Forex: USD/JPY at mid 95's levels in preparation for US NFP

A big weight got off USD/JPY shoulders on ECB Draghi's speech yesterday, where he gave an upbeat and confident indication that Eurozone's economy will recover. A new “risk-on” mood gave strength for a move towards 95.00 yesterday, and today's Asian session pushed further to 95.44 high.

Japan's GDP growth rose +0.2% in Q4 (YoY) instead of the expected -0.4% recession. Bank lending rose from 1.3% to 1.5%. Current account deficit widened from ¥-264.1B to ¥-364.8B in January, but less than the expected ¥-626.0B.

Investors will be focusing on US NFP today. Consensus points to +160K added jobs in February, slightly increasing January's pace of +157K. The ADP employment figure released this week came in better than expected and prior month's figure was revised higher.

UBS analysts are bullish: “The latest strength saw the pair post a new recovery high. Resistance is at 97.79 ahead of 99.875”, wrote analyst Gareth Berry, pointing to support at 93.79 ahead of 92.92.