US Dollar Continues To Slide Vs Yen Despite Dovish Iwata

Talking Points

• The US Dollar continued to slide against the Yen in Asia Thursday
• There was no clear catalyst for this but USD/JPY has been in retreat since Tuesday’s high
• Commentary from the Bank of Japan offered nothing new, but certainly no “exit strategy”

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The US Dollar continued to slide against the Japanese Yen Thursday despite a lack of obvious catalysts and, indeed, a rather “dovish” speech form the Bank of Japan’s Deputy Governor Kikuo Iwata.

There was nothing new in his comments to business leaders. He reminded them, as if they needed it, that the inflation outlook remains skewed to the downside and that, in his view, the BoJ must carry on with its “powerful” monetary easing. He noted that inflation remains low despite record corporate profits and a domestic labor market near full employment.

Consumer prices were rising at an annual 0.4% in Japan at last official look, clearly way below the 2% target, which hasn’t been neared since 2015.

Still, at the very least this sort of commentary underlines the fact that the central bank is nowhere near considering any exit from its extraordinary levels of monetary accommodation. It has been under pressure to explain how it would unwind some of its stimulus as the bonds bought in the name of that program have seen the BoJ’s balance sheet surpass the Gross Domestic Product of Japan.

Nevertheless USD/JPY faded further as the Asian session went along. The greenback made three-week highs on Tuesday but has retreated gradually since

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--- Written by David Cottle, DailyFX Research

Contact and follow David on Twitter: @DavidCottleFX