Japan Considers More Fiscal Stimulus, Unemployment Data Due Shortly

USD/JPY wavered yesterday, eking out just a handful of pips worth of gains at the end of the day, with both sides of the pair struggling despite little to no progress in U.S. fiscal negotiations. Thursday was an inside day, which saw the descending 50-DMA keep a lid on gains.

• Tokyo Stock Exchange spokesman noted that there have been no issues with accepting orders this morning, after yesterday's worst-ever outage. Per the Nikkei, Japanese Financial Services Agency mulls punishing the TSE for the incident.
• The Nikkei reported that Japan's government is preparing to draw up another fiscal stimulus package by the year-end. A senior LDP lawmaker Moriyama told the newspaper that the third extra budget could be submitted to parliament during a session about to convene in Jan.
• The pair sits +4 pips at Y105.56 as we type. A break above the 50-DMA/Sep 30 high at Y105.75/80 would open up Sep 8 high of Y106.38. Conversely, a break under Sep 23 low of Y014.88 would turn focus to Sep 22 low of Y104.41.
• Japanese unemployment comes out at the bottom of the hour, with consumer confidence due later in the day.
• Next week, focus moves to BoP current account balance & Eco Watchers Survey (Thursday), as well as earnings/spending data (Friday).