Ella 
In early Asian trading on Friday, USD/JPY strengthened to around 155.50. USD/JPY is boosted by renewed demand for the U.S. dollar. However, verbal intervention and hawkish comments from Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda may temporarily limit the downside for the Japanese yen (JPY).
On Thursday, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said the central bank may need more time to get inflation back to target due to increased uncertainty about inflation in the coming months. Other Fed officials this week also expressed support for keeping interest rates at current levels for longer. This could therefore boost USD/JPY.
Financial markets expect the Fed to remain on hold for the remainder of the year as it seeks “greater confidence” in inflation, while Fed Chairman Powell stressed that achieving such confidence may take longer than expected.
On the other hand, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said on Thursday that the central bank will carefully review the yen’s recent weakness when guiding monetary policy, Reuters reported. The hawkish comments raised expectations of rising short-term borrowing costs in the coming months, which provided some support for the yen and dragged USD/JPY lower.
Additionally, verbal intervention from the Japanese authorities could limit USD/JPY upside in the short term. In early trading on Friday, Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki once again stated that he would take necessary foreign exchange measures if necessary.
