The Yen is slowly rising. Overview for 30.10.2019

USDJPY is falling a little bit in the middle of the week; investors prefer to avoid risks in anticipation of the US Federal Reserve meeting.

The Japanese Yen is getting a bit stronger against the USD on Wednesday. The current quote for the instrument is 108.83. 

In the morning, Japan published a rather interesting report on Retail Sales in September. The indicator added 9.1% y/y after showing +1.8% y/y in August; it was really expected to improve, but not by so much. 

Most of all, consumers were buying general merchandise (+ 13.9%), motor vehicles (+16.9%) and machinery & equipment (+37.9%). However, it seems quite reasonable: starting October 1st, the sales tax in Japan went up from 8% to 10%, that’s why people were buying rather expensive things that were expected to get even more expensive, given the fact that Japanese households are usually very careful with spending money when the financial outlook in the country isn’t very bright. 

As a result of the sales tax increase, quite a lot of money will be credited to the country’s budget, but everyone understands that the Retail Sales indicator won’t continue skyrocketing. 

Investors are “dormant” today as they are waiting for the US Federal Reserve two-day meeting to be over on Wednesday night. As usual, this event tends to be pretty emotional for market players, that’s why they prefer to save strengths until some important information is released.