{"id":305163,"date":"2025-11-21T13:02:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T13:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/305163\/"},"modified":"2025-11-21T13:02:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T13:02:14","slug":"japans-core-inflation-in-october-rises-to-a-3-month-high-supporting-the-case-for-rate-hikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/305163\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan’s core inflation in October rises to a 3-month high, supporting the case for rate hikes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Customers check out vegetables and other groceries at a supermarket in Tokyo on June 20, 2025.<\/p>\n

Kazuhiro Nogi | Afp | Getty Images<\/p>\n

Japan’s core inflation in October rose at its sharpest rate since July, in line with market estimates on Friday, supporting the case for interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan.<\/p>\n

Core inflation, which strips out prices of fresh food, came in at 3% as expected by economists polled by Reuters. <\/p>\n

The headline inflation rate rose to 3%, staying above the BOJ’s 2% target for 43 straight months. <\/p>\n

The so-called “core-core” inflation rate, which strips out prices of fresh food and energy, crept up to at 3.1%, compared to 3% in September. <\/p>\n

Rice inflation continued to ease for a fifth month in a row, dipping to 40.2% from 49.2% in the previous month. <\/p>\n

Japan’s\u00a0Nikkei 225<\/a>\u00a0was 1.58% lower, while the\u00a0yen\u00a0strengthened 0.1% to trade at 157.5 against the dollar as senior Japanese officials voiced concerns on yen moves.<\/p>\n

BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda<\/a> told the country’s parliament on Friday that the central bank should be mindful that a weak yen could affect underlying inflation by pushing up import costs and broader prices.<\/p>\n

Signaling urgency over yen weakness, Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama reportedly hinted at a possible intervention in the market, saying that she was “alarmed by recent one-sided, sharp moves in the currency market,” Reuters reported.<\/p>\n

According to LSEG data, the dollar has appreciated 2.19% against the yen over the course of November so far, while over the last six months, it has gained 9.52%.<\/p>\n

Stock Chart IconStock chart icon\"hide<\/p>\n

Ueda also had<\/a> his first bilateral meeting with newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi earlier this week.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, Ueda told Takaichi the central bank was “gradually raising interest rates to guide inflation smoothly towards its 2% target and ensure the economy achieves sustainable growth,” Reuters reported. <\/p>\n

Takaichi has been an advocate of a loose monetary policy, and earlier this month told the country’s parliament that she hoped that the BOJ “conducts policy appropriately” so that the 2% inflation target is achieved by wage gains instead of cost-push factors.<\/p>\n

“The type of inflation we’re seeing now is not good,” Takaichi reportedly said. The BOJ governor also said that Takaichi did not make any request related to monetary policy.<\/p>\n

The central bank is currently caught between a rock and a hard place, with inflation running above target and GDP growth figures weakening as Japan takes a hit from U.S. tariffs.<\/p>\n

Japan’s GDP<\/a> in the three months to September contracted for the first time in six quarters, falling 0.4%\u00a0sequentially,\u00a0and\u00a0dipping 1.8% on an annualized basis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Customers check out vegetables and other groceries at a supermarket in Tokyo on June 20, 2025. Kazuhiro Nogi…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[8073,8072,28,122,101,2402,7173],"class_list":["post-305163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-asia-economy","tag-breaking-news-asia","tag-business","tag-business-news","tag-economy","tag-inflation","tag-nikkei-225-index"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}