USD/JPY surges above 149.00 after upbeat US data
|- USD/JPY gathered bullish momentum and climbed above 149.00.
- Upbeat Retail Sales and Jobless Claims data from the US provide a boost to the USD.
- The US Dollar Index rises more than 0.5% on the day above 103.00.
USD/JPY gathered bullish momentum and broke out of its one-week-old range in the American session on Thursday. At the time of press, the pair was trading a few pips above 149.00, rising 1.1% on a daily basis.
US Dollar benefits from upbeat data
The renewed US Dollar (USD) strength triggered an upsurge in the second half of the day on Thursday. The data from the US showed that weekly Initial Jobless Claims declined to 227,000 from 234,000 and Retail Sales rose 1%, surpassing the market expectation for an increase of 0.3%. With these reading easing fears over an economic downturn in the US, the USD started to outperform its rivals. As of writing, the USD Index was up 0.55% on the day at 103.15.
Later in the session, investors will pay close attention to comments from Federal Reserve (Fed) officials. According to the CME FedWatch Tool, markets are currently pricing in a 23.5% probably of the Fed lowering the policy rate by 50 basis points (bps), down from nearly 50% at the beginning of the week.
US Dollar PRICE Today
The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies today. US Dollar was the strongest against the Japanese Yen.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | 0.51% | 0.10% | 1.13% | 0.09% | -0.08% | 0.35% | 0.87% | |
| EUR | -0.51% | -0.42% | 0.59% | -0.43% | -0.67% | -0.34% | 0.35% | |
| GBP | -0.10% | 0.42% | 1.01% | -0.01% | -0.25% | 0.09% | 0.87% | |
| JPY | -1.13% | -0.59% | -1.01% | -1.03% | -1.22% | -0.90% | -0.14% | |
| CAD | -0.09% | 0.43% | 0.00% | 1.03% | -0.18% | 0.10% | 0.88% | |
| AUD | 0.08% | 0.67% | 0.25% | 1.22% | 0.18% | 0.33% | 1.12% | |
| NZD | -0.35% | 0.34% | -0.09% | 0.90% | -0.10% | -0.33% | 0.78% | |
| CHF | -0.87% | -0.35% | -0.87% | 0.14% | -0.88% | -1.12% | -0.78% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the US Dollar from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent USD (base)/JPY (quote).
Japanese Yen FAQs
The Japanese Yen (JPY) is one of the world’s most traded currencies. Its value is broadly determined by the performance of the Japanese economy, but more specifically by the Bank of Japan’s policy, the differential between Japanese and US bond yields, or risk sentiment among traders, among other factors.
One of the Bank of Japan’s mandates is currency control, so its moves are key for the Yen. The BoJ has directly intervened in currency markets sometimes, generally to lower the value of the Yen, although it refrains from doing it often due to political concerns of its main trading partners. The current BoJ ultra-loose monetary policy, based on massive stimulus to the economy, has caused the Yen to depreciate against its main currency peers. This process has exacerbated more recently due to an increasing policy divergence between the Bank of Japan and other main central banks, which have opted to increase interest rates sharply to fight decades-high levels of inflation.
The BoJ’s stance of sticking to ultra-loose monetary policy has led to a widening policy divergence with other central banks, particularly with the US Federal Reserve. This supports a widening of the differential between the 10-year US and Japanese bonds, which favors the US Dollar against the Japanese Yen.
The Japanese Yen is often seen as a safe-haven investment. This means that in times of market stress, investors are more likely to put their money in the Japanese currency due to its supposed reliability and stability. Turbulent times are likely to strengthen the Yen’s value against other currencies seen as more risky to invest in.
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