The USD/JPY has ended trading sideways above the 107.80 level. The pair did it by surging above the resistance of the 55 and 100-hour simple moving averages in a sharp move.
By the middle of Wednesday's trading session the exchange rate was fluctuating above the 108.20 level, located between the weekly pivot point and the 200-hour simple moving average.
The Federal Reserve released the US FOMC Meeting Minutes data, where the US policymakers provide in-depth insights into the economic and financial conditions that influenced their vote on where to set interests rates.
According to the official release: "Investors' concerns about downside risks to the economic outlook weighed on financial markets over the intermeeting period. Market participants cited negative news about international trade tensions and, to a lesser extent, soft U.S. and foreign economic data as factors that contributed to these developments.
Nominal Treasury yields posted notable declines and the expected path of policy shifted down considerably over the period. Equity prices declined, on net, and corporate bond spreads widened. However, financing conditions for businesses and households generally remained supportive of economic growth."
No more data this week
The USD/JPY this week was affected only by one macroeconomic data release.
Namely, the US Retail Sales and Core Retail Sales that were published on Tuesday at 12:30 GMT
In general, wait for the next Economic Calendar Overview on Monday to see next upcoming events. On the other hand, take a look at other this week's events described in this week's video.
USD/JPY short-term daily review
During the previous trading session, the USD/JPY currency pair tried to surpass the resistance formed by the 200-hour SMA located at 108.34.Given that the exchange rate is squeezed by the given resistance, as well the 55– and 100-hour SMAs, currently located circa 108.10, it is expected, that the rate could trade sideways in the short term.
It is unlikely, that bulls could prevail in the market in the nearest future, and the pair could jump higher than the 108.44 mark due to the resistance of the Fibonacci 38.20% retracement.
Also, it is unlikely, that the rate could tumble lower than the 107.90 mark due to the lower boundary of the short-term ascending channel.
Hourly Chart
On the daily candle chart, note the resistance being provided by the 55-day simple moving average, which since Tuesday was located at the 108.90 level.
Daily chart
Since Monday, 71% of trader open USD/JPY position volume on the Swiss Foreign Exchange was located in long positions.
On Wednesday, the sentiment changed, as 74% of open position volume was long.
Meanwhile, trader set up pending orders were neutral as in the 100-pip range 52% of pending orders were set to sell and 48% were to buy.