Watching JPY risks and Warsh’s policy leanings
JPY weakness and central bank guidance.
Group Research - Econs, Chang Wei Liang1 Jul 2026
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USD/JPY has surged above mid-162 levels, with markets testing the Japanese authorities’ tolerance for JPY weakness. USD/JPY has accelerated higher after breaking through 162 yesterday, given no new rhetoric to deter shorts by government officials. Finance Minister Katayama only said that Japan will take “appropriate action at any time as necessary” yesterday, which has been interpreted by traders as the JPY being somewhat distant from the intervention threshold. The previous restraint on JPY weakness from implicit intervention threats is receding, and the JPY could be on a softer footing without more forceful rhetoric. Meanwhile, Japan’s Tankan for Q2 released today indicated a solid rise in sentiment across large manufacturing firms (22 vs Q1:17), helped by an exports boom and easing oil prices.

Fed Chair Warsh will be speaking in a panel at the ECB Forum on Central Banking held in Sintra, and markets and the USD will seek cues on his policy leanings. To be sure, Warsh’s public view has been that policy speeches and forward guidance should be limited, but investors will still look for any clues on how Warsh views inflation risks given receding oil prices, particularly as the USD and front-end rates have priced in a hawkish outlook post the June’s FOMC meeting.

Unexpectedly, Warsh is not alone in downplaying forward guidance: ECB President Lagarde also signalled a shift away from forward guidance to “framework guidance” in her speech at Sintra. She highlighted how impacts from shocks are changing quickly, noting that oil prices surged to USD120 before declining towards low USD70s with geopolitical shifts. Thus, it is more important to express the ECB’s reaction function to changing circumstances than expressing forward guidance, which loses its value in times of uncertainty. Her speech suggests that the ECB may not necessarily hike rates further, if inflation is contained due to the normalization in oil prices.

Chang Wei Liang

FX & Credit Strategist
weiliangchang@dbs.com


Advisory
We have revised our FX Forecasts in yesterday’s FX Quarterly Report: Less De-Dollarisation, More Polarisation. For the full report, please click here (PDF, HTML)

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