USD/JPY is near the best levels of the day, up 120 pips to 147.47.
The pair has been underpinned by rising Treasury yields this month and that continues to be the case today. I wrote about yields earlier and that’s worth checking out.
The market is anxious about Trump’s tariff letter to the EU but looks like it’s already concluding that it’s merely a point of negotiation, if not a charade.
Meanwhile, US economic data has been good, including the latest non-farm payrolls report. The Fed doesn’t look to be abandoning a neutral stance even if there are some concerns about employment softening. Moreover, next week we get US CPI and that could re-inflame inflation fears.
I worry about inflation in Japan as well but for now the momentum is towards a retracement in this pair. It could still run a full 10 handles to get back to inauguration day levels but the first big hurdle is the June high of 148.02 followed by the May high of 148.64. If those break on hawkish US sentiment (or Trump backing off the trade war) then it might be worth chasing.
This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.