Some market observers even warned of potential weakness in the Japanese economy, such as misses in machine orders and industrial activity, which could further add to the case for a looser for longer monetary policy out of the BOJ.
“This may be acting as a countervailing force against the support the yen would get for its safe-haven nature,” Morgan Harting, a portfolio manager at AllianceBernstein, told the WSJ.
Despite the abnormality this year, Goel anticipates the yen’s safe-haven status to hold over the long run due to Japan’s large current-account surplus.
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