The Yen isn’t responding to the statistics. Overview for 30.07.2018

On Monday, USDJPY is trading upwards; investors barely responded to the statistics.

At the start of another summer week, the Japanese Yen is falling against the USD. The current quote for the instrument is 111.06.

The reports published in the morning showed that the Retail Sales in Japan added 1.8% y/y in June. The number exceeded expectations and was much better than the May reading. It should be noted that the indicator has been increasing for eight consecutive months.

On MoM, the Retail Sales recovered in June after falling in the previous month: +1.5% against -1.7%.

Such excellent statistics offer a chance of recovery in the Japanese economy in the second quarter this year. The first quarter was a total disaster as far as major indicators and the country’s GDP are concerned, that’s why both economists and investors are expecting the second one to be not worse, at least, but even better theoretically.

The major problem for the Japanese economy is that the inflation remains weak despite gradual increase of consumer expenditures and good numbers of the labor market. The Bank of Japan has been puzzled over this problem for many years, but not very successful so far.