BLBG: Yen Falls Versus Euro as Volatility Drops, Spurring Carry Trade
The yen fell against the euro for the first time in four days as a drop in currency volatility reduced the risk of losses in carry trades.
Japan’s yen decreased versus the Brazilian real and Australian dollar as stocks gained even after a U.S. government report showed initial jobless claims rose last week more than economists forecast.
“The fact that there’s no reaction in the market to negative news is a fairly robust signal that there are not a lot of people willing to be very bearish,” said Sebastien Galy, a currency strategist at BNP Paribas Securities SA in New York. “It’s a positive signal for risk taking.”
The euro advanced 0.5 percent to 130.21 yen at 10:16 a.m. in New York, from 129.61 yesterday. The dollar gained 0.5 percent to 95.74 yen from 95.30. The euro was little changed at $1.3599, compared with $1.36.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s index of investor expectations for currency swings, known as implied volatility, decreased to 14.47 percent, from 14.56 percent yesterday.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index climbed 0.6 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.5 percent.
Initial U.S. jobless claims increased to 637,000 in the seven days ended May 9 from 605,000 a week earlier, the Labor Department reported today. The median forecast of 38 economists surveyed by Bloomberg was for an increase to 610,000.