The pair now trades at 149.98 and at the highs for the day, albeit in a rather constricted range. It’s been a while coming and the pair has been teasing for a push back towards 150.00 since last week already. The last attempt in early October was shot down by Japanese officials but amid higher yields, will Tokyo feel necessary to step in again?
I fear that the longer that USD/JPY is handicapped just under the 150.00 mark, it will create much more frustration for dollar bulls. They are getting anxious but looking at the tamer reaction across the board for the dollar, it is looking like traders need this break higher in USD/JPY to really move the other pairs too.
And if that doesn’t come, you have to wonder how long can the dollar hold up especially if at some point we are to run into a retracement in the bond market after all the heavy selling.