Fundamental Market Analysis for February 24, 2025 USDJPYThe Japanese yen (JPY) continued to strengthen against its U.S. counterpart last week and pushed the USD/JPY pair down to 149.000, its lowest level since early December, during Monday's Asian session. Japan's strong Consumer Price Index (CPI) released on Friday complemented last week's encouraging Q4 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth report. This, along with expectations that solid wage growth will drive consumer spending, suggests that the Bank of Japan (BoJ) may raise interest rates more aggressively than originally anticipated and continues to support the Japanese Yen.
In addition, the emergence of new US Dollar (USD) selling is favorable for the JPY and has contributed to the USD/JPY pair declining for the fourth consecutive day, marking the seventh day of negative movement in the last eight. Meanwhile, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda showed willingness to increase government bond purchases if long-term interest rates rise sharply. This in turn led to a further decline in Japanese government bond (JGB) yields from the multi-year peak reached last week, which triggered some intraday JPY selling and helped the currency pair bounce more than 50 pips from the daily low.
Trading recommendation: SELL 149.200, SL 149.800, TP 148.300
