- The USD/JPY has bounced from Tuesday’s lows, but downward pressure remains overall.
- The BoJ missed another opportunity to inspire confidence, instead wiping out timeline projections for inflation to hit targets.
The USD/JPY is trading close to the 110.00 handle in early Wednesday action following Tuesday’s drop-and-bounce as broader markets roiled following a notable ramp-up in the trade war rhetoric between the US and China.
Another round of tariffs from the US targeting $200 billion more in Chinese goods is expected to make its way into headlines soon, pending a write up by the US Treasury Department, and market risk appetite evaporated yesterday as traders balk at the prospect of US President Donald Trump bringing a trade war one step closer.
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) released their latest Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes, and little of note came out of the report, with the BoJ noting that it is currently “appropriate” for the central bank to abandon their timeframe for achieving their inflation target of 2%, a goal that has remained far out of reach for the Japanese economy despite record-setting easy monetary policy.
The rest of the week has little of consequence for the Yen, until National CPI figures late Thursday at 23:30 GMT, though the effect will be muted as Tokyo CPI, which releases several weeks earlier, is an accurate bellwether of inflation within Japan.
USD/JPY levels to watch
As noted by FXStreet’s own Valeria Bednarik, “technically, the pair has broken below a key Fibonacci level, the 61.8% retracement of its latest daily slump at 110.15, now the immediate resistance, but holds above the 50% retracement of the same decline. In the 4 hours chart, the price is battling to regain ground above its 100 and 200 SMA, both converging a few pips below the current level, while technical indicators have bounced modestly from oversold readings, but present limited upward strength, suggesting that bulls are losing the grip. The immediate support is the daily low at 109.54, followed by 109.19, the low set last week. Below this last, bulls will probably give up and the pair could enter sell-off mode.”
Support levels: 109.55 109.20 108.70
Resistance levels: 110.15 110.45 110.80
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