Updates on JPY Verbal Intervention and China’s Economic Data

The Japanese yen saw some movement today following verbal intervention from Japan’s vice finance minister for international affairs, Atsushi Mimura. Mimura’s comments about recent yen moves being rapid and one-sided, as well as excess volatility in the FX market being undesirable, caused USD/JPY to fall slightly below 150.00.

Meanwhile, in China, new home prices fell at the fastest rate since 2015, but Q3 GDP came in at 4.6% year-on-year, better than expected. Retail sales for September also exceeded expectations, along with industrial output.

The People’s Bank of China launched a relending facility to assist listed firms with stock repurchases and increasing shareholdings, while major Chinese banks announced deposit rate cuts as anticipated. Additionally, the Bank’s governor Pan Gongsheng hinted at further rate and reserve requirement ratio cuts in the future.

In US politics news, a ‘data dump’ related to Trump’s trial over his attempt to overturn the 2020 election loss is expected to be released on Friday, despite Trump’s request for a delay until after the election. With the election approaching, the economic policies of Harris and Trump are under scrutiny.

Overall, major FX markets were relatively quiet today, with yen crosses showing some movement but USD/JPY only experiencing a small range. Chinese markets were more active, with equities slightly up on the day. The data from both Japan and China will be closely monitored in the coming days for further insights into the economic landscape.