Yesterday the USDJPY lacked a sense of direction during Tokyo trading hours, but began to rise after GMT 06:00, and slightly before GMT 10:00 hit a high of 155.95.

Some time after GMT 12:00 the USDJPY started to come off, and due to the initial jobless claims announced at GMT 12:30 being higher than expected (more people unemployed than forecast) the market fell to 155.51. The downward trend continued thereafter, and trading ended at 155.43 yen.

Today the USDJPY began rising in the morning session, hitting a high of 155.77 not long before midday.

Looking at the 1-hour chart of the USDJPY (as of GMT 03:20 on May 10), the Bollinger Bands are not expanding and the middle line is more or less flat, from which one can conclude that the market lacks a sense of direction going forward.

(20-period Bollinger Band, showing ±1 and ±2 standard deviations)

Today's main economic indicators are as follows.

• GMT 14:00 U.S. May Michigan Consumer Sentiment, preliminary
• GMT 18:00 U.S. April Monthly Budget Statement