then rose further to cross 154.50.
More broadly, the US dollar fell slightly in morning trading, but has since fully recovered. There was little fresh news.
From Australia, first quarter retail sales data was weaker than expected. Quarterly data has fallen five of the past six times. AUD/USD initially rebounded above 0.6640 due to the weakness in the US dollar, but has since returned to lows around 0.6620 as of my update. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s statement is scheduled to be released (0430 Japan time/0030 US Eastern time), followed by Governor Block’s press conference (1 hour later). Expectations are that the central bank will sound more hawkish, leaving the cash rate unchanged at 4.35%, revising its short-term inflation forecast upwards, and leaving its forecast further ahead unchanged.
