Japanese yen steady, FOMC looms

The Japanese yen has posted slight gains on Wednesday. In North American trade, USD/JPY is trading at 108.75, down 0.13%.

Slowly but surely, the yen is making up ground against the dollar. After sliding 1.0% last Wednesday, the yen has put together five winning sessions and recovered these losses.

Japan’s economy continues to struggle with the Covid pandemic. The vaccine rollout has been sluggish and Covid infection rates remain high. The extended health restrictions have put a chill on consumer spending, as the restaurant sector has been hampered by limited hours. In the fourth quarter, GDP contracted by 1.3%, a sharper decline than the consensus of -1.1%. Another decline in GDP would technically mean that the economy is in recession.

One bright spot in the economy has been the manufacturing sector, which is showing growth as the global economy slowly finds its footing. On Wednesday, Industrial Production for March rebounded with a gain of 1.7%, up from -1.3% beforehand. Manufacturing PMI has been in growth territory for three successive months, and the forecast for May stands at 53.0, above the 50-level which separates contraction from expansion.

Will FOMC minutes shake up the dollar?

After the jump in the US April inflation last week, investors are concerned that higher, sustainable inflation could be here to stay, despite the Federal drumming out the message that higher inflation is temporary. The FOMC minutes of the April policy meeting will be released later today (18:00 GMT).

There is some apprehension in the market ahead of the release, which means that we could see some movement from the US dollar later in the North American session. Fed policymakers are expected to repeat that it is still too early to discuss easing the massive 120 billion dollar asset-purchase program (QE). It remains to be seen if investors accept the Fed line that higher inflation is transitory and the economy still requires present levels of QE, or will the Fed find itself out of sync with the market’s view of the health of the economy.

.

USD/JPY Technical

  • USD/JPY is facing resistance at 109.99. Above, there is resistance at 110.61
  • The pair is putting strong pressure on 108.55. Below, there is support at 107.73

Content is for general information purposes only. It is not investment advice or a solution to buy or sell securities. Opinions are the authors; not necessarily that of OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc. or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. If you would like to reproduce or redistribute any of the content found on MarketPulse, an award winning forex, commodities and global indices analysis and news site service produced by OANDA Business Information & Services, Inc., please access the RSS feed or contact us at info@marketpulse.com. Visit https://www.marketpulse.com/ to find out more about the beat of the global markets. © 2023 OANDA Business Information & Services Inc.

Kenny Fisher

Kenny Fisher

Market Analyst at OANDA
A highly experienced financial market analyst with a focus on fundamental and macroeconomic analysis, Kenny Fisher’s daily commentary covers a broad range of markets including forex, equities and commodities. His work has been published in major online financial publications including Investing.com, Seeking Alpha and FXStreet. Kenny has been a MarketPulse contributor since 2012.
Kenny Fisher

Latest posts by Kenny Fisher (see all)