Japan Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki declined to confirm if there was intervention in the currency markets last Friday. But he reiterated, “we cannot tolerate excessive volatility caused by speculative moves, and we are ready to take necessary steps when needed…. we are in a situation where we are confronting speculative moves strictly.”
Masato Kanda, Vice Finance Minister for International Affairs also said, “we won’t comment” on whether Japan will intervene gain. He said, “we will take appropriate steps against excessive volatility 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno also said, “we refrain from commenting specifically on any currency intervention”.
China posted solid production but weak retail sales data
After a delay amid the 20th Communist Party Congress last week, China released a batch of economic data today.
GDP grew 3.9% yoy in Q3, and beat expectation of 3.3% yoy. In September, industrial grew 6.3% yoy, faster than August’s 4.2% yoy, and beat expectation of 4.9% yoy. Retail sales, however, rose only 2.5% yoy, slowed from August’s 5.4% yoy, and missed expectation of 3.1% yoy. Fixed asset investment rose 5.9% ytd yoy, below expectation of 6.0%.
Also released, in USD term, exports rose 10.7% yoy in September. Imports rose 0.3% yoy. Trade surplus widened from USD 79.4B to USD 84.0B, above expectation of USD 81B.