Earthquake hits Japan, what now?

Obviously my hopes and prayers are with all those who have lost loved ones or who are hurt in Japan.

My other question is (Im not heartless, just thinking as a trader) how do you think it will affect the JPY?
Powerplants and Airports have been closed. Will this make the currency drop? Or are there a lot of other things to look at first?

Looks like a huge amount of Yen repatriation occurred initially as various organisations there probably want their hands on cash. Govt. is going to need a big pile just to rebuild infrastructure. Would presume that Yen would weaken over the next while though as this bites into their GDP, etc. (all other things being equal).

I am too new to process some of this but I would appreciate some clarification, if I may impose upon your kindness.

The yen dropped against the usd/jpy after the quake which implies that the yen strengthened against the dollar?? yes/no

However, didnt the kiwi and the aud weaken after the recent calamities there or do I have wrong?

thank you.

MaineTrader

You can’t really say “The yen dropped against the usd/jpy”, since the yen is the jpy in the usd/jpy pair. In the first hour after the disaster the usd/jpy went up, meaning the US dollar strengthened and the Yen weakened, but after that, the dollar yen pair went down, meaning the Yen is strengthening against the US dollar.

I’m a noob too…so can anyone explain why the usd declined against the yen? I’m confused.

thanks

There are some explanations being offered in the “what the hell happened” post in this other forum post (i tried to link it, but you need more authority than I currently have), no need to repeat them here in depth. In summary though:[ul]
[li]Inflationary impact
[/li][li]Repatriation of funds
[/li][li]Insurance Payouts
[/li][/ul]
Just some of the items.

Normally,in this situation the yen should go south,hmmm will see.

No, normally, exactly THIS would happen. It drops a little bit to convince everybody that it’s gonna fall and then boooom… rallies up.

Its really a matter of timeframes, no? In the first 2 hours of the disaster the Yen fell about 0.6%, then it turned around and rose for the next 9 hours close to 2%. On a daily chart, even though it put in an extreme range it is not incredibly noticeable, meaning there are days close to that range in the recent past.

Japan needs money now.Do they have it?Maybe,if not they will print(hope not).

They will get help from other countries