USD/JPY risk heightened ahead of Fed/BoJ decisions
Sept 18 (Reuters) -The Federal Reserve policy decision is finely balanced with market pricing split 63/37 in favour of a 50 bp rate cut.
Traders will also digest the latest dot plot projections where the bar is high to out-dove the market. As such, given this setup, volatility is likely to be elevated surrounding the decision as evidenced by the notable increase in FX volatility.
Looking at the overnight expiry for USD/JPY, vols have near enough doubled from 13.7 to 27, which prices an at-the-money break-even straddle at 160 pips – or implies a +/- 1.1% move in USD/JPY.
Aside from the Fed, the BoJ decision is also on the docket this week. Though with the decision overlapping political events, namely the LDP presidential election due Sept 27, little is expected from this meeting.
Rhetoric from BoJ officials has broadly leaned hawkish, backing further rate rises. Recent source reports have raised some concerns over the extent of policymakers’ hawkishness. Some members have reportedly grown wary of the rise in the yen, which may hinder the BoJ’s ability to raise rates much firmer as a stronger currency would lower import costs and slow inflation.
Consequently, in light of net longs in the yen hitting an 8-year high, this may suggest that further upside in the currency could be harder to come by, should officials openly sound the alarm over yen strength. As a result, this does offer more two-way risks to the yen, particularly against the dollar.
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USDJPY overnight vol https://tmsnrt.rs/3Bc4e2T
(Justin McQueen is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own.)
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