Key Highlights
- USD/JPY remained well supported above the 108.20 region.
- GBP/USD rallied recently above the 1.3100 and 1.3150 resistance levels.
- The US Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending Nov 30, 2019 declined from 213K to 203K.
- The US nonfarm payrolls is likely to increase 180K in Nov 2019, up from the last 128K.
USD/JPY Technical Analysis
After a major failure near the 109.70 level, the US Dollar declined heavily against the Japanese Yen. However, USD/JPY remained well bid above 108.20 and it is currently recovering losses.
Looking at the 4-hours chart, the pair traded as low as 108.42 and corrected above 108.60. Moreover, there was a break above the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the 109.72 high to 108.42 low.
The pair even tested the 109.00 area and 100 simple moving average (red). On the upside, an initial resistance is near 109.10 or the 50% Fib retracement level of the recent decline from the 109.72 high to 108.42 low.
The main resistance is near the 109.20, above which the pair is likely to accelerate towards the 109.50 and 109.70 resistance levels.
Conversely, the pair could resume its decline below the 108.60 level. An immediate support is near the 108.40 level, followed by the main 108.20 support area.
Fundamentally, the US Initial Jobless Claims figure for the week ending Nov 30, 2019 was released by the US Department of Labor. The market was looking for a minor increase in claims from 213K to 215K.
The actual result was positive, as there was a decline in the US Initial Jobless Claims from 213K to 203K. Moreover, the 4-week moving average came in at 217,750, down 2,000 from the previous week’s unrevised average of 219,750.
The report added:
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending November 23 was 1,693,000, an increase of 51,000 from the previous week’s revised level.
Overall, USD/JPY is likely to recover further towards 109.50. More importantly, GBP/USD rallied above 1.3150 and EUR/USD is also rising steadily.
Upcoming Economic Releases
- US nonfarm payrolls Nov 2019 – Forecast 180K, versus 128K previous.
- US Unemployment Rate Nov 2019 – Forecast 3.6%, versus 3.6% previous.
- Canada’s employment Change Nov 2019 – Forecast 10K, versus -1.8K previous.
- Canada’s Unemployment Rate Nov 2019 – Forecast 5.5%, versus 5.5% previous.
