Key Highlights
- The US Dollar is placed nicely above the 113.20 support area against the Japanese Yen.
- There is a crucial bullish trend line forming with support at 113.50 on the 4-hours chart of USD/JPY.
- The US Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending Oct 21, 2017 posted a rise from the last revised reading of 223K to 233K.
- Japan’s National Consumer Price Index in Sep 2017 posted a rise of 0.7% (YoY), similar to the market forecast.
USDJPY Technical Analysis
The US Dollar mostly traded in a broad range with bullish moves above 113.40 against the Japanese Yen. However, the USD/JPY pair remains in an uptrend as long as there is no close below 113.20-113.00.
Looking at the 4-hours chart, there is a crucial bullish trend line forming with current support at 113.50. The pair recently tested the same trend line at 113.35 and recovered. It seems like the 113.30-20 support zone is very important since it coincides with the 50% Fib retracement level of the last wave from the 112.29 low to 114.24 high.
A close below 113.20 would ignite further declines back towards 112.75 and the 100 simple moving average (4-hour, red).
On the upside, an initial resistance is at 114.25 followed by the 114.50 level and finally 115.00.
US Initial Jobless Claims
Recently in the US, the Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending Oct 21, 2017 were released by the US Department of Labor. The forecast was slated for a rise from 222K to 235K.
The actual result was better than the forecast, as there was a rise in claims to 233K. However, the last reading was revised up from 222K to 223K. The 4-week moving average posted a decrease of 9.5K to 248,250 from the previous week’s revised average of 257,750.
The report stated:
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending October 14 was 1,893,000, a decrease of 3,000 from the previous week’s revised level. This is the lowest level for insured unemployment since December 29, 1973 when it was 1,805,000.
Overall, it seems like the USD/JPY pair remains in an uptrend as long as there is no close below the 113.20 support region.
Economic Releases to Watch Today
US Gross Domestic Product Q3 2017 (Preliminary) – Forecast 2.5% versus previous 3.1%.
US Personal Consumption Expenditures Prices for Q3 2017 (QoQ) – Forecast +1.2%, versus +0.3% previous.
US Core Personal Consumption Expenditures for Q3 2017 (QoQ) – Forecast +1.3%, versus +0.9% previous.
