- SWFX market sentiment is at equilibrium
- 58% of pending orders in 100-pip range to buy
- Closest resistance is located at 110.50
- Upcoming Events: US Preliminary Nonfarm Productivity q/q, US Preliminary Unit Labour Costs q/q, US Final Wholesale Inventories m/m, US 10-y Bond Action, Japanese Core Machinery Orders m/m, Japanese PPI y/y, Japanese Tertiary Industry Activity m/m
The US job openings report showed a record-high figure, which resulted in the instant advance of the USD/JPY currency pair. Strong figures supported the appreciation of the Greenback against the Yen, which marked a 0.04% increase to be seen trading above the 110.40 level.
The Labour Department released its Job Openings and Labour Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, which revealed that the number of job openings jumped 461K to a seasonally adjusted 6.16M, following the preceding month's upwardly revised figure of 5.70M. The better-than-expected data bolstered optimism over the future of the labour market, as the gap between hiring and job openings indicated qualified workers' shortages, which would sustain upward pressure on pay growth.
Preliminary US data in focus
Similarly to yesterday, most fundamentals in today's economic calendar are minor data releases from both the US and Japan, for instance, US Final Wholesale Inventories at 1400GMT, US 10-y Bond Action at 1701GMT, Japanese PPI and Core Machinery Orders at 2350GMT, as well as Japanese Tertiary Industry Activity at 0430GMT tomorrow morning. However, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics is set to publish the quarterly preliminary reports on nonfarm productivity and unit labour costs at 1230GMT. These two events are considered more prominent, thus being able to shock the market unexpectedly.
USD/JPY pressured by bears
Despite being sticky to the upper boundary of the senior channel down, the USD/JPY exchange rate failed to move past this level (not taking into account the false breakout mid-session). The pair was located near the 55-, 100– and 200-hour SMAs for most of the session. However, the false breakout resulted in the price crossing all the SMAs and the weekly PP from above. The failed attempt to move above the latter pushed the Greenback even lower until its closing price at 110.33. On Wednesday morning, the rate resumed its fall even below the weekly S1, but managed to reverse near the 109.80 mark. It is likely that the rate tries to approach the upper channel boundary once again, thus remaining between the weekly S1 and PP for the whole session. The given level may be reached on Thursday morning.Hourly chart
The massive fall of USD/JPY mid-session resulted in a close in the strongly red area. The Greenback has resumed its momentum south in this session, falling below the weekly S1 and reaching as low as the 109.80 mark. It is likely that this bearish sentiment allays and mitigates its daily losses, setting the 110.20/40 area as a possible closing interval.
Daily chart
SWFX market sentiment is at equilibrium in this session, as an equal number of open positions are both long and short. Thus, traders have decreased their short positions which stood at 56% on Tuesday. Meanwhile, 60% of pending orders are to buy the US Dollar.
OANDA clients are bullish on the pair, as 63% of all open positions are long (+1%). Similar viewpoint is held by Saxo Bank clients with 58% long positions.