USD/JPY: Japan's Confidence Rises but US Employment is STRONG !

Bank of Japan Governor Ueda recently gave his first news conference since taking on his new role, and he made it clear that he has no plans to make any major changes to the current monetary policy. While some people expected Ueda to take steps towards normalization, such as removing yield curve control, he stated that the current policy is appropriate for the economy.

There has been speculation that Ueda will make significant moves in the coming months, as Japan faces inflation above the Bank of Japan's 2% target. However, Ueda's message of "stay tuned for more of the same" has lowered expectations of a policy shift at the April 28th meeting, causing the yen to decline.

Despite this, there was some positive news for Japan's policy makers, as consumer confidence rose to 33.9 in March, the highest level since May 2022. However, consumer confidence remains in negative territory, below the 50-level which separates contraction from expansion.

In the United States, the employment report for March was solid, with 236,000 jobs added to the economy. Although this was slightly softer than February's reading, the labor market has remained resilient to rate hikes, and the odds of a 25-bp rate hike have increased to 68% according to the CME Group.