“Core Japanese inflation has stalled”

So headlines the Financial Times (FastFT, subscription required) , Says:

  • Core Japanese inflation rose at its fastest pace in more than three decades last month
  • Up 3.4 per cent from a year ago (full data is here), and the fastest pace since 1982
  • But …stripped of the April 1 tax hike it looks as though the pace of price increases has stalled, or even peaked

Further:

  • BoJ estimates that the April 1 tax hike added 1.7% to the core CPI data in April & 2 per cent thereafter …
  • Means core inflation actually rose 1.5% in April, and 1.4% in May
  • In other words, the direction of price changes is falling, not increasing, raising questions about what the Bank of Japan should do next.

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Yen still doing nothing