USD/JPY broke through the 150 mark, driven by strong retail data and European interest rate cuts

The Zhitong Finance App learned that the exchange rate of the US dollar broke through the 150 mark against the yen on Thursday. This is the first time since the beginning of August, mainly driven by the ECB's decision to cut interest rates and strong US retail sales data. This exchange rate change reinforces the market's view that the spread between the US and Japan will continue to be large, thus encouraging the USD/JPY to receive buying support. Up to now, the USD/JPY exchange rate is reported at 149.69, up 0.25% during the day.

Shortly after taking office on October 1, Japanese Prime Minister Ishiwari Shigeru expressed his desire that the Bank of Japan would not rush to raise interest rates. Although he previously expressed support for interest rate hikes, this shift put selling pressure on the yen. Meanwhile, the resilient performance of the US economy made the market expect the Federal Reserve to slow down the pace of monetary easing, putting further pressure on the yen.

According to official data released on Thursday, retail sales in the US increased by 0.4% in September compared to the previous month, while the ECB's decision to cut interest rates indicates that inflation in the region has been brought under control. Against the backdrop of falling inflation, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time in four and a half years last month. The rate cut exceeded the normal rate by 0.5 percentage points, beginning an easing cycle.