- The USD/JPY is recovering back into Wednesday’s opening bids after US GDP beats the street.
- US GDP growth accelerated in the third quarter, Japan Retail Trade figures in the barrel.
- Fedspeak is pulling markets in multiple directions after a hawkish showing from Fed’s Barkin.
The USD/JPY is pulling back towards the day’s early bids near 147.50 as the US Dollar gets a choppy boost from better-than-expected US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth figures and a hawkish appearance from Federal Reserve (Fed) officials to balance out Tuesday’s hawkish Fedpeak.
Wednesday gives way to early Thursday markets, where Japan will be releasing its latest Retail Trade and Large Retailer Sales numbers for October.
US GDP grew more than expected in the third quarter, printing at 5.2% versus the expected QoQ print of 5.0%, climbing up and over the previous quarter’s 4.9%.
Adding to USD-bullish factors, the Fed’s Richmond President Tom Barkin hit markets with hawkish statements that take some of the wind out of Tuesday’s dovish comments from Fed policymakers.
Fed’s Barkin: Not willing to take another interest rate hike off the table
The Fed’s Barkin believes that inflation will remain more stubborn than markets are expecting looking forward, and Barkin can’t rule out even further rate hikes if price growth continues to plague the US.
Coming up early on Thursday, Japan’s latest retail sales figures will come in for a landing. Market forecasts see Japanese Retail Trade for the year into October finding a slight improvement from 5.8% to 5.9%.
Monthly Retail Trade saw a -0.1% print in September, while Large Retailer Sales for October saw a flat 5% print.
USD/JPY Technical Outlook
The USD/JPY is seeing a light rebound after dipping below 147.00 in Wednesday’s trading session, but upside momentum remains limited and it’s getting difficult to ignore the fact that the US Dollar is down nearly 3.5% from multi-year peaks set in November just below the 152.00 major handle.
The pair is set to see a technical ceiling from the 50-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) near the 150.00 major handle, while long-term downside momentum will be set to run aground on the 200-day SMA near 142.50.
USD/JPY Daily Chart
USD/JPY Technical Levels
Read the full article here