[MARKET ANALYSIS] DXY is flat awaiting a slew of Fed speak; USD/JPY remains above the 159.00 mark, brushing off jawboning attempts

Snapshot: G10s are mixed against the flat USD. The typical havens (CHF & JPY) hold towards the top of the pile, whilst the Antipodeans lag a touch, amidst the somewhat subdued risk tone. European equities are mostly firmer, though APAC stocks were mostly subdued and US equity futures point to a negative open, with sentiment driven lower by reports of a potential ousting of Nvidia CEO Huang. DXY briefly topped the 103.00 mark in the morning, but since scaled back towards the bottom end of a 102.82-103.08 range. The print above 103.00 allowed the index to trade back to levels not seen since April 2025. For the USD today there will be two key risk events; firstly, the potential removal of Nvidia CEO Huang, which may act as a USD-negative event, if a tech sell-off is sparked. Perhaps more pertinent will be a slew of Fed speak dotted throughout the day. Traders will be looking out for any indication of the policymakers’ openness to a larger 50bps hike in December, as suggested by the influential Waller. If one were to guess, any indication of a larger move would likely come via Hammack (dissented at the Oct confab), with fellow-hawks Barr and Schmid also a risk. USD/JPY sits firmly above the 159.00 mark, holding within a 159.47-159.95 range. Recent strength in the pair came after the hawkish comments made by the Fed’s Waller and the subsequent hotter-than-expected US CPI report. As mentioned in the European Market Wrap yesterday, the recent surge would likely spur some jawboning from Japanese officials, but likely to no avail. This in fact did occur; Japan’s Top FX diplomat Mimura mentioned that recent currency moves are too fast, but ultimately failed to move the pair at the time. Given that this latest move is fundamentally driven by widening yield differentials, any attempts to talk up the JPY will likely be ignored by markets. More aggressive signals of imminent intervention, rate checks or physical intervention itself would likely be required by the Japanese side to achieve a downturn in USD/JPY. Aside from FX, BoJ’s Asada (dove) stated that they need to watch downside economic risks and need to be cautious about the pace of rate hikes.