On Wednesday, USD/JPY tested the combined resistance of a 55-hour SMA and an upper trend line of the medium scale descending pattern at 111.30.
As the rate failed to pass the level, it was expected to trade sideways until it gets additional technical support from the lower trend line of a dominant pattern.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the US Non-Farm Employment Change, which came better-than-expected of 196K compared with forecasted 172K. Note, that the US Average Hourly Earnings and the Unemployment Rate were released at the same time.
On March, the US economy generated more jobs than expected, and the confidence in the state of labor market strengthened. Also, the slowdown in wage inflation supported the Fed's resolution to lessen further policy tightening.
FOMC Meeting Minutes will impact USD/JPY
Wednesday will end with an above all fundamental event. The Federal Reserve Federal Open Market Committee will publish their Meeting Minutes.In the publication the Fed will officially announced their future plans for US monetary policy.
That will be all on Wednesday. On Thursday, the week's events will end with the US Producers Price Index publication at 12:30 GMT. This event on average causes moves around 10 base points.
All of these events will be covered by Dukascopy Analytics. The covers of these events and the weekly economic calendar review can be watched on the Dukascopy Webinars channel.
USD/JPY short term daily review
Yesterday, the currency exchange rate slumped to the 111.00 level, breaking the previously drawn pattern line at 111.20. On Wednesday morning, the rate was located above the weekly S1 at the 111.14 mark.In regards to the near-term future, most likely, the US Dollar will continue to depreciate against the Japanese Yen to end the day near the monthly pivot point at the 110.60 level.
However, today's fundamental news could help the US Dollar to appreciate against the Japanese Yen to break the resistance levels and end the day near the weekly pivot point at the 111.46 mark.
Hourly Chart
The daily chart reveals additional information about the rate. Namely, the pair has the support of the 100-day simple moving average at the 110.90 level.Meanwhile, the 200-day simple moving average was strengthening the resistance of the 111.50 level.
Daily chart
Since Monday, traders were short on the USD/JPY, as 66% of total open position volume on the Swiss Foreign Exchange was in short positions.
Meanwhile, in the 100-pip range around the pair trader set up pending orders were bullish. 53% of orders were set to buy.