USD/JPY – Yen Stable Ahead of Key US Releases

USD/JPY is stable on Wednesday, as the pair trades in the mid-117 range. On the release front, there are a host of key US events ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. There are Japanese releases on the calendar.

The Japanese yen continues to trade at low levels, and BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda addressed this on Tuesday, noting that the soft yen was having a negative effect on the Japanese economy. The yen received a boost after the BoJ minutes showed that some policymakers opposed the BoJ’s decision to expand its stimulus program last month. At that time, the BoJ shocked the markets when it increased its government debt purchases from JPY 60-70 trillion to 80 trillion per year. The yen reacted by dropping sharply against the dollar, falling to 7-year lows.

US economic growth continues to rack up impressive numbers, posting an excellent gain of 3.9% in Q3, well above the estimate of 3.3%. This followed a gain in Q2 of 4.2%, which also beat the estimate. This was the strongest two-quarter performance since 2003, and has raised expectations about the Fed raising rates in the first half of 2014. The other key release, Consumer Confidence, was unexpectedly soft, dropping to 88.7 points. This was well off the estimate of 95.9 points.

USD/JPY for Wednesday, November 26, 2014

USD/JPY November 26 at 13:00 GMT

USD/JPY 117.72 H: 117.90 L: 117.59

 

USD/JPY Technical

S3 S2 S1 R1 R2 R3
114.65 115.75 116.66 117.94 118.89 119.93

 

  • USD/JPY has shown limited movement on the day. Early in the Asian session, the pair broke below support at 117.94.  The pair is almost unchanged in the European session
  • 117.94 has reverted to a resistance role. 118.89 is stronger.
  • 116.66 is providing strong support.
  • Current range: 116.66 to 117.94

Further levels in both directions:

  • Below: 116.66, 115.75, 114.65 and 113.68
  • Above: 117.94, 118.89, 119.83, 120.63 and 121.39

 

OANDA’s Open Positions Ratio

USD/JPY ratio is almost unchanged on Wednesday. This is consistent with the lack of movement we are seeing from the pair. The ratio has a majority of long positions, indicative of trader bias towards the dollar moving to higher ground.

USD/JPY Fundamentals

  • 13:30 US Core Durable Goods Orders. Estimate 0.5%.
  • 13:30 US Unemployment Claims. Estimate 287K.
  • 13:30 US Core PCE Price Index. Estimate 0.1%.
  • 13:30 US Durable Goods Orders. Estimate -0.4%.
  • 13:30 US Personal Spending. Estimate 0.4%.
  • 13:30 US Personal Income. Estimate 0.4%.
  • 14:45 US Chicago PMI. Estimate 63.1 points.
  • 14:55 US Revised UoM Consumer Sentiment. Estimate 90.2 points.
  • 14:55 US Revised UoM Inflation Expectations.
  • 15:00 US New Home Sales. Estimate 471K.
  • 15:00 US New Pending Home Sales. Estimate 0.9%.
  • 15:30 US Crude Oil Inventories. Estimate 0.4M.
  • 15:00 US Natural Gas Storage. Estimate -145B.

*Key releases are highlighted in bold

*All release times are GMT

This article 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 Corporation or any of its affiliates, subsidiaries, officers or directors. Leveraged trading is high risk and not suitable for all. You could lose all of your deposited funds.

Kenny Fisher

Kenny Fisher

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