The Japanese Yen (JPY) struggles to gain traction against the US Dollar (USD) on Thursday, even as the Greenback weakens modestly following softer-than-expected US Producer Price Index (PPI) data.
The Yen strengthened immediately after the release, briefly pushing USD/JPY toward 159
At the time of writing, USD/JPY trades around 159.37. The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the Greenback against a basket of six major currencies, trades around 99.90, retreating from 100.08, its highest level in two weeks. Data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the headline PPI was unchanged in July after falling by 0.1% in June, while the annual rate slowed to 4.7% from 5.5%.
Core PPI rose by 0.2% month-on-month, easing from 0.4%, while the yearly rate declined to 4.2% from 4.7%. The latest figures follow Wednesday’s in-line US Consumer Price Index (CPI) report. The run of softer inflation data has prompted traders to scale back expectations for an imminent Federal Reserve (Fed) interest-rate increase, which had already weakened after the July Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report surprised to the downside.