The recent intervention by the Bank of Japan into the value of the Yen seems to have worked but markets are unsure of where it will go now. JPY has jumped back up above 85 against the USD and 133 against the pound putting at least a temporary stop to the slide that has been happening over the last few months. Some economists are now saying that the Yen is a good buy as it will only be a temporary fix and another bout of risk aversion or some more poor news out about the US economy could put more pressure on the USD but Japans PM said overnight that it stands ready to intervene again should they need to.
 
Yesterday saw a mix of data out with the UK employment figures showing a mini boom in the private sector, it means that the number of people in work increased by 286,000. It was not all good news though as although the unemployment rate remained the same at 7.8% the number of people claiming jobseekers allowance rose by £2,300.
 
The US was hurt again yesterday on some poor manufacturing data as industrial production grew a measly 0.2% and the NY Empire State Manufacturing Index came in at its lowest level since July ’09 pointing to a struggling manufacturing sector in the US. Today’s US data could shed some light on how bad this situation is.
 
This morning we have the UK retail sales figures expected to show a reasonable rise year on year and could be a good indicator for Q3 GDP out on the 26th October. There is very little data out tomorrow, only US inflation and a few bits for the Eurozone so after what has been a pretty busy week on the data front, today’s figures should set things up going into the weekend.