ECB has the spotlight but US PPI not to be ignored by the USD/JPY

Of course the ECB policy decision is front and centre for market attention shortly today, but not long after that we also have some pretty important US data- the August PPI (Producer Price Index). This data will hit the screens 15 minutes after the ECB decision, at 12.30pm GMT. 

The markets are expecting core PPI to have risen by 0.3% last month, compared to a rise of 0.2% in July. The annualised core rate is expected to rise to 4.6% from 4.2%. The non-core rate is forecast to rise even more, but we need to remember that number includes oil prices. It is forecast to rise to 5.3% from 4.7%. We also have the usual weekly jobless claims out at the same time. 

So, ahead of this US data, the USD/JPY has lifted a little more since the last update and that has seen it reach 154.20. It is off that high now though and in terms of a pure dollar reaction to the US data we prefer to focus on the USD/JPY this afternoon, because of the ECB decision and how that might impact the EUR/USD from a different direction and not purely on the US data. 

The USD/JPY is currently trading at 154.11