Ella 
The USD/JPY was range trading around the 149.75 level in early Asian trading on Wednesday. A spike in U.S. Treasury yields boosted the USD/JPY. USD/JPY is approaching the 150.00 level as investors remain wary of possible intervention by the Japanese authorities.
However, the dollar attracted some bulls on Tuesday due to better U.S. data, but the gains were short-lived. Data released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday showed that U.S. retail sales rose 0.7% on a monthly basis in September, beating expectations for a 0.3% increase. Retail sales rose 0.6% on the month, compared to 0.2% in the previous month. The data points to strong consumer momentum.
Elsewhere, U.S. industrial production rose a stronger-than-expected 0.3% on the month. Finally, capacity utilization rose to 79.7%, which was better than expected. Meanwhile, rising U.S. Treasury yields may limit the dollar’s downside and act as a tailwind for USD/JPY.
On Tuesday, Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said that inflation has been elevated for much longer than expected and remains too high. Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker insisted on a dovish stance, saying that the Fed should keep interest rates steady until there are some turning points in the economic data. Traders will get more clues on Wednesday from Fed officials including Waller, Williams, and Bowman, which could provide some signals on the path of future monetary policy.
Japanese Finance Minister Shuni Suzuki on Tuesday declined to comment on the intervention of International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials on currency issues. Suzuki went on to say that there was no need to talk in detail about factors affecting the currency. Investors are awaiting Friday’s Japanese inflation data for fresh trading impetus. The national consumer price index (CPI) excluding fresh food is expected to have risen 2.7% in September, compared to the previous month.
