Top Yen Strategists Have Very Different Outlooks on the Currency
- Sasaki cites trade tensions, while Ikeda keys in on China
- Five questions show gap in outlook: 99 versus 120 per dollar
Sharma: Dollar-Yen Is Classic Policy Divergence
Japan’s currency went on a roller-coaster ride this year, soaring against the dollar for much of 2016 then sliding back down. When it comes to the outlook for 2017, it turns out the market’s top two analysts have views that could hardly be further apart.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Tohru Sasaki and Nomura Holdings Inc.’s Yunosuke Ikeda sit side by side at the top of this year’s analyst rankings by Nikkei Veritas, a weekly financial paper whose surveys are closely watched in Japan. Sasaki, a former Bank of Japan currency official who ranks no. 1, holds one of the most bullish yen forecasts among the more than 50 compiled by Bloomberg. Ikeda, no. 2 in the latest poll, is a longstanding yen bear who has spent his entire two-decade career at Japan’s biggest brokerage.