USD/JPY approaches the 152.00 barrier after strong US jobs data

Keep an eye on USD/JPY.

It’s up 32 pips to 151.88. That’s just a sneeze away from last week’s high of 151.97, the November high of 151.91 and the October 2022 high of 151.94.

The 152.00 is clearly a line in the sand that Japanese authorities don’t want to cross and a level that could spark intervention.

The catalyst for the latest round of buying was today’s US ADP employment report, which showed 184K new jobs in March compared to 148K expected. It was the strongest growth since July and also included surprisingly strong wage gains for job changers.

In response to the data, USD/JPY rose about 10 pips while US 10-year yields rose 3 bps to touch yesterday’s high of 4.40% again.

At 10 am ET today (1400 GMT), we get the latest ISM services report and that will also be a market mover. Speeches from a number of Fed officials also kick off at noon ET.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.