Bullard Optimistic On Summer Rate Hike

The Japanese yen weakened considerably in early Asian trading yesterday largely from a hawkish speech from Fed Chair Janet Yellen on Friday, boosting the US dollar. On the other hand, according to reports from the Nikkei, Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe decided on Monday to delay the planned consumption tax hike by two and a half years, until October 2019. Initially, the sales tax hike was planned to be hiked from 8% to 10% in just April of 2017. On Friday, monthly consumer price index data from Japan showed that BoJ's gauge of CPI falling to 0.90% from 1.10% in March.

Consumer prices in Germany rebounded in May by a small margin offsetting the declines in CPI from the previous month. Germany's consumer price index inched higher by 0.10% on a year over year basis after falling -0.10% in April, data from German statistics agency Destatis illustrated. Another measure called the Harmonized Consumer Price Index was unchanged in May after falling -0.30% in April. The HICP was expected to rise 0.30% for the month. On a month over month basis, German HICP was up 0.40%.