Where Does The Bid End For USD/JPY?

 | Feb 20, 2020 12:13

USD/JPY is up over 200 pips since Tuesday, crossing above 112.00 during European hours. If you are looking for a reason, its difficult to pinpoint one. Some of this may stem back to the poor GDP data out of Japan on Monday, and the threat of further poor data in the months ahead may be likely. However, poor data hasn’t really mattered in Japan for a while now. Ironically, investors actually would buy yen on any poor data from any country. including Japan, as the yen has always been considered the “safe-haven currency”.

That may have changed recently, as fears spread into Japan that the coronavirus may begin to affect daily life and the further slowdowns may be ahead. As we wrote yesterday, one of the main concerns is that Tokyo is preparing for the summer Olympics. This is expected to help provide a boost to Japan’s weak economy. What will happen if Japan is unable to hold he Olympics? Tourism would drop substantially, and retail spending would be anemic. The economic data would continue to get worse. Could the coronavirus be the straw the breaks the camels back for the yen as the safe haven currency? Right now, flows are moving from Yen to US Dollars, as the DXY has broken through its recent September highs at 99.67.