USD/JPY consolidates its recent gains to the highest level since late April. The BoJ April meeting minutes fail to provide any impetus to the major. Tuesday’s disappointing US data weigh on the USD and cap the upside. Spot prices, meanwhile, move little following the release of the Bank of Japan April meeting minutes and remain well within the striking distance of the highest level since late April retested the previous day.
The data pointed to signs of exhaustion among US consumers, lifting bets for an imminent rate cut by the Federal Reserve later this year. This led to the overnight decline in the US Treasury bond yields and keeps the USD bulls on the defensive. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda's hawkish remarks on Tuesday, saying that the central bank could raise rates in July depending on economic data, underpin the JPY.