It collapsed 2% against the dollar (to a 20-year low of 1.3100%) after the Bank of Japan (BoJ) decided to maintain its economic stimulus measures (‘QE’, or board). ticket) and to buy ‘as many Treasury bills as necessary’ to keep the ’10-year’ yield below 0.25%.
Mission accomplished, the Japanese 10-year yield plunged from 0.244% to 0.18%… and the yen now shows -14% since January 1, one of the fastest falls in 4 months since the 1990s.
The Dollar, for its part, withstood the contraction of American GDP by -1.4% in the 1st quarter of 2022 (far from +1.1% anticipated by the consensus): a score linked to the fall in exports.
The other parameters such as consumption, investment and employment also remained very positive.
The US benefited from a strong increase in consumer spending (+2.7%) during the 1st quarter, but which turned out to be a bit of a sham: it resulted from the ‘price effect’ on products such as fuel or food which represent incompressible expenses.
In addition, the number of registered unemployed in the United States fell by -5,000 in weekly data to 180,000: the American Department of Labor specifies that the number of regular beneficiaries fell by 1,000 to reach 1.41 million CVS l end of the week of April 9 to 16.
This is the lowest algebraic level since the early 1970s.
The Dollar Index easily beat a new annual record with +0.7% 102.7 (and even 102.9 at its highest, March 2020 record gal), while the Pound fell by as much $1.2430, the Swiss franc of -0.3% 0.972.
The Euro sank -0.7%, below 1.0500 against the $, touching a new low of 1.0472, a -7.5% decline since January 1, and a lowest since 5 years, with a next level of support emerging around 1.0350.
The Euro sank after the publication of inflation in Germany which reached +0.8% over 1 month according to Destatis.
The rise in energy prices again fueled inflation, which climbed to 7.4% in the first estimate in April (against 7.2% expected) unheard of since 1981 with the Iran-Iraq conflict.
Energy prices alone rose by 35.3% year on year in April, a phenomenon that was accentuated with the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
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