- The Japanese Yen attracts some sellers as Trump raised doubts over a US-Japan deal.
- A positive risk tone also undermines the safe-haven JPY and lends support to USD/JPY.
- The divergent BoJ-Fed expectations favor the JPY bulls and might cap the currency pair.
The Japanese Yen (JPY) remains depressed through the Asian session on Wednesday, which, along with a modest US Dollar (USD) uptick, assists the USD/JPY pair to move away from a nearly one-month low touched the previous day. US President Donald Trump expressed skepticism about reaching a trade deal with Japan and suggested that potential tariffs on Japanese imports would be higher than the 24% rate announced on April 2. This, along with the bullish risk tone, is seen undermining the safe-haven status of the JPY.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) cautious approach to unwinding its ultra-loose policy forced investors to push back their expectations for early interest rate hikes. Investors, however, seem convinced that the BoJ will stay on the path of monetary policy normalization as inflation has persistently exceeded its target for nearly three years. This, in turn, helps limit losses for the JPY and caps the USD/JPY pair. Traders also seem reluctant to place aggressive directional bets ahead of the US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report on Thursday.
Japanese Yen bulls remain on the sidelines amid trade jitters; downside potential seems limited
- US President Donald Trump had expressed frustration over stalled US-Japan trade negotiations and cast doubt about reaching an agreement with Japan. Moreover, Trump suggested that he could impose a tariff of 30% or 35% on imports from Japan, above the tariff rate of 24% announced on April 2.
- Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Tuesday that although headline inflation has been above 2% for nearly three years, underlying inflation remains below target. Ueda added that any future rate hikes will depend on the overall inflation dynamic, including wage growth and expectations.
- Moreover, BoJ’s new board member Kazuyuki Masu said on Tuesday that the central bank should not rush into raising interest rates given various economic risks. However, concerns about mounting inflationary pressure in Japan keep the door open for a BoJ rate hike in 2025, especially if trade risks stabilize.
- In contrast, Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell noted that the US central bank would have eased monetary policy by now if not for Trump’s tariff plan. When asked if July would be too soon for markets to expect a rate cut, Powell answered that he can’t say and that it’s going to depend on the data.
- Nevertheless, traders still see a small chance that the next rate reduction by the Fed will come in July and are pricing in over a 75% probability of a rate cut at the September policy meeting. This, in turn, dragged the US Dollar to its lowest level since February 2022 and should cap the USD/JPY pair.
- Meanwhile, the US ISM Manufacturing PMI showed on Tuesday that economic activity in the manufacturing sector contracted for the fourth consecutive month, albeit the rate of contraction slowed in June. In fact, the gauge edged up to 49 from 48.5 in May, above market expectations of 48.8.
- Separately, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) that the number of job openings on the last business day of May stood at 7.769 million. This followed 7.395 million openings in April and was above estimates for 7.3 million.
- Traders now look forward to the release of the US ADP report on private-sector employment for some impetus later this Wednesday. The focus, however, remains on the closely-watched US monthly employment details – popularly known as the Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) report on Thursday.
USD/JPY remains vulnerable while below the 144.40 region, or the 200-SMA on H4
From a technical perspective, negative oscillators on 4-hour/daily charts suggest that any subsequent move up towards the 144.00 mark could be seen as a selling opportunity. This, in turn, should cap the USD/JPY pair near the 200-period Simple Moving Average (SMA) on the 4-hour chart, currently pegged near the 144.35 region. Some follow-through buying, leading to a subsequent strength beyond the 144.65 horizontal hurdle, should allow spot prices to reclaim the 145.00 psychological mark.
On the flip side, the 143.40-143.35 area could offer some support ahead of the 143.00 round figure and the overnight swing low, around the 142.70-142.65 region. Failure to defend the said support levels will reaffirm the near-term negative bias and make the USD/JPY pair vulnerable to accelerate the fall toward the May monthly swing low, around the 142.15-142.10 region. The downward trajectory could extend further towards testing sub-141.00 levels in the near term.
Japanese Yen FAQs
The Japanese Yen (JPY) is one of the world’s most traded currencies. Its value is broadly determined by the performance of the Japanese economy, but more specifically by the Bank of Japan’s policy, the differential between Japanese and US bond yields, or risk sentiment among traders, among other factors.
One of the Bank of Japan’s mandates is currency control, so its moves are key for the Yen. The BoJ has directly intervened in currency markets sometimes, generally to lower the value of the Yen, although it refrains from doing it often due to political concerns of its main trading partners. The BoJ ultra-loose monetary policy between 2013 and 2024 caused the Yen to depreciate against its main currency peers due to an increasing policy divergence between the Bank of Japan and other main central banks. More recently, the gradually unwinding of this ultra-loose policy has given some support to the Yen.
Over the last decade, the BoJ’s stance of sticking to ultra-loose monetary policy has led to a widening policy divergence with other central banks, particularly with the US Federal Reserve. This supported a widening of the differential between the 10-year US and Japanese bonds, which favored the US Dollar against the Japanese Yen. The BoJ decision in 2024 to gradually abandon the ultra-loose policy, coupled with interest-rate cuts in other major central banks, is narrowing this differential.
The Japanese Yen is often seen as a safe-haven investment. This means that in times of market stress, investors are more likely to put their money in the Japanese currency due to its supposed reliability and stability. Turbulent times are likely to strengthen the Yen’s value against other currencies seen as more risky to invest in.