- SWFX market sentiment is 65% bullish (-1%)
- Pending orders in the 100-pip range are 62% to BUY
- FOMC Meeting Minutes
On Wednesday the USD/JPY currency pair was approaching the resistance of a long term descending channel. However, for the time being technical analysis might become obsolete, as the Federal Reserve Open Markets Committee is set to meet today.
The Japan's Yen rose against the Greenback, following the report on the country's trade balance on Sunday. The USD/JPY exchange rate gained 13 base points or 0.12% to 106.27.
The Japan's exports grew ¥0.37T in January, surpassing forecasted ¥0.14T and showing 14th month of growth in a row. Meanwhile, the country's Ministry of Finance showed that a surge in imports put trade deficit in the red for the first time since May.
However, higher imports indicating an improvement in domestic demand confirmed that the BoJ moved forward in efforts to set up a self-sustaining recovery of the Japan economy. Experts warned that the strengthening Yen is a risk, as it is likely to make imports cheaper, putting pressure on inflation.
FOMC Meeting Minutes
The day has come. The Federal Open Markets Committee Meeting Minutes are set to be released at 19:00 GMT. The data release is almost surely going to cause an effect in the financial markets from the side of the US Dollar.
However, the data release will not be covered by the Dukascopy Research team. Meanwhile, take a look at the Duakscopy speculative and the sentiment of other brokers.
USD/JPY breaches 200-hour SMA
The US Dollar continues to gain momentum against the Yen for the third consecutive session. The previously-drawn narrow channel up held strong on Tuesday even when the pair breached several notable resistance levels, such as the weekly PP, the monthly S1 and the 200-hour SMA. As a result, the US Dollar was located near the senior channel by Wednesday morning.Converging technical indicators suggest that the bearish sentiment might take over the market soon just to push the rate away from the overbought territory. This decline should be limited by the long-term moving average and the monthly S1 near 107.20.
Conversely, notable advances should be stopped by the upper boundary of the senior channel and the weekly S1 circa 108.30.
Hourly Chart
The US Dollar continues to trade in a narrow channel against the Yen in force since late December, 2017. The pair fell to its lower boundary last week and has since shown some signs of recovery. Daily technical indicators are likewise supportive of a possible surge within the following few days.
Daily chart
SWFX traders are on the long side, as 65% of open positions were bullish during the morning hours. In addition, 61% (+1%) of pending orders are to buy the Greenback.
Meanwhile, the market sentiment of OANDA traders remains strongly bullish with 70% long positions. In addition, the Saxo Bank's published market sentiment is 55% long
Spreads (avg, pip) / Trading volume / Volatility