Japan's Industrial Production managed to strengthen for a fourth straight month in June by 2.4%. While improving, the metric gained at the slowest pace since March. The yearly figure still remained weak. The 12 months through June saw such production decline by 23.4%, but still posted a better result than in the year through May. Shipments of steel products such as the hot rolled and metallic coated types gained by over 11.0%, adding to investor sentiment that global trade may be rising. Inventories, however, have been slipping. In fact, the amount of mined commodities in stock have declined by yet another 1.0% on the month. Such a trend, which has been in place for at least the last six months, may allow the natural level of prices to inch ahead a bit. If the decline in supply does indeed raise these prices, then corporate profits among Japanese companies may actually begin to float upward.
DailyFX provides forex news and technical analysis on the trends that influence the global currency markets.
Learn forex trading with a free practice account and trading charts from FXCM.
