USD/JPY APPROACHES 150.00 AS FOCUS SHIFTS TO US INFLATION DATA

• USD/JPY marches toward 150.00 as Fed policymakers maintain a hawkish rhetoric.
• Fed Collins said the central bank should prioritize achieving the dual mandate.
• The BoJ is not expected to go aggressive for rate hikes after exiting from an expansionary policy stance.

The USD/JPY pair advances toward the psychological resistance of 150.00 in the late European session on Friday. The asset continues its two-day winning spell as investors turn cautious amid volatility ahead of January's United States Consumer Price Index (CPI) data.

The US Dollar Index (DXY) is slightly up from Thursday’s closing price as Federal Reserve (Fed) policymakers lean towards holding interest rates restrictive for longer. On Thursday, Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Susan Collins said the central bank needs to be sure about strength in the labor market and progress in inflation declining towards 2% before adopting an expansionary policy stance.

On the labor market front, the US economy is outperforming as weekly jobless claims, released on Thursday, were lower despite high lay-offs in the technology sector. For the week ending February 2, individuals claiming jobless benefits for the first time were at 218K, lower than expectations of 220K and the former release of 228K.

Going forward, the inflation will provide fresh guidance on interest rates. A stubborn inflation data would shift the hopes of a rate cut to June from May, which already shifted further from March. The CME Fedwatch tool shows trades see a 53% chance for a rate cut by 25 basis points (bps), declining in the range of 5.00%-5.25%