Earlier in the Day:
It is a relatively busy start to the day on the economic calendar this morning. The Japanese Yen was in action in the early hours.
For the Japanese Yen
In January, the manufacturing PMI rose from 54.3 to 54.6. Economists had forecast a decrease to 54.0. More significantly, the services PMI slid from 52.1 to 46.6. Economists had forecast a decline to 52.0.
According to the prelim January survey,
Private sector activity dipped for the first time in 4-months, with the composite PMI falling from 51.8 to 48.8.
Service sector activity fell at the sharpest pace since August, overshadowing a modest pickup in manufacturing sector activity.
The spread of the Omicron strain weighed on service sector activity in the month.
Looking at the sub-components:
Firms across the services sector reported a fall in new orders, while manufacturers reported strong growth. New export orders followed a similar trend.
Employment fell for the first time in a year, with service sector firms reporting a stronger decline.
Backlogs of work declined as a result of a fall in backlogs across the services sector.
Input and output prices pointed to softer inflation.
Optimism across the private sector dipped. Service sector optimism fell to a 12-month low, while manufacturing sector optimism fell to a 5-month low.
The Japanese Yen moved from ¥113.809 to ¥113.807 upon release of the figures. At the time of writing, the Japanese Yen was down by 0.18% to ¥113.890 against the U.S Dollar.
Elsewhere
At the time of writing, the Aussie Dollar was down by 0.01% to $0.7184, while the Kiwi Dollar was up by 0.01% to $0.6718.
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