USD/JPY consolidates below 1-month tops, NFP awaited

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

• Bulls struggling to breakthrough mid-107.00s amid risk-off mood.
• Sliding US bond yields offset a follow-through USD buying interest.
• Focus remains on the keenly watched US monthly jobs report.

The USD/JPY pair struggled to build on its intraday rebound from the 107.00 handle and was now seen oscillating in a range just below mid-107.00s, over 1-month tops.

The pair failed to capitalize on the Asian session uptick and was now being capped by bearish trading sentiment around European equity markets, which underpinned the Japanese Yen's safe-haven appeal.

The risk-off mood, further reinforced by the ongoing slide in the US Treasury bond yields, partly offset a strong follow-through US Dollar buying interest and was seen as one of the key factors keeping a lid on any additional up-move.

Heading into today's key event risk - the release of US monthly jobs data, investors' reluctance to place any aggressive bets further collaborated to the pair's range-bound/subdued price action during the early European session.

Apart from the keenly watched NFP report, the Fed Chair Jerome Powell's scheduled speech would be scrutinized for clues over the central bank's near-term monetary policy outlook and might also provide some meaningful impetus on the last trading day of the week.

Technical levels to watch

Momentum above mid-107.00s could get extended towards 107.75 intermediate resistance en-route the 108.00 handle. On the flip side, the 107.00 handle now seems to have emerged as an immediate support, which if broken might prompt some fresh long-unwinding trade and accelerate the fall towards 106.80-75 intermediate support ahead of 106.50 level.

Author

Haresh Menghani

FXStreet

Haresh Menghani is a detail-oriented professional with 10+ years of extensive experience in analysing the global financial markets.

AUD/USD falls to near 0.7100 after slipping below 50-day EMA

AUD/USD depreciates after registering minor gains in the previous day, trading around 0.7120 during the Asian hours. The technical analysis of the daily chart shows the pair consolidating sideways within a rectangle pattern, as neither bulls nor bears gain control. The AUD/USD pair is holding a slight bearish tone however as it sits beneath both the nine-day and 50-day EMAs.

Japanese Yen edges up but remains close to the 160.00 intervention threshold

The Japanese Yen edges up against the US Dollar on Friday, but the USD/JPY pair remains above 159.90 at the time of writing, unable to put a significant distance from the 160.00 level, considered the limit of tolerable JPY weakness for Japanese authorities.

Gold returns to the red, awaits US NFP

Gold price is looking to test the weekly lows, while in the red near $4,450 in the early European session on Friday. The precious metal remains vulnerable amid ongoing geopolitical turmoil. Traders will closely monitor the developments surrounding the US-Iran peace deal and the US May employment report later on Friday.

Arthur Hayes' “Holy Trinity” is dead: Exits Zcash after Orchard Pool exploit

Arthur Hayes has entirely dumped his “Holy Trinity” holdings by offloading his Zcash holdings on Friday. The privacy coin is down 13% so far on Friday, extending Thursday’s 26% decline after an Orchard Shielded Pool audit revealed a critical vulnerability that allowed the undetectable minting of fake coins. Hayes continues to hold Worldcoin ahead of the upcoming SpaceX Initial Public Offering, on the chance of a “high-beta proxy” rally.

Nonfarm Payrolls set to show stable labor market in May as markets digest Fed hawkish shift

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics will release the Nonfarm Payrolls data for May on Friday at 12:30 GMT. Investors expect NFP to rise by 85K following the surprisingly strong 185K and 115K increases recorded in March and April, respectively.

Recession on paper: What really moves the Canadian Loonie now?

Statistics Canada handed the headline writers a gift and the analysts a headache. Real GDP shrank 0.1% on an annualized basis in the first quarter, and with the fourth quarter of 2025 revised down to a 1.0% contraction, that is two negative quarters in a row, the textbook definition of a technical recession and Canada's first since the pandemic.