FX News
Market-moving events, session conditions, and macro context — written for traders who run systems, not predictions.
155.00 Held on the Third Attempt. At 23:50 Tokyo Finally Gets a Japanese Number.
USD/JPY has taken 155.00 three times in thirty-six hours. The first two were handed straight back inside the session; the third stuck — New York closed 155.10, seventy-five sen up, on a 154.21–155.24 range, with the ten-year at a nineteen-year 5.0390% and the Dow down 399. Three sessions running, every link in the yen's chain has been American. At 23:50 UTC Japan finally supplies its own numbers — trade balance, exports, imports and core machinery orders in one minute — and on the evidence of the last three sessions Tokyo will not trade a single one of them. We are putting that in writing so it can be marked.
We Said the Risk Was on the Upside. Empire State Printed 7.60 and the Miss Was Thirteen Points the Other Way.
Yesterday this desk published three consensus readings for Empire State between 14.0 and 15.0 and argued the asymmetry was on the upside. September printed 7.60 against a 20.6 prior — a thirteen-point fall, and the miss was on the other tail. Every reading in the band was wrong by roughly half in the same direction, which is a different failure from bracketing the truth. New orders fell to 2.0 from 17.3, shipments went negative, and prices paid hit the highest since 2022 — a stagflationary shape twenty-nine hours before a Fed hike priced above 90%. Plus two figures of our own we are correcting unprompted.
155.24, Then Straight Back. The Yen Is Trading the Ten-Year — and Treasury Sells 20-Year Paper Into It at 17:00.
London ran USD/JPY through 155.00 to 155.24 on a ten-year at 5.0390% and handed all of it back when the yield gave up three basis points — the second failure at that figure in fourteen hours, and no link in either chain was Japanese. The ten-year went from "highest since October 2023" to "highest since July 2007" across about three basis points. Treasury sells 20-year paper into it at 17:00 UTC, six securities settle today, and the 20-year settles Friday on Bank of Japan morning.
The UK Jobs Number Was on the Wire at 06:01. At 06:26 the ONS Still Said It Was Not Published.
The ONS released the UK labour market report at 06:00 UTC and FXStreet had it on the wire ninety-six seconds later: unemployment 4.9% against a 5.0% consensus, unchanged in the three months to July. At 06:26 the ONS's own release page still said "This release is not yet published" and Trading Economics' Actual field was still empty. This desk's rule — go to the issuing agency, not an aggregator — is right about authority and wrong about latency. Plus today's windows, the 17:00 auction clock now second-sourced, and a Fed hike at 92.4%.
USD/JPY Printed 155.00 and Gave Back 101 Pips Before Tokyo Opened — On Oil, Not on Japan
USD/JPY touched 155.00 overnight for the first time since 7 September and was back at 153.99 before the Tokyo open. The chain that did it: a ship struck in the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia shutting its 7-million-barrel East-West pipeline, the US 10-year through 5% for the first time since 2023 — then four presidential posts that unwound the lot. Three publishers give three different highs for the same barrel, four dollars apart, and three feeds give the Fed hike at 85%, 90% and 93%. Tokyo opens at 154.36 with the spec book flat.
Tuesday's 20-Year Auction Settles on Bank of Japan Day. Last Month's Tailed Half a Basis Point.
Treasury's own tentative schedule confirms the 20-year bond auction for Tuesday 15 September, settling Friday 18 September — Bank of Japan day. Last month's $18bn went at 5.204% against a 5.199% when-issued, a half-basis-point tail with 62.93% indirects. Last week's 3-year, 10-year and 30-year all settle Tuesday, the day the FOMC convenes. None of it is on your FX calendar.
Your Week-Ahead Table Has the Wrong Man Chairing Wednesday. Ours Had the Hours Wrong Too.
Two vendor calendars put Jerome Powell at Wednesday's FOMC press conference. The Federal Reserve's own site names Kevin Warsh as Chairman and lists Powell separately as a sitting governor — which is exactly why a filter keyed on the name keeps matching. One table still has the Bank of Japan on hold against a survey at 97% for a hike. And our own fifty-one-hour gap between the two decisions is thirty-three. Plus an empty European calendar into the London open.
Speculators Flipped 103,023 Contracts and the Yen Is Net Long Going Into BOJ Week
For four sessions this desk tracked a yen short of 92,227 contracts and asked what would happen when it was squeezed. Friday's COT answered: a 103,023-contract swing to a net long of 10,796. Tokyo opens the biggest policy week of the month at 153.74 with the crowded side of the trade gone — the Fed on Wednesday at 18:00 UTC and a fully priced Bank of Japan hike on Friday. Why a flat book changes what a priced hike can do to you.
We Closed the Core CPI Dispute at +0.2%. It Printed +0.3%. Neither Vendor Had the Number.
On Friday this desk declared a consensus dispute closed at +0.2% core month on month. The BLS published +0.3%. The outlier we rejected said +0.4%, so the print landed exactly between the two — and the house forecast we quoted at +0.19% was eleven basis points low. Ninety minutes later the University of Michigan printed 47.8 against a 51.0 consensus with one-year inflation expectations at 4.6%. What a desk owes you after a call like that.