USD/JPY pinned to the low side near 141.00 as markets close out 2023

• USD/JPY stuck to 141.00 as markets head towards 2024.
• Greenback shed a third of a percent against the Yen on the last Friday of 2023.
• USD/JPY down a full percent on the week, but up 7% on the year.

The USD/JPY is back into the 141.00 handle as the pair struggles to accelerate momentum in either direction as markets wind up the 2023 trading year.

Post-holiday markets saw a thin week ahead of the New Year’s long weekend, and the US Dollar (USD) is down 0.3% against the Japanese Yen (JPY) for the last Friday of the trading year, shedding a full percentage point on the week.

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US economic data continues to miss the mark with the US Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) printing below expectations on Friday, coming into at a contractionary 46.9 in December compared to November’s 18-month peak of 55.8, coming in well below the median market forecast of 51.0.

Steepening misses in US data figures are counter-intuitively supportive of broad-market risk appetite, with investors expecting souring economic outlooks across the globe helping to push the Federal Reserve (Fed) towards a faster pace of rate cuts in 2024.

USD/JPY Technical Outlook

With the USD/JPY up around 7% on the year compared to being in the red for December, the last few trading weeks of 2023 have been particularly Dollar-negative, and there is little technical reason for the trend to reverse direction heading into 2024.

The pair etched in a yearly high of 151.91 in November, coming within inches of October 2022’s peak bids of 151.94 before slumping back toward the 140.00 major handle.

The USD/JPY has closed in the red for all but one of the last seven consecutive trading weeks, and the pair is extending a push into bear country on the south end of the 200-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) near 143.00.

USD/JPY Hourly Chart

USD/JPY Daily Chart

USD/JPY Technical Levels