Key Highlights
- The US Dollar made a nice upside move and traded above the 106.50 resistance against the Japanese Yen.
- There was a break above a crucial bearish trend line with resistance at 106.70 on the 4-hours chart of USD/JPY.
- The US Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending March 31, 2018 increased from 218K (revised) to 242K.
- Today, the US Nonfarm Payrolls report for March 2018 will be released, which is forecasted to post 190K versus 313K previous.
USDJPY Technical Analysis
The US Dollar formed a support base near 105.50 against the Japanese Yen and started an upside move. The USD/JPY pair traded higher and broke a major resistance near 106.50.
During the upside move, the pair was successful in settling above the 100 (red) and 200 (green) simple moving averages (4-hour). It opened the doors for more gains and there was a break above a crucial bearish trend line with resistance at 106.70 on the 4-hours chart.
The pair also moved above the last swing high at 107.01, which means it could test the 1.236 Fib extension of the last decline from the 107.01 high to 105.65 low.
If buyers remain in action, the pair may perhaps move towards the 107.80 level. Moreover, the 1.618 Fib extension of the last decline from the 107.01 high to 105.65 low can also be tested near 107.85.
On the downside, the 106.50 support, and the 100 and 200 SMA’s are likely to act as strong barriers for declines in the near term.
Recently in the US, the Initial Jobless Claims for the week ending March 31, 2018 was released by the US Department of Labor. The market was positioned for rise from the last reading of 215K to 225K.
However, the result a bit disappointing as there was an increase in claims to 242K. Moreover, the last reading was revised up to 218K. The report added that:
The previous week’s level was revised up by 3,000 from 215,000 to 218,000. The 4-week moving average was 228,250, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week’s revised average. The previous week’s average was revised up by 750 from 224,500 to 225,250.
There was no major impact on the US Dollar. However, today’s nonfarm payrolls release could make a huge impact on pairs like EUR/USD, GBP/USD and USD/JPY in the near term.
Economic Releases to Watch Today
- US nonfarm payrolls March 2018 – Forecast 190K, versus 313K previous.
- US Unemployment Rate March 2018 – Forecast 4.0%, versus 4.1% previous.
- Canada’s employment Change payrolls March 2018 – Forecast 20K, versus 15.4K previous.
- Canada’s Unemployment Rate March 2018 – Forecast 5.8%, versus 5.8% previous.
