USD/JPY Eyeing Post NFP Highs Near 146.00

Yen was the weakest link in the G10 space on Wednesday, falling nearly 0.90%. Highs for USD/JPY were around 145.80/85 and we track near 145.70 in early trade today.

• Post NFP highs at 145.97rom last Friday remained intact. This level is seen as a short term bull trigger from a technical standpoint, so is likely to be watched if we see further yen weakness today.
• Yen was undermined by a firmer US yield backdrop (10yr to 4.03%), as the Fed's Williams said he expects the central bank to keep a restrictive stance for a while. This comes ahead of the US CPI print later today in US trade.
• Carry over from yesterday's much weaker wage data also likely remained a yen headwind.
• EUR/JPY gains were also noticeable. There was a 1.15% rally in the pair, a move that's prompted new YTD highs and a crack above the 50-dma of 159.32 in the process. Retracement levels are next up, with 160.07 and 161.69 marking the 61.8% and 76.4% retracement of the Nov 16 - Dec 7 bear leg.
• The data calendar has Tokyo office vacancies and the leading and coincident indices on tap today.
• An ex BoJ board member stated April was the likely window for when the central bank would exit negative interest rates (see this BBG link).
• In the option expiry space note the following for NY cut later today: Y144.00($1.1bln), Y145.40-50($652mln).