USD/JPY holding onto 149.30 despite US Dollar retreat

• The USD/JPY got strung along the middle for Thursday, cycling 149.30.
• The pair closed down 20 pips on the day but missed any major moves.
• Friday sees Japanese Tokyo CPI, US PCE inflation numbers.

The USD/JPY went sideways on Thursday ahead of Friday’s inflation double-feature. The pair is off the week’s peak near 149.70, and analyst bets of USD/JPY hitting 150.00 are holding steady.

Despite a broad-market US Dollar (USD) Index retreat on firming risk appetite, the USD/JPY remains mostly flat for Thursday. The pair started Thursday trading off with an early high of 149.50 before falling back to familiar territory near 149.30.

Officials from the Bank of Japan (BoJ) has put some significant effort into trying to jawbone the JPY to hold steady, but visibly-empty threats of tightening monetary policy have provided little effect thus far.

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Friday sees Japan’s Tokyo Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading for the annualized period into September, and the core CPI element (CPI less food but still including energies) is forecast to print at 2.6%, versus the previous reading of 2.8%.

Japanese inflation remains well above the BoJ’s 2% target, but the BoJ continues to hold off on any rate adjustments until they are “convinced” that inflation will remain above their minimum target heading into a potential slowdown period in price growth.

Friday will also see US Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE), which is expected to hold steady at the previous quarter’s 0.2%.

USD/JPY technical outlook

The USD/JPY remains firmly bullish from a technical standpoint, having closed in the green or flat for ten of the eleven last consecutive trading weeks.

The pair is up over 13% from the year’s early lows near 127.20, and currently remains well above major moving averages, with the 34-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) sitting far below current price action near the 147.00 handle.

USD/JPY daily chart

USD/JPY technical levels