Yesterday the USDJPY traded in a narrow range in the upper 152-yen range, but around GMT 15:00, U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent's statement that the US is "absolutely not" intervening in the currency market prompted dollar buying. After the FOMC announced it would hold interest rates steady, the pair reached a high of 154.04 around GMT 19:00. It then pulled back, and trading for the day closed at 153.40 yen.

Today the USDJPY continued to see dollar selling, apparently driven by distrust toward U.S. President Trump, reaching a low of 152.76 around GMT 00:30. As of GMT 04:00, the decline has stabilized and the pair is trading sideways around 153 yen.

Looking at the 1-hour chart of the USDJPY (as of GMT 04:20 on January 29), following the recovery from the drop to 152.09 yen, the pair is at a crossroads--it will either form higher lows and rise in the short term, or break down again and resume the downtrend. The overall outlook remains bearish, and this appears to be a favorable environment for selling on rallies.

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

The main economic indicators for today are as follows:

• GMT 13:30 U.S. Initial jobless claims for the previous week
• GMT 13:30 U.S. Continuing jobless claims for the previous week
• GMT 13:30 U.S. November Trade balance
• GMT 15:00 U.S. November Factory Orders