Japanese Yen Rally After Obama’s Speech

After declining yesterday, the EUR/USD is ranging this morning in anticipation of US data coming out later today. At 12:30 GMT, there will be a speech by FOMC member Pianalto, along with US GDP and Initial Jobless claims data. Though recent US data has generally been good, this does not mean that the information coming out later will follow suit. However, in the long term, the dollar is under upward pressure from the recent Fed tapering decision and interest rate change projections. Furthermore, the EUR/USD has been at a relative high for a while, so long term downward retracements are possible. Look for support at 1.350 and resistance at 1.3845.

The USD/JPY fell at the end of yesterday after Obama’s speech criticizing the Russian annexation of the Crimean peninsula. Traders became worried that the conflict would escalate, so the yen gained as many look for a safe haven asset. Earlier this morning, the pair has retraced a lot of these losses. At the moment, the pair is moving down again, though there may be some ranging later until the data from America come out this afternoon. Also note that we have the Household Spending, the Tokyo CPI and National Core CPI data coming out for Japan at 23:30 GMT. This is closely followed by and Retail Sales data at 23:50 GMT. In the meantime, look for support at 101.70 and resistance at 102.70.