What’s next? – USDJPY 23.11.17

The dollar was trading 0.07 percent higher vs the Japanese yen at 111.29 as of 05:40 GMT, staying relatively calm as no relevant data was published in Asian hours and as Wall Street is closed due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was trading at 93.13, 0.01 percent to the downside by the time of this writing.

Overnight, market players were focused on the release of minutes from the November 1 Federal Open Market Committee meeting. The document showed policymakers united in a positive prospect for economic growth and labor market advancement.

"In their discussion of the economic situation and the outlook, meeting participants agreed that information received since the FOMC met in September indicated that the labor market had continued to strengthen and that economic activity had been rising at a solid rate despite hurricane-related disruptions," the minutes said.

However, Federal Reserve members still disagree on inflation and how to adapt monetary policy to a lower-than-expected increase of it. The regulator keeps an annual target of 2 percent.

"[Policymakers are] worried that a sharp reversal in asset prices could have damaging effects on the economy."

According to Fed funds tracked by CME Group’s FedWatch tool, market participants are currently pricing in nearly a 100% probability of a rate hike by December.

On Wednesday, the US Commerce Department said non-defense core capital goods orders, dropped 0.8 percent last month. This report is useful to estimate future business activity.

Fort Financial Services