EUR/JPY volatile around 117.20 ahead of NFP

• EUR/JPY alternates gains with losses around 117.20.
• Steady US yields bolster the sideline trading in JPY.
• US Payrolls expected to come in at 145K in September.

EUR/JPY is looking for direction in the area of multi-week lows around 117.20 on Friday ahead of key releases in the US calendar.

EUR/JPY shifts the attention to US jobs

After three consecutive daily pullbacks, the cross appears to have met some decent contention in the low-117.00s, coincident with new 4-week lows.

Renewed and strong recession fears have been hitting the sentiment in the Greenback, in turn lending support to its rivals like EUR, GBP and JPY.

By the same token, yields of the key US 10-year reference have dropped to levels last seen in early September in the vicinity of 1.52%, morphing into fresh oxygen to JPY-buying.

Moving forward, the critical US Non-farm Payrolls for the month of September will be key in determining the direction of the risk appetite trends in the near term and can also shed further details regarding a probable contagion of the slowdown to the labour market.

Closing the week, Fed’s J.Powell will speak at a ‘Fed Listens’ event.

EUR/JPY relevant levels

At the moment the cross is advancing 0.04% at 117.24 and faces the next hurdle at 118.55 (55-day SMA) seconded by 120.01 (monthly high Sep.13) and then 120.09 (100-day SMA). On the downside, a breach of 117.07 (monthly low Oct.3) would expose 116.56 (low Aug.26) and finally 115.86 (2019 low Sep.3).