USD/JPY Back Close To 150.00, FX Jawboning/Intervention Risks In Focus

USD/JPY tracks near 149.80 in early dealing today, very close to Thursday session highs. The yen lost 0.43% for Thursday's session, amid broad USD gains. The yen dropped the least against the USD for the session, outperforming notably against higher beta plays in terms of AUD and NZD.

• Proximity to the 150.00 level for USD/JPY level may have constrained yen losses to a degree. We aren't too far away from recent highs of 150.16 from last Tuesday, which came before the sharp pullback to 147.43.
• Focus is likely to rest with verbal rhetoric around FX/intervention risks from the Japan authorities today. A senior FinMin official stated that G7 ministers agreed with Japan that excessive FX moves are undesirable. The official reiterated that FX moves should reflect fundamentals (see this BBG link for more details). The comments were made on the sidelines of the current IMF/WB meetings.
• Still, renewed US yield gains is biasing yen weaker, with firm yield gains across the curve post Thursday's CPI print.
• On the data front today, we have weekly investment flow data and September money stock figures.