On Friday, the USD/JPY currency pair pulled back off the session highs of about 143.87 to trade at about 142.25. The pair trades within a descending channel formation in the 60-minute chart.
Friday’s pullback pushed the currency pair further below the 100-hour moving average line. As a result, the pair has moved back closer to the oversold levels of the 14-hour RSI.
USD/JPY Fundamentals Overview
From a fundamental perspective, the USD/JPY currency pair trades during a relatively busy period in the US market. On Friday, the US unemployment rate for August edged slightly lower to 4.2%, down from 4.3% in line with expectations. The US jobs data for the month missed the expected job count of 160k with a tally of 145k, up from the preceding month’s equivalent of 89k.
On the other hand, the average hourly wage growth for the period exceeded the (MoM) forecast of 0.3% with a change of 0.4%, up from 0.2%. The (YoY) equivalent also beat the expected change of 3.7% with a change of 3.8% compared to the preceding month’s equivalent of 3.6%.
Earlier in the week, the US ISM Services PMI for August exceeded the forecast of 51.1 with a reading of 51.5. The initial jobless claims for the week ending August 30 also outshone the forecast of 230k with a slightly lower claim count of 227k.
Nonfarm productivity beat the expectation of 2.3% with a change of 2.5%, while unit labour costs fell short of 0.9% with a change of 0.4%. On the other hand, the S&P Global Composite PMI for the month outshone the expectation of 54.1 with a reading of 54.6, while the ADP employment change for the month missed 145k with a change of 99k.
USD/JPY Technical Analysis (the 60-min Chart)
Technically, the USD/JPY currency pair trades within a descending channel formation in the 60-minute chart. The 14-hour RSI has also pulled back to move closer to oversold conditions.
Therefore, the bears will look to stretch the current decline towards 140.44 or lower to 138.52. On the other hand, the bulls will look to pounce on rebounds at about 143.87 or higher at 145.79.
USD/JPY Technical Analysis (the Daily Chart)
In the daily chart, the USD/JPY currency pair trades within a descending channel formation. The 14-day RSI also supports a long-term bearish bias as it edges closer to oversold conditions.
Therefore, the bears will be targeting long-term profits at about 136.27 or lower at 129.66. On the other hand, the bulls will look to pounce on profits at about 149.07 or higher at 155.40.