USD/JPY approaches 150.00 as focus shifts to US Inflation data

USD/JPY marches toward 150.00 as Fed policymakers maintain a hawkish rhetoric.
Fed Collins said the central bank should prioritize achieving the dual mandate.
The BoJ is not expected to go aggressive for rate hikes after exiting from an expansionary policy stance.

Sagar Dua FXStreet

The USD/JPY pair advances toward the psychological resistance of 150.00 in the late European session on Friday. The asset continues its two-day winning spell as investors turn cautious amid volatility ahead of January's United States Consumer Price Index (CPI) data.

The US Dollar Index (DXY) is slightly up from Thursday’s closing price as Federal Reserve (Fed) policymakers lean towards holding interest rates restrictive for longer. On Thursday, Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Susan Collins said the central bank needs to be sure about strength in the labor market and progress in inflation declining towards 2% before adopting an expansionary policy stance.

On the labor market front, the US economy is outperforming as weekly jobless claims, released on Thursday, were lower despite high lay-offs in the technology sector. For the week ending February 2, individuals claiming jobless benefits for the first time were at 218K, lower than expectations of 220K and the former release of 228K.

Going forward, the inflation will provide fresh guidance on interest rates. A stubborn inflation data would shift the hopes of a rate cut to June from May, which already shifted further from March. The CME Fedwatch tool shows trades see a 53% chance for a rate cut by 25 basis points (bps), declining in the range of 5.00%-5.25%.

On the Tokyo front, the Japanese Yen is under pressure as investors see the Bank of Japan (BoJ) not going aggressive on rate hikes after exiting from its ultra-dovish interest rate stance. On Thursday, BoJ Deputy Governor Uchida Shinichi said that monetary policy conditions in the Japanese economy are in a deep negative trajectory, which is not expected to get blown up aggressively.

USD/JPY

Overview
Today last price	149.46
Today Daily Change	0.15
Today Daily Change %	0.10
Today daily open	149.31

Trends
Daily SMA20	147.66
Daily SMA50	145.38
Daily SMA100	147.51
Daily SMA200	144.91

Levels
Previous Daily High	149.48
Previous Daily Low	147.93
Previous Weekly High	148.59
Previous Weekly Low	145.9
Previous Monthly High	148.81
Previous Monthly Low	140.81
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	148.89
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	148.52
Daily Pivot Point S1	148.33
Daily Pivot Point S2	147.36
Daily Pivot Point S3	146.79
Daily Pivot Point R1	149.88
Daily Pivot Point R2	150.45
Daily Pivot Point R3	151.43

Author

Sagar Dua

FXStreet

Sagar Dua is associated with the financial markets from his college days. Along with pursuing post-graduation in Commerce in 2014, he started his markets training with chart analysis.

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