On Friday of last week the USDJPY remained range-bound in the 153-154 zone.

Personal Consumption Expenditures for the U.S. in June were announced on Friday (this was the PCE core deflator, which does not include food and energy, for which prices are volatile) and came in slightly above expectations both in terms of month-on-month and year-on-year figures.

Today, the USDJPY hit a high of 154.35 shortly after GMT 00:00, then fell back to mark a low of 153.01 some time after GMT 2:00. Market volatility was high by Tokyo standards.

A look at the 1-hour chart of the USDJPY (as of GMT 04:15 on July 29) shows that there is no clear sense of direction to the market.

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

No economic events such as major economic indicators or comments by influential individuals are scheduled for today.

The Bank of Japan Monetary Policy Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday this week, and it may be that no clear market trend emerges until then. With closely watched events such as the FOMC and the employment statistics lying ahead, it would not be unusual for the market to move up or down violently in response to individual items of information.