Yesterday the USDJPY trended upward all day. After opening at 156.14, it continued to make new highs and new lows more or less throughout the session, reaching a high of 156.84 just before the close.

Despite marking a high of 156.90 during the first half of the Tokyo session today, the USDJPY showed little sense of direction. In terms of movement going forward, attention will focus on whether the price can break into the 157-yen range, and stay there.

Looking at the 1-hour chart of the USDJPY (as of GMT 03:40 on May 23), since breaking below the -2 standard deviation Bollinger Band the price has rebounded and has again begun walking between the +1 and +2 standard deviation bands.

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

Today's main economic indicators are as follows.

• GMT 12:30 U.S. Initial jobless claims for the previous week
• GMT 12:30 U.S. Continuing jobless claims for the previous week
• GMT 13:45 U.S. May Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI, preliminary)
• GMT 13:45 U.S. May Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI, preliminary)
• GMT 13:45 U.S. May Composite Purchasing Managers Index (PMI, preliminary)
• GMT 14:00 U.S. April New home sales (seasonally adjusted annual rate)
• GMT 14:00 U.S. April New home sales (MoM)