- USD/JPY stuck to 141.00 as markets head towards 2024.
- Greenback shed a third of a percent against the Yen on the last Friday of 2023.
- USD/JPY down a full percent on the week, but up 7% on the year.
The USD/JPY is back into the 141.00 handle as the pair struggles to accelerate momentum in either direction as markets wind up the 2023 trading year.
Post-holiday markets saw a thin week ahead of the New Year’s long weekend, and the US Dollar (USD) is down 0.3% against the Japanese Yen (JPY) for the last Friday of the trading year, shedding a full percentage point on the week.
Forex Today: A new year arrives, focus turns to US labor market data
US economic data continues to miss the mark with the US Chicago Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) printing below expectations on Friday, coming into at a contractionary 46.9 in December compared to November’s 18-month peak of 55.8, coming in well below the median market forecast of 51.0.
Steepening misses in US data figures are counter-intuitively supportive of broad-market risk appetite, with investors expecting souring economic outlooks across the globe helping to push the Federal Reserve (Fed) towards a faster pace of rate cuts in 2024.
USD/JPY Technical Outlook
With the USD/JPY up around 7% on the year compared to being in the red for December, the last few trading weeks of 2023 have been particularly Dollar-negative, and there is little technical reason for the trend to reverse direction heading into 2024.
The pair etched in a yearly high of 151.91 in November, coming within inches of October 2022’s peak bids of 151.94 before slumping back toward the 140.00 major handle.
The USD/JPY has closed in the red for all but one of the last seven consecutive trading weeks, and the pair is extending a push into bear country on the south end of the 200-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) near 143.00.
USD/JPY Hourly Chart
USD/JPY Daily Chart
