USD/JPY rises to fresh two-week highs above 109.00 on surging US T-bond yields
- USD/JPY continues to push higher during the American session.
- 10-year US T-bond yield is up more than 4% on Thursday.
- US Dollar Index extends daily recovery toward 91.00.
The USD/JPY pair rose steadily during the first half of the day on Thursday but struggled to break above 109.00. With the US Treasury bond yields continuing to push higher during the American trading hours, the pair regained its traction and touched its strongest level in two weeks at 109.22. As of writing, USD/JPY was up 0.5% at 109.15.
US economy fires on all cylinders
The data published by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis showed that the US economy grew by 6.4% (first estimate) in the first quarter. With this reading coming in better than analysts' estimate of 6.1%, the benchmark 10-year US T-bond yield jumped to its highest level since mid-April at 1.686%, where it was up more than 4% on a daily basis. Consequently, the greenback started to outperform its rivals and the US Dollar Index extended its daily recovery to a session top of 90.78.
Other data from the US revealed that the weekly Initial Jobless Claims declined by 13,000 to 533,000 in the week ending April 24 and Pending Home Sales rose by 1.9% in March, compared to analysts' estimate for an increase of 5%.
Meanwhile, the S&P 500 Index opened sharply higher and notched a new all-time high above 4,200 after the upbeat data, keeping the USD's gains limited for the time being.
In the early trading hours of the Asian session on Friday, Jibun Bank Manufacturing PMI, Industrial Production and Unemployment Rate data from Japan will be looked upon for fresh impetus.
Technical levels to watch for
Author
Eren Sengezer
FXStreet
As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.
