USD/JPY rattles post-Fed rate call, dumps back into 151.00

USD/JPY took a quick plunge into 151.25 after Fed held rates.
FOMC sees slightly higher rates in the future than previously expected.
Markets shrug off higher growth forecast, price in additional easing.

Joshua Gibson FXStreet

USD/JPY took a quick dive into 151.00 after the Federal Reserve (Fed) held its main reference rate at 5.5% as markets had broadly predicted. Risk-hungry investors are shrugging off higher-than-previous growth expectations and interest rate forecasts from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). According to the FOMC, US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth through 2024 is going to be slightly higher than forecast, and year-end interest rates are likely to be higher than previously expected.

Despite upside shifts to the Dot Plot, the Fed still expects three rate cuts through 2024 for around 75 basis points, and markets are keeping hopes of near-term rate trimming to begin closer to the middle of the year. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is due at the bottom of the hour at 18:30 GMT.

Fed Chair Powell noted that while inflation continues to ease down towards 2.0%, victory ultimately hasn't been achieved and uncertainty remains a key sticking point for the FOMC. Chairman Powell went on to specifically highlight that the Fed won't be putting too much emphasis on one or two months' worth of data. Chair Powell also flagged a slackening in the US labor market as a specific trigger necessary to kick off rate cuts.

USD/JPY 5-minute chart

USD/JPY

Overview
Today last price	151.6
Today Daily Change	0.75
Today Daily Change %	0.50
Today daily open	150.85

Trends
Daily SMA20	149.39
Daily SMA50	148.65
Daily SMA100	147.53
Daily SMA200	146.5

Levels
Previous Daily High	150.96
Previous Daily Low	149.01
Previous Weekly High	149.16
Previous Weekly Low	146.49
Previous Monthly High	150.89
Previous Monthly Low	145.9
Daily Fibonacci 38.2%	150.22
Daily Fibonacci 61.8%	149.76
Daily Pivot Point S1	149.59
Daily Pivot Point S2	148.32
Daily Pivot Point S3	147.63
Daily Pivot Point R1	151.54
Daily Pivot Point R2	152.23
Daily Pivot Point R3	153.5

Author

Joshua Gibson

FXStreet

Joshua joins the FXStreet team as an Economics and Finance double major from Vancouver Island University with twelve years' experience as an independent trader focusing on technical analysis.

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