USD/JPY rises above 144.60 after FOMC minutes

• USD/JPY jumped above 144.60 after hitting a daily low of 144.07 earlier in the session.
• Minutes from the June FOMC meeting revealed that most participants supported a 25 bps hike.
• Rising yields made the USD gain traction.

On Wednesday, the USD/JPY trades higher as the USD gains interest after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes from the June meeting revealed a hawkish stance from its members, with most supporting future rate hikes. In response, the shorter-term US Treasury bond yields rose as markets expect a more aggressive Federal Reserve (Fed) moving forward. 

FOMC minutes from June’s meeting reveal a hawkish stance from members

Committee members support the case for hiking interest rates by 25 basis points in the future, according to the FOMC minutes from the latest June meeting – their view shapped predominantly by a tight labour market. The board's ultimate decision was to pause rate hikes, as Jerome Powell considered it necessary to first assess the effects of monetary policy so far on the US economy.

In addition, the minutes revealed that all participants agreed that maintaining a restrictive stance would be appropriate. It's worth noticing that the dot plots in the last monetary policy statement showed that most members see the terminal rate peaking at 5.50% this year, meaning that they foresee an additional 25 bps hike. As a reaction, the reassurance of an aggressive stance by the Fed members fueled the US bond yields, with the 2, 5 and 10-year yields showing gains of 0.50-2% following the release of the minutes.

That being said, investors will eye the release of ADP Employment change data on Thursday and Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday to continue modelling their expectations regarding the next Fed meeting. 

USD/JPY Levels to watch

According to the daily chart, the technical outlook for the USD/JPY is bullish in the short term. However, indicators are losing steam, with the Relative Strengh Index (RSI) correcting overbought conditions and the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) printing decreasing green bars.

Support Levels to watch: 144.00, 143.70,143.30
Resistance Levels to watch: 144.90, 145.00 (psychological mark), 145.07 (June 30 high).

USD/JPY Daily chart