Japan Retail Sales fall 12.3% year/year, USD/JPY buyers step-in to test session highs

Japanese data for the week has started to arrive today but has limited impact on the Japanese yen.

The data has arrived as follows:

Japan May Retail Sales

• Retail Sales fall 12.3% year/year - govt.

Japanese retail sales shed 12.3% in May from a year earlier, compared with a median market forecast for an 11.6% decline, government data showed on Monday, 

Reuters reported.

USD/JPY outlook

The yen is being pushed back against resistance on the data and is being monitored for a break-up structure within a phase of consolidation between 107.08 and 107.22 vs the greenback. 

• USD/JPY drops to pick-up buyers at a 50% retracement to test critical 107.20 resistance

Description of The Retail Trade

The Retail Trade released by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry captures the aggregate sales made through a business location (usually a store) in which the principal activity is the sale of merchandise and related services to the general public, for household or personal consumption. Consumer spending is a key important indicator for the Japanese economy. A high reading is positive for the JPY, while a low reading is negative.