The case appears to be building for the Bank of Japan to remain on hold at its meeting next week:
- BOJ reportedly sees little cost to waiting for next rate hike
- BOJ reportedly erring towards keeping interest rates unchanged next week (The leaks keep on coming)
The data releases today don’t shed much light, they’ve been all over the place, good and not so good (manufacturing PMI still languishing but better):
- Japan preliminary December Manufacturing PMI 49.5 (prior 49.0) Services 51.4 (prior 50.5)
- Japan Machinery orders for October 2024: +2.1% m/m (expected +1.2%)
The yen has softened, towards (but not quite to) 154.00:
The USD is a touch weaker elsewhere.
Crypto the star, with Bitcoin above USD 105K (above 160K at one stage)
This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com.
