Heads up for Japan inflation data today, due at 2330 GMT

Last week we got the 'national' CPI data for Japan in January. The stats people there now release this data a week prior to they used to. Nice!

• Japan (Jan.) headline inflation 1.4% y/y (exp. 1.3%) & core-core 0.4% y/y (exp 0.3%)

Today we get the 'Tokyo' inflation data, but for February - i.e. the Tokyo data is published 3 weeks before the national result (national February CPI will be out in 3 weeks).

The data is due at 2330 GMT

• Tokyo CPI y/y for February, expected is 1.4%, prior was 1.3%
• Tokyo CPI excluding Fresh Food y/y for February, expected is 0.8%, prior was 0.7%
• Tokyo CPI excluding Food, Energy y/y for February, expected is 0.5%, prior was 0.4%

The Bank of Japan has an inflation target at 2% (ICYMI ... they have had it for years and have been missing it woefully for years). The target is for core (excluding food and energy).

The Bank produce its own measure of inflation:

• Its intended to be a core measure, a guide to underlying inflation
• Its latest trimmed mean CPI has risen to 0.8%y/y (January), to its highest since August 2014,
• Weighted median CPI shows 0.2% y/y (measure for Q1)

The 'Tokyo' inflation data today is not expected to impact on the yen upon release