USD/JPY back above 98.30; will this last?

FXstreet.com (Chicago) - USD/JPY reached 98.48 daily highs in the afternoon of the American trading session to retrace in between the 98.20/30 zones. On Obamacare vote, the US Senate defeated the House to delay the bill on the healthcare reform after sending an emergency spending bill to win time and keep the government open overnight.

Data recap

Fueled by the news, market participants favor the greenback, pushing the pair higher to extend wins against the yen. In Japan, Abe’s comments later this week on potential corporate tax reduction and sales tax hike may affect the volatility of the pair that already flows amid a sea of uncertainty caused by Washington’s debt ceiling issue. In earlier data released, The Chicago purchasing mangers’ index was 55.7 vs. past 53 in the US while the Dallas Fed manufacturing business index was 12.8 vs. past 5 results. In Japan, industrial production was weaker than expected at -0.7% vs. past 3.4% and estimates at -0.4%.

USD/JPY Technical Levels

Technically speaking, the pair is offered at 98.30 and oscillates between supports aligned at 97.44 (August 20th lows), 96.92 (August 21st lows) ahead of 95.92 (August 10th lows) and resistances set at 98.47 (September 25th lows), 99.12 (September 24th highs) followed by 99.69 (September 20th highs). In one hour-timeframe analysis, the pair is offered above the EMA20 and is reported as slightly bullish by the FXstreet.com.