JPY: Weakness in play – BBH

The yen is the weakest of the major currencies today, easing around 0.4% and for the week, it is off 1.2%, notes the research team at BBH.  

Key Quotes

“The US dollar poked through the JPY113.50 level for the first time since mid-November.  The JPY113.25 area corresponded with a key retracement target of the down move since early November's peak near JPY11.75.  Today's dollar gains come despite the doubling of the initial estimate for Japan's Q3 GDP from 0.3% to 0.6%, and a larger than expected current account surplus (JPY2.176 trillion).”  

“The driver for the GDP revision was a boost in business investment from 0.2% to 1.1%.  When thinking about Japan's current account surplus, keep in mind that it is not driven by trade.  Japan's trade surplus was JPY430 bln, a fifth of the current account surplus, which is driven by investment income.”