Japan stepped up verbal intervention as USD/JPY breaks above 150 level. Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki warned today, “we are confronting speculators strictly.”
Yet, when asked if Yen was under attack by speculators, Suzuki said, “it’s inappropriate for me to comment on such a question under the current circumstances.”
Regarding BoJ policy, he said, “I’m not in a position to comment anything concrete. We’ll strive to maintain fiscal discipline with a major target of achieving primary budget surplus in fiscal 2025.”
















UK retail sales volume down -1.4% mom in Sep, value down -0.5% mom
UK retail sales volume dropped -1.4% mom in September, much worse than expectation of -0.5% mom. Sales values dropped -1.4% mom too. On a year earlier, sales volumes dropped -6.9% yoy while sales value rose 3.8% yoy.
Excluding fuel, sales volumes dropped -1.5% mom while sales values dropped -0.4% mom. On a year earlier, sales volume was down -6.2% yoy while sales value was up 3.3% yoy.
Comparing with pre-coronavirus level in February 2020, total retail sales were 12.0% higher in value terms but volumes were -1.3% lower.
Full release here.