In terms of currencies, 2013 has been the year of the yen. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in December 2012 with the promise to devalue the currency, and make the country more competitive in global trade. He’s delivered, and markets have followed with great interest, causing many to declare “currency wars” as other economies have raced to adjust the value of their currencies in response.
Abenomics, as it’s been called, has taken hold, and CME Group’s FX markets have responded, breaking several yen trading records, including the monthly average daily volume record in June. At the same time, we’ve seen that Fed officials have indicated that the end of QE is near, so long as the unemployment rate appears on a path toward 6.5 percent in 2014. Both central bank actions seem to have un-pegged the dollar and yen in recent months.
We created this infographic to trace the economic events this year with the growth in JPY/USD trading.
Infographic: Rise of the Yen FX Contracts | OpenMarkets
