EUR/JPY tests two-week lows at 183.30 amid generalised Euro weakness

The Yen appreciates against the Euro on the aftermath of the US intervention in Venezuela.
BoJ Governor Ueda confirmed the bank's commitment to higher interest rates.
In Europe, the focus is on January's Sentix Investors' Confidence Index.

Guillermo Alcala FXStreet

The Euro has opened the first full week of 2026 in a weak tone and is trading lower against a somewhat firmer Japanese Yen. The pair accelerated its reversal from Friday’s highs, at 184.40, and is testing the bottom of the last two-week trading range, at 183.30, at the time of writing.

The safe-haven Japanese Yen is faring better than the common currency upon return from the Christmas holidays, amid rising geopolitical tensions following the US intervention in Venezuela this weekend.

Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro, is expected to appear in front of a US Court on Monday, and President Donald Trump has threatened a second round of attacks if the authorities fail to cooperate with the US plans for the country’s Oil industry and stop drug trafficking.

Earlier on Monday, the Governor of the Bank of Japan, Kazuho Ueda, provided some additional support to the Yen, reiterating the central bank’s commitment to normalising its monetary policy. Ueda pledged to keep raising rates in the coming months if wages and prices continue their moderate growth trend.

In Europe, the primary focus on Monday will be on the release of January’s Sentix Investors’ Confidence. The index reviews institutional investors’ feelings about the current economic situation and has been posting negative readings since August, reflecting a downbeat sentiment.

Bank of Japan FAQs

What is the Bank of Japan?

The Bank of Japan (BoJ) is the Japanese central bank, which sets monetary policy in the country. Its mandate is to issue banknotes and carry out currency and monetary control to ensure price stability, which means an inflation target of around 2%.

What has been the Bank of Japan’s policy?

The Bank of Japan embarked in an ultra-loose monetary policy in 2013 in order to stimulate the economy and fuel inflation amid a low-inflationary environment. The bank’s policy is based on Quantitative and Qualitative Easing (QQE), or printing notes to buy assets such as government or corporate bonds to provide liquidity. In 2016, the bank doubled down on its strategy and further loosened policy by first introducing negative interest rates and then directly controlling the yield of its 10-year government bonds. In March 2024, the BoJ lifted interest rates, effectively retreating from the ultra-loose monetary policy stance.

How do Bank of Japan’s decisions influence the Japanese Yen?

The Bank’s massive stimulus caused the Yen to depreciate against its main currency peers. This process exacerbated in 2022 and 2023 due to an increasing policy divergence between the Bank of Japan and other main central banks, which opted to increase interest rates sharply to fight decades-high levels of inflation. The BoJ’s policy led to a widening differential with other currencies, dragging down the value of the Yen. This trend partly reversed in 2024, when the BoJ decided to abandon its ultra-loose policy stance.

Why did the Bank of Japan decide to start unwinding its ultra-loose policy?

A weaker Yen and the spike in global energy prices led to an increase in Japanese inflation, which exceeded the BoJ’s 2% target. The prospect of rising salaries in the country – a key element fuelling inflation – also contributed to the move.

Author

Guillermo Alcala

FXStreet

Graduated in Communication Sciences at the Universidad del Pais Vasco and Universiteit van Amsterdam, Guillermo has been working as financial news editor and copywriter in diverse Forex-related firms, like FXStreet and Kantox.

GBP/USD trims gains, back to around 1.3500

GBP/USD now surrenders part of the earlier move to multi-week peaks around 1.3530 and comes close to the 1.3500 support on Monday. Cable’s uptick comes in tandem with decent gains in the Greenback, always amid persistent uncertainty lingering over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and US-Iran talks.

EUR/USD slips to daily lows near 1.1540

EUR/USD now loses further momentum and recedes toward the 1.1540 zone, or daily lows, on Monday. The pair’s bearish performance action comes as investors continue to assess Friday’s disappointing US jobs data in a context where renewed tensions in the Middle East lend decent support to the US Dollar.

Gold clings to daily gains; focus is back to $4,400

Gold picks up pace and advances past the $4,350 mark per troy ounce, adding to Friday’s gains. That said, the yellow metal keeps pushing harder despite the better tone in the US Dollar, and is closely following the Fed’s interest-rate outlook as well as developments in the Middle East

Crypto Today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP eye short-term recovery amid ETF inflows

Cryptocurrency prices are gaining traction on Monday, with Bitcoin (BTC) trading above $65,000, Ethereum (ETH) holding the near-term $1,900 support and Ripple (XRP) hovering above the critical $1.00 demand zone. The broad recovery comes amid capital inflows through US-listed Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs).

US Payrolls miss – RBA on deck tomorrow

It would be remiss of me not to kick off this morning’s report with a rundown of last Friday’s US jobs report, which was a belter. Headline payrolls fell by 23,000, versus expectations of an 80,000 gain. The BLS noted that May was revised down by 66,000 (from 129,000) and June by 37,000 (from 57,000), resulting in combined May-June revisions of 103,000 lower than previous reports.

9-3: Is the Federal Reserve’s vote tally Warsh's new forward guidance?

The rate did not move. Neither did the statement, and that’s the more interesting fact. Set the July 29 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement beside the one issued on June 17, and the two documents are identical apart from a single verb and a paragraph at the bottom naming three dissenters.