The USD/JPY pair accelerated the decline following the release of US economic date and bottomed at 135.56, reaching the lowest level in two weeks. The pair hovers around 136.00, down 250 pips for the week, the worst performance since 2020.
The Japanese yen is up across the board even as stock prices rise in Wall Street and Europe. The rally in bonds gained speed after the release of US data, adding fuel to the yen.
The US S&P Global Services PMI tumbled unexpectedly in July to 47, down from 52.7 and against expectations of 52.6. It was the first reading under 50 since the pandemic. The S&P Manufacturing PMI fell less than expected to 52.3 against the market consensus of 52.
In other news, the EURUSD extended its recovery and reclaimed 1.0200 in the American session on Friday. After the data from the US pointed to a contraction in the private sectors business activity in early July, the dollar came under renewed selling pressure.
