USD/JPY extends upside to 149.00 as focus shifts to BoJ, Fed policy

USD/JPY jumps to 148.80 on hopes that the BoJ will maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy stance on Tuesday.
The BoJ lacks a significant wage-price spiral to back an exit to negative interest rates.
Diminished Fed rate cut expectations keep the US Dollar strong near its three-week highs around 103.50.

Sagar Dua FXStreet

The USD/JPY climbs to 148.80 in the late European session on Friday as the Japanese Yen weakens on expectations that the Bank of Japan (BoJ) will not end the expansionary policy stance in the meeting on Tuesday.

Plenty of fundamentals favor the BoJ quitting negative interest rates. BoJ’s favourite inflation measure, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), excl. fresh food has remained above the 2% target for a longer period. Meanwhile, Japan's biggest companies agreed with labor unions to raise wages by the highest level in 33 years, reported Reuters.

In addition, Japan's Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said early Friday that the economy is no longer in deflation and that the government will mobilize all policy steps available to continue the strong trend of wage hikes this year. However, investors hope the BoJ will not go for exiting the prolonged expansionary policy stance as a full-proof plan for the wage-price spiral remains absent.

Market participants will keenly focus on the BoJ’s press conference about when the central bank will scrap its negative interest rates and Yield Curve Control (YCC). Earlier, BoJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said policymakers will debate whether the outlook is bright enough to phase out the massive monetary stimulus.

Meanwhile, market sentiment remains cautious as stubborn United States inflation has dented expectations for the Federal Reserve (Fed) to reduce interest rates from the June meeting. Surprisingly stubborn US Producer Price Index (PPI) data for February is expected to allow Fed policymakers to argue to keep interest rates higher for a longer period.

The US Dollar Index (DXY) is holding near its three-week high of around 103.50. Ten-year US Treasury yields are extending their upside to 4.31%.

USD/JPY

Overview
Today last price	148.89
Today Daily Change	0.56
Today Daily Change %	0.38
Today daily open	148.33

Trends
Daily SMA20	149.46
Daily SMA50	148.34
Daily SMA100	147.54
Daily SMA200	146.35

Levels
Previous Daily High	148.36
Previous Daily Low	147.43
Previous Weekly High	150.57
Previous Weekly Low	146.48
Previous Monthly High	150.89
Previous Monthly Low	145.9
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	148.01
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	147.79
Daily Pivot Point S1	147.72
Daily Pivot Point S2	147.11
Daily Pivot Point S3	146.8
Daily Pivot Point R1	148.65
Daily Pivot Point R2	148.97
Daily Pivot Point R3	149.58

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.

GBP/USD trims gains, hovers around 1.3520 on US CPI data

GBP/USD adds to the weekly move higher and keeps the trade above the 1.3500 threshold on Wednesday. Cable’s extra recovery follows the modest selling pressure on the Greenback after US CPI readings matched consensus in July.

EUR/USD retargets 1.1550 on US inflation

EUR/USD picks up some traction and flirts with the 1.1550 region on Wednesday. The pair’s modest advance comes as the US Dollar gathers some steam after US CPI data matched estimates last month.

Gold clings to gains above $4,400 post-US CPI

Gold reverses the recent weakness and reclaims the area past the $4,400 mark per troy ounce on Wednesday. The precious metal’s recovery picks up pace and exceedes the $4,400 level in the wake of the release of in-line US inflation figures in July and the marginal gains in the US Dollar.

Ripple lags recovery as exchange reserves expand

Ripple is trading within a broadly constrained technical structure, with support at $1.00 and key moving averages limiting its recovery potential. In August, the remittance token declined by approximately 6.5%, extending its total pullback to around 14% from July's $1.18 peak.

911 million shares freed: Why SpaceX rallied into its own supply

The most heavily trailed supply event of the year landed on August 6, and the SpaceX (SPCX) stock went up. Roughly 911.5 million shares held by insiders and early backers became eligible to trade, around 43% more than the entire float sold at the listing.

9-3: Is the Federal Reserve’s vote tally Warsh's new forward guidance?

The rate did not move. Neither did the statement, and that’s the more interesting fact. Set the July 29 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement beside the one issued on June 17, and the two documents are identical apart from a single verb and a paragraph at the bottom naming three dissenters.