Japan inflation data for January (and for February in Tokyo)
'Headline' result - National CPI y/y for January, 2.4% y/y
- expected 2.4%, prior was 2.4%
National CPI y/y excluding Fresh Food for January, 2.2% y/y
- expected 2.3%, prior was 2.5% ('core' inflation)
National CPI excluding Food, Energy y/y for January, 2.1% y/y
- expected 2.1%, prior was 2.1% ('core-core' inflation)
Tokyo CPI y/y for February, 2.3% y/y
- expected 2.2%, prior was 2.3% (Tokyo CPI data is available a month earlier than the National CPI)
Tokyo CPI excluding Fresh Food y/y for February, 2.2% y/y
- expected 2.2%, prior was 2.2%
2330GMT Tokyo CPI excluding Food, Energy y/y for February, 1.7% y/y
- expected 1.7%, prior was 1.7%
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Note also ...
- The Bank of Japan has estimated that the sales tax hike - to 8 percent from 5 percent on April 1 - added 1.7 percentage points to the annual consumer inflation rate in April, and 2.0 points from the following month.
- K? So ya gotta subtract 2 from these numbers to get the inflation rate ...
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At the same time we got more data from Japan, that's here
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The inflation data is just trundling along barely above zero by the time the sales tax hike impact is stripped out. Headline at 0.4%, but the 'core' (which is what the Bank of Japan uses) is at +0.2% ... while the core-core (which takes out food and energy) is at 0.1%.
The Tokyo data ... which is available more quickly is at +0.3%, +0.2% and -0.3% ... all y/y.
If the BOJ want to target inflation, they've A LOT of work to do. But ... the pressure to do so has been coming off them.
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Meanwhile, USD/JPY not really caring either way ...
