USD/JPY oscillates around 149.20s after Fed’s commentaries, US Housing Starts eyed

• USD/JPY refreshed 32-year highs, around 149.39, on Tuesday.
• US economic data showed mixed signals, with NY Fed Mfg. Index missing estimates, while Industrial Production rose.
• Minnesota Fed Kashkari: Expects the Federal funds rate (FFR) to hit 4.50% at least.

The USD/JPY oscillates around the 149.00 figure amidst a risk-on impulse caused by Britain’s new Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt, scrapping the PM Liz Truss economic draft alongside better-than-estimated US corporate earnings. At the time of writing, the USD/JPY is trading at 149.20, almost flat as the Asian session begins.

USD/JPY advances slightly as Japanese authorities extended their verbal interventions

US equities finished Tuesday’s session in the green, while Asian stocks are set for a mixed open. According to sources cited by Bloomberg, “A better-than-feared earnings season may well be the catalyst the market needs to see a break in the steady grind lower.”

US economic data released during the New York session showed positive signals, contrary to Monday’s New York Fed Manufacturing Index, which is contracting further. US Industrial Production exceeded estimates for the third straight month amidst one of the most aggressive tightening cycles by the US  Federal Reserve.

In the meantime, Fed officials led by Minnesota’s Fed President Neil Kashkari adhere to the Fed’s current narrative. Kashkari said that inflation remains high and that data is showing mixed signals. Furthermore, he commented that he could see rates up to mid-4%,  and if inflation has not peaked, he doesn’t “see why rates should not go higher.”

Elsewhere, the US Dollar Index, a gauge of the buck’s value, edges lower by 0.06%, dragged down by a risk-on impulse, at 111.994, while the US 10-year benchmark note rate, is flat, at 4%, a headwind for the USD/JPY.

On the Japanese front, Japanese authorities verbal intervention put a lid on the yen’s weakness but could not stop the USD/JPY from printing a fresh 32-year high above 149.00.

Data-wise, an absent Japanese economic docket, will leave traders adrift to pure US dollar dynamics, on the US front, the calendar will feature tier 3 info with Housing Starts, Building Permits, the Fed Beige Book, and Fed speaking.

USD/JPY Key Technical Levels