Inflation in Sweden has decreased and the target is expected to be reached this year. At the same time, the labour market situation has worsened and unemployment has risen. The Swedish economy is expected to remain in recession until 2025, but recovery is approaching. These are the conclusions of the Ministry of Finance in a new economic forecast. The Government's inflation-focus is now shifting from fighting to monitoring, while Sweden will be built to be more prosperous.

reuters | US-Japan Patriot missile production plan hits Boeing component roadblock (20.07.24)
A U.S. plan to use Japanese factories to boost production of Patriot air defence missiles—used by Ukraine to defend against Russian attacks—is being delayed by a shortage of a critical component manufactured by Boeing, four sources said. Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T), opens new tab (MHI) already makes about 30 PAC-3 missiles each year under licence from defence contractor Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), opens new tab and can increase that number to about 60, two Japanese government officials and two industry sources told Reuters. The production snag in Japan shows the challenges Washington faces in plugging industrial help from its global allies into its complex supply chains. A Boeing representative referred questions to Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for the interceptor.

Japanese authorities might step into the currency market and sell the euro if its exchange rate to the yen nears the ¥180 level, according to analysts at Citigroup.
The euro-yen pair traded as high as ¥175.43 on July 11—a record since the common currency was launched in 1999—before retreating, with the pair trading around ¥171 on Tuesday in Tokyo.

Japanese authorities likely spent approximately ¥3.5 trillion ($22 billion) on July 11 to prop up its currency against the dollar—marking what appeared to be the third intervention this year. The next day, the Bank of Japan conducted a rate check on the euro-yen pair, followed later by another suspected intervention in yen trade against the dollar. Rate checks typically signal that Tokyo is ready to intervene in the foreign-exchange market.