USD:
The US dollar started to regain ground in recent days as the prolonged
US-Iran conflict and surging oil prices trumped the hopes for a quick
de-escalation. The situation in the Middle East is getting even worse as the
Houthis started to disrupt the Bab el-Mandeb strait and the Red Sea. There’s
still no end in sight to this crisis and the risk sentiment remains negative.
Given this backdrop, we saw a hawkish repricing across the board with the
total Fed tightening now standing around 43 bps by year-end, compared to 32 bps
last week after the soft US inflation data. The chances for a rate hike at the
upcoming meeting in July have also risen back to 33%.
The US-Iran conflict will continue to support the US dollar amid the Fed
tightening risk and negative risk sentiment. Traders will watch out for signs
of de-escalation as that could trigger a dovish repricing and weigh on the
greenback.
JPY:
On the JPY side, we got a Bloomberg
report yesterday saying that BoJ officials viewed the weaker JPY as adding
upside inflation risks and that they would be open to raise interest rates at a
faster pace. The report confirmed that the central bank is going to hold
interest rates steady at the upcoming meeting and revised its growth forecasts
higher.
The JPY spiked to the upside
following the report as the probabilities for a rate hike in October rose but gave
back the gains pretty quickly as the overall fundamental picture remained unchanged.
The markets remain focused on the US-Iran conflict as oil prices continue to
surge into new highs.
With the recent breakout, the
Japanese officials might start looking for stealth interventions to slow down
the depreciation although the trend is unlikely to change without a de-escalation
on the US-Iran front or a significant acceleration in Japanese inflation.
USDJPY TECHNICAL
ANALYSIS – DAILY TIMEFRAME
On the daily chart, we can
see that USDJPYbroke above the 162.85 level
and extended the gains into new cycle highs. The 162.85 level might now act as
support. If we get a pullback, the buyers will likely step in around the
support with a defined risk below it to keep pushing into new highs. The
sellers, on the other hand, will want to see the price falling below the
support to pile in for a drop into the 160.50 support next.
USDJPY TECHNICAL
ANALYSIS – 4 HOUR TIMEFRAME
On the 4 hour chart, we have
the upward trendline defining the bullish structure which is also adding
confluence to the 162.85 support. Again, the buyers will likely lean on the
trendline and the support to keep targeting new highs, while the sellers will
want to see the price breaking lower to position for a drop back into the
160.50 support.
USDJPY TECHNICAL
ANALYSIS – 1 HOUR TIMEFRAME
On the 1 hour chart, there’s
not much we can add here as buyers will continue to have a better risk to
reward setup around the trendline and support, while the sellers will need to
wait for a break below the trendline to open the door for new lows. The red
lines define the average daily range for today.
UPCOMING CATALYSTS
Today, we have the US Jobless Claims data, while tomorrow we conclude the
week with the Japanese CPI and the US Flash PMIs. The focus remains on US-Iran
headlines.
This article was written by Giuseppe Dellamotta at investinglive.com.