Japanese Yen (JPY)
Former Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso’s remarks during a Taiwan trip, advocating preparedness for conflict, have been condemned by China. Bank of Japan (BoJ) released a summary of opinions for July, affirming the need for continued monetary easing to achieve price stability. BoJ’s commitment to ultra-loose monetary policy suggests a delay in potential interest rate hikes. Japanese household spending accelerated on a month-over-month (mom) basis by 0.9%, contrary to an expected decline of -1.1%. Despite overseas interest rate pressures, Japan’s current account data for June indicates resilience in the economy.
Upcoming releases include Monday’s preliminary GDP rate for Q2, Thursday’s machine orders rates for June and trade balance figure for July, and Friday’s CPI rates for July.