U.S. economy strengthens with strong economic indicators, long-term U.S. interest rates rise, and the dollar/yen remains firm in the 148 yen range.

【1/18Market Overview

Tokyo time, the Nikkei Average started lower but turned higher, and with the rise in cross currencies, the USD/JPY rose to148.25yen. However, there was selling by domestic real demand at the order-based settlement, and it stalled.148around, hovering near 148, then briefly dipped to147.76yen. In European trading hours, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield declined, and USD/JPY fell to147.65yen, but afterwards buying returned ahead.NYtime,the previous week's initial jobless claims in the United States were18.7ten thousand (consensus20.7ten thousand) and the result was strong, as well as12month U.S. housing starts/building permits exceeding expectations, lifting the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield and pushing USD/JPY to148.30yen.