Investors assessed April inflation from Japan for clues on the Bank of Japan's monetary policy moves.Japan's core inflation — which strips out fresh food and energy — eased to 2.2% from 2.6% in March, in line with expectations. Headline inflation slowed to 2.5%, down from March's 2.7% figure.— CNBC's Hakyung Kim and Samantha Subin contributed to this report.eased slightly to 2.5% in April, lower than the 2.7% seen in March and marking a second straight month of slowing inflation.
The so-called"core-core" inflation rate — which strips out both fresh food and energy prices and is considered by the Bank of Japan when formulating monetary policy — saw the sharpest fall to 2.4% in April from 2.9% the month before.The chipmaker's shares jumped in extended trading but given the"blowout earnings," Nancy Tengler of Laffer Tengler Investments said she expected to see a higher move.
"The Fed has been pretty clear that they're not going to cut rates, so you don't have this, 'Will they or won't they' keeping everybody on edge. We are going to start to see a turn to some of this geopolitical stuff, whether it's its elections or the two ongoing wars," said Melissa Brown, managing director of applied research.