Suga Prepares For White House Visit, Osaka May Seek Emergency Declaration

USD/JPY moved further away from its monthly low on Friday and last sits at Y109.74, a touch higher on the day. The rate has stuck to a 14 pip range this morning, with little to rock the boat in the way of local or broader-picture headline flow.

• Osaka Governor appeared on TV Asahi, suggesting that he may ask the central gov't to declare a state of emergency. The authorities will take stock of the situation next week and decide whether to request an emergency declaration, which could entail stricter restrictions than those implemented earlier this year.
• Japan begins vaccinating over 65s today, with just shy of 100,000 doses to be initially distributed across all the prefectures.
• PM Suga is preparing for a trip to the White House, in what will be Joe Biden's first in-person meeting with a foreign leader since he became President. Source reports circulated by the local press suggested that joint communique might blame China for human rights abuses.
• A break above Apr 9 high of Y109.96 would give bulls a green light for targeting Apr 6 high of Y110.55. On the flip side, a move through Apr 8 low/23.6% retracement of the YtD rally at Y109.00/108.99 would turn bearish attention to Mar 23 low of Y108.41.
• Japan's PPI, bank lending & flash machine tool orders hit the wires later today. Looking further afield, core machine orders come out Wednesday.