Odaily Planet Daily reported that Japan's latest core inflation data exceeded market expectations, sparking discussions in the market about the possibility of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) raising interest rates and potentially affecting risk assets including cryptocurrencies. Data shows that Japan's core CPI rose by 3% year-on-year in February, although slightly lower than January's 3.2%, it is still higher than the market expectation of 2.9%. At the same time, Japan's overall CPI fell from 4% to 3.7%, but still far exceeded the 2% inflation target set by the BOJ.
Since November 2024, Japan's inflation rate has consistently been higher than the United States, currently almost 100 basis points (bps) higher, marking the largest gap since 2015. The pressure of salary increase brought about by the "Shunto" salary negotiation has intensified the market's expectations for BOJ's interest rate hike. The expectation of interest rate hikes has pushed up the Japanese yen, but if the yen strengthens significantly, it may trigger market risk aversion and put pressure on risky assets such as Bitcoin.
As of press time, the US dollar/Japanese yen (USD/JPY) exchange rate stood at 149.22, rebounding nearly 300 basis points since March 11, indicating a short-term weakening of the yen. However, the yield spread between the U.S. and Japan's 10-year treasury bond narrowed, the yield of Japan's 10-year treasury bond remained above 1.5%, and the yield of 30-year treasury bond exceeded 2.5%, both at decades high levels, or supporting the strengthening of the yen. The market is paying attention to the future policy direction of BOJ and its impact on the global financial market. （CoinDesk）
