Yen seems to love the fact that Japanese labor cash earnings jumped 0.5% y/y in April. The Dollar-Yen pair fell to a session low of 110.36, before recovering slightly to 110.42 levels. Real wages remain flat There was no improvement in the Japanese household purchasing power in April. The real wages, adjusted for consumer prices, remained flat. It followed a revised 0.3% annual fall in March. The weak real wages explain the drop in the household spending in April. The absence of wage price inflation also explains why the core inflation has remained flat. The lacklustre real wage growth figure is capping the downside ... (full story)