OK, so its only two days in a row of good data, but its a lot better than what we are accustomed to seeing out of Japan. The machinery orders are a very good result:
- Japan March Machine Orders +14.2% m/m (vs. 3.5% expected)
- Japan March Machine Orders +2.4% y/y (vs. -4.9% y/y expected)
- Japan Q1 Housing Loans +3.2% q/q (vs. +3.1% prior)
Machinery orders are a volatile data series, check out the updated graph:
But, no denying the result will be welcome in Tokyo – the series will be closely watched in the market again next month for signs of consolidation in the improvement.
USD/JPY is a touch higher, but the response is muted, like it was after yesterday’s strong +3.5% GDP result.
