USD/JPY Forecast and News
USD/JPY bounces to near 155.50 amid upbeat mood
USD/JPY holds the bounces to near 155.50 in the Asian session on Thursday, helped by an upbeat mood. The pair reverses an early dip-led by the better-than-expected Japanese Trade Balance data. Further upside could be capped amid prospects for an imminent BoJ rate hike on Friday.
Latest Japanese Yen News
USD/JPY Technical Overview
From a technical perspective, the USD/JPY pair has been showing resilience below the 155.00 psychological mark and the lower boundary of a multi-month-old ascending channel. The subsequent move up, along with the fact that oscillators on the daily chart are yet to gain any meaningful negative traction, warrants some caution for bearish traders. Hence, it will be prudent to wait for a sustained break and acceptance below the trend-channel support before positioning for any further depreciating move. Spot prices might then accelerate the fall towards the 154.50-154.45 intermediate support en route to the 154.00 round figure, mid-153.00s and the 153.00 mark.
On the flip side, the 156.00 round figure, closely followed by the overnight swing high, around the 156.25 region, now seems to act as an immediate hurdle ahead of the weekly top, around the 156.55-156.60 area touched on Monday. Some follow-through buying has the potential to lift the USD/JPY pair towards the 157.00 mark. The momentum could extend further towards the 157.25-157.30 area en route to the 157.60 region and the 158.00 round figure. A sustained strength beyond the latter could set the stage for a move towards retesting the multi-month peak, around the 159.00 neighborhood touched on January 10.
Fundamental Overview
The Japanese Yen (JPY) sticks to its negative bias heading into the European session on Wednesday, though the downside seems limited amid expectations that the Bank of Japan (BoJ) will hike interest rates later this week. This marks a big divergence in comparison to bets that the Federal Reserve (Fed) would cut interest rates twice this year. This, in turn, caps the USD/JPY pair's recovery from over a one-month near the 156.00 round-figure mark.
Traders also seem reluctant to place aggressive bets and opt to wait for the outcome of the highly-anticipated two-day BoJ policy meeting on Friday, which will play a key role in influencing the near-term trajectory of the JPY. In the meantime, The risk-on mood – as depicted by a generally positive tone around the equity markets – undermines the safe-haven JPY and acts as a tailwind for the USD/JPY pair in the absence of any relevant economic releases.
USD/JPY Big Picture
USD/JPY Bullish Themes
USD/JPY Bearish Themes
Latest JPY Analysis
Editors' picks
EUR/USD halts recovery during midweek slowdown
EUR/USD stumbled on Wednesday, giving up around one-tenth of one percent as markets grind through a lull between the week’s key data prints. US President Donald Trump has briefly halted his steady stream of trade war rhetoric and threats to impose import taxes on his own citizens across the board, leaving markets with little else to focus on.
GBP/USD struggles near 1.2300 due to differing policy stances between central banks
GBP/USD remains subdued for the second successive session, trading around 1.2320 during the Asian hours on Thursday. The pair faces challenges as the US Dollar received support as President Donald Trump issued a memorandum instructing federal agencies to investigate and address ongoing trade deficits.
USD/JPY bounces to near 155.50 amid upbeat mood
USD/JPY holds the bounces to near 155.50 in the Asian session on Thursday, helped by an upbeat mood. The pair reverses an early dip-led by the better-than-expected Japanese Trade Balance data. Further upside could be capped amid prospects for an imminent BoJ rate hike on Friday.
Gold buyers pause but refuse to give up yet
Gold price consolidates its three-day bullish momentum early Thursday, having reached three-month highs of $2,763 on Wednesday. Gold buyers take a breather as attention turns toward US fundamentals, with the weekly Jobless Claims on tap.
WTI drops below $75.50 as facing challenges due to Trump policies
West Texas Intermediate, the US crude oil benchmark, is trading around $75.00 on Thursday. The WTI price extends its decline to a fresh one-week low as traders assess how US President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs could affect the global energy demand and economy.
Majors
Cryptocurrencies
Signatures
USD/JPY YEARLY FORECAST
How could USD/JPY move this year? Our experts make a USD/JPY update forecasting the possible moves of the yen-dollar pair during the whole year.
USD/JPY FORECAST 2025
The US Dollar could decline against some currencies but not against the Yen. Why? Because the Japanese currency is a safe-haven asset sensitive to tensions in Asia. If Sino-American tensions ease, it would likely fall. Central banks are slow movers, and the Bank of Japan – especially under Governor Kazuo Ueda – is even slower. Ueda and his colleagues are expected to drag their feet and only mention rate hikes as an effort to keep the Yen supported. Read more details about the forecast.
USD/JPY could trend up in the latter half of the year in response to more hawkish Fed policy and disillusionment with the BoJ's lack of rate hikes.
MOST INFLUENTIAL POLITICAL EVENTS IN 2025 FOR USD/JPY
Politics will likely be more dominant in 2025. The main reason is Trump’s new administration, but political instability in Japan will also play a role. In case Trump follows through with some of his threats, the Yen could benefit in two ways. First, when worries grow, it benefits, as mentioned earlier. Secondly, Japan could benefit from trade diverting away from China.
The Fed isn’t expected to raise rates in 2025, but refraining from bringing borrowing costs back to around 3% – nor intending to do so – would be enough to keep the US Dollar at an advantage over all currencies, including the safe-haven Yen. While inflation hit the shores of Japan, it is hard to see the BoJ further raising rates while the entire world is slashing them.
Influential Institutions & People for the USD/JPY
The US Dollar Japanese Yen can be seriously affected by news or the decisions taken by two main central banks:
The Federal Reserve Bank (Fed)
On the other
FED Official Website, on Twitter and Facebook
The Bank of Japan (BOJ)
The Bank of Japan is the central bank of Japan and it's a juridical person established based on the Bank of Japan Act, nor being a government agency either a private corporation. The most important missions of the BOJ are the following: to issue and manage banknotes, to implement monetary policy and to ensure stability of the financial system. Almost all of the decisions are taken by the Policy Board, formed by a bunch of members working to provide currency and monetary control and setting the next moves that the central bank will take.
BOJ Official Website and on Twitter
Jerome Powell
Jerome Powell took office as chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in February 2018, for a four-year term ending in February 2022. His term as a member of the Board of Governors will expire January 31, 2028. Born in Washington D.C., he received a bachelor’s degree in politics from Princeton University in 1975 and earned a law degree from Georgetown University in 1979. Powell served as an assistant secretary and as undersecretary of the Treasury under President George H.W. Bush. He also worked as a lawyer and investment banker in New York City. From 1997 through 2005, Powell was a partner at The Carlyle Group.
Jerome Powell Fed's Profile and Wikipedia
Kazuo Ueda
Kazuo Ueda is the 32nd and current Governor of the Bank of Japan. He is a professor and the dean of the business department at Kyoritsu Women's University in Tokyo and the external director at JGC Holdings Corp, an engineering company and at the state-owned Development Bank of Japan. The 71-year-old is widely seen as an expert on monetary policy but is seen as a surprise appointment by analysts. He was not even considered a dark-horse candidate. Ueda wasn’t really on their radar because the BOJ governor job has traditionally been assumed by a long-serving Finance Ministry bureaucrat or central bank official.
Ueda on Wikipedia's Profile
BOJ NEWS & ANALYSIS
FED NEWS & ANALYSIS
About USD/JPY
The USD/JPY (or US Dollar Japanese Yen) currency pair belongs to the group of 'Majors', a way to mention the most important pairs in the world. This group also includes the following currency pairs: EUR/USD, GBP/USD, AUD/USD, USD/CHF, NZD/USD and USD/CAD. Japanese Yen has a low-interest rate and is normally used in carrying trades. This is the reason why is one of the most traded currencies worldwide. In this pair, the US Dollar is the base currency and the Japanese Yen is the counter currency. The pair represents American (from the United States of America) and Japanese economies.
Trading this currency pair is also known as trading the "ninja" or the "gopher", although this last name is more frequently used when referred to the GBP/JPY currency pair. The US Dollar Japanese Yen usually has a positive correlation with the following two pairs: USD/CHF and USD/CAD. The nature of this correlation is due to the fact that both currency pairs also use the US Dollar as the base currency. The value of the pair tends to be affected when the two main central banks of each country, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) and the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed), face serious interest rate differential.
Related pairs
GBP/USD
The GBP/USD (or Pound Dollar) currency pair belongs to the group of 'Majors', a way to mention the most important pairs worldwide. This group also includes the following currency pairs: EUR/USD, USD/JPY, AUD/USD, USD/CHF, NZD/USD and USD/CAD. The pair is also called 'The Cable', referring to the first Transatlantic cable that was crossing the Atlantic Ocean in order to connect Great Britain with the United States of America. This term was originated in the mid-19th century and it makes GBP/USD one of the oldest currency pairs in the world.
The popularity of the Pound Dollar is due to the fact that represents two strong economies: British and American (from the United States of America). The Cable is a closely watched and widely traded currency pair where the Pound is the base currency and the US Dollar is the counter currency. For that reason, all the macroeconomic data related to the United States and the United Kingdom affects the price of this pair. One of the events which affected most the volatility of the pound vs. dollar was Brexit.
EUR/USD
The EUR/USD (or Euro Dollar) currency pair belongs to the group of 'Majors', a way to mention the most important pairs in the world. This group also includes the following currency pairs: GBP/USD, USD/JPY, AUD/USD, USD/CHF, NZD/USD and USD/CAD. The popularity of Euro Dollar is due to the fact that it gathers two main economies: the European and American (from United States of America) ones. This is a widely traded currency pair where the Euro is the base currency and the US Dollar is the counter currency. Since the EUR/USD pair consists of more than half of all the trading volume worldwide in the Forex Market, it is almost impossible for a gap to appear, let alone a consequent breakaway gap in the opposite direction.
Normally, the EUR/USD is very quiet during the Asian session because economic data that affects the fundamentals of those currencies is released in either the European or U.S. session. Once traders in Europe get to their desks a flurry of activity hits the tape as they start filling customer orders and jockey for positions. At noon activity slows down as traders step out for lunch and then picks back up again as the U.S. comes online.