USD/JPY ticks lower despite US Dollar performs strongly ahead of Fed policy decision
- USD/JPY trades subduedly around 155.40 ahead of the Fed’s monetary policy announcement.
- The Fed is widely anticipated to leave interest rates steady in the range of 4.25%-4.50%.
- Investors have underpinned Yen against the US Dollar as BoJ's hawkish bets swell.
The USD/JPY pair edges lower to near 155.40 in Wednesday’s North American session. The asset trades cautiously even though the US Dollar (USD) performs strongly ahead of the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) monetary policy decision at 19:00 GMT.
The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the Greenback’s value against six major currencies, refreshes three-day high near 108.30. The USD Index gains as traders are confident that the Fed will announce a pause in the policy-expansionary spell and keep interest rates steady in the range of 4.25%-4.50%. In the last three policy meetings, the Fed reduced its key borrowing rates by 100 basis points (bps).
As the Fed is certain to maintain the status quo, investors will pay close attention to Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s press conference to gauge the next move in the US Dollar. Powell can be asked how long the Fed will keep interest rates at their current levels. Investors will also be keen to know the impact of United States (US) President Donald Trump’s economic agenda on the monetary policy outlook.
Analysts at Macquarie expect Powell to offer little in this regard other than emphasizing the “data dependence of future decisions” and highlighting “uncertainty about the neutral rate.”
Market participants view Trump’s policies, such as immigration controls, higher tariffs, and lower taxes, as inflationary and pro-growth for the economy. This scenario forces Fed officials to adopt a hawkish stance on interest rates.
Though the US Dollar performs strongly, investors have underpinned the Japanese Yen (JPY) against the Greenback amid growing expectations that the Bank of Japan (BoJ) will raise interest rates again this year.
Japanese Yen PRICE Today
The table below shows the percentage change of Japanese Yen (JPY) against listed major currencies today. Japanese Yen was the strongest against the Australian Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | 0.35% | 0.29% | -0.06% | 0.33% | 0.60% | 0.49% | 0.40% | |
| EUR | -0.35% | -0.05% | -0.40% | -0.02% | 0.24% | 0.16% | 0.05% | |
| GBP | -0.29% | 0.05% | -0.37% | 0.04% | 0.30% | 0.20% | 0.08% | |
| JPY | 0.06% | 0.40% | 0.37% | 0.40% | 0.66% | 0.54% | 0.44% | |
| CAD | -0.33% | 0.02% | -0.04% | -0.40% | 0.26% | 0.16% | 0.04% | |
| AUD | -0.60% | -0.24% | -0.30% | -0.66% | -0.26% | -0.10% | -0.23% | |
| NZD | -0.49% | -0.16% | -0.20% | -0.54% | -0.16% | 0.10% | -0.12% | |
| CHF | -0.40% | -0.05% | -0.08% | -0.44% | -0.04% | 0.23% | 0.12% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Japanese Yen from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent JPY (base)/USD (quote).
BoJ hawkish bets swell after minutes of the December meeting showed that officials emphasized the need to adjust the monetary policy cautiously in hopes that Japan's spring wage negotiations will result in strong hikes again this year.
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.
