USD/JPY pokes 24-year high around 145.50 despite off in Japan, US

• USD/JPY prints four-day uptrend as buyers attack the multi-year high marked in September.
• US 10-year Treasury yields rose for the eighth consecutive week on firmer US jobs report, hawkish Fed bets.
• BOJ intervention, challenges for hawkish central banks fail to tame the bulls.
• US CPI, FOMC Minutes will be crucial to determine further upside of the yen pair.

USD/JPY remains on the front foot around 145.50, poking the 24-year high marked in late September during Monday’s Asian session. The yen pair’s latest gains could be linked to the US dollar’s broad upside even as the holiday in Japan and the US challenge the momentum traders.

That said, the US Dollar Index (DXY) rose during the last three days while reversing the previous weekly pullback from the 20-year high as markets priced in the 75 basis points (bps) of a rate hike from the Fed. Behind the hawkish Fed bets could be the firmer US jobs report and upbeat comments from the policymakers that suggest further rate increases before the pause.

The DXY cheered Friday’s jobs report for September as the headline Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) rose to 265K versus the 250K expected. Also adding strength to the greenback gauge was an unexpected fall in the Unemployment Rate to 3.5% compared to forecasts suggesting no change in the 3.7% prior.

Other than the hawkish Fed bets, fears of recession and the escalating geopolitical tussles between Russia and Ukraine also propel the market US Treasury yields, as well as the USD/JPY prices. It’s worth noting that the US 10-year Treasury yields rose for eight consecutive weeks in the last before pausing around 3.90% at the latest. The firmer yields weighed on Wall Street and recently on the S&P 500 Futures.

It should be noted that the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) frequent bond-buying fails to challenge the USD/JPY sellers as the Japanese central bank continues to defend the easy money policy, contrary to the hawkish Fedspeak.

Moving on, today’s holiday in the US and Japan could offer limited momentum to the USD/JPY buyers but the upside moves are likely to prevail amid the market’s rush toward risk safety. Even so, Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Minutes and Thursday’s US Consumer Price Index (CPI) will be crucial for short-term directions.

Technical analysis

A two-week-old ascending trend line joins the recent multi-year top to highlight the 145.90-95 as the key hurdle for the USD/JPY bulls to watch.