On Friday, household spending, wage growth, and finalized GDP numbers for Q3 were in focus. The numbers could impact bets on a Bank of Japan pivot from negative rates. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda sent the USD/JPY crashing after floating possible interest rate moves to parliament. A pickup in wage growth was the highlight of the numbers. Average cash earnings increased 1.5% year-over-year in October vs. 0.6% in September. The pickup could fuel consumer spending and demand-driven inflation, the missing piece of the jigsaw for the BoJ. However, household spending declined by 0.1% in October after rising by 0.3% in ... (full story)