USD/JPY turns lower post-NFP, focus shifts to Powell’s speech

• The US economy added only 130K new jobs in August, lower than 158K expected.
• Disappointing NFP print overshadowed wage growth data and weighed on the USD.
• The downside remains cushioned ahead of the Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech.

The USD/JPY pair finally broke down of its consolidative trading range and dropped to fresh session low, around the 106.70 region post-NFP, albeit lacked any strong follow-through selling.

Disappointing NFP print exert some pressure

The US Dollar failed to capitalize on a modest intraday uptick and drifted back into negative territory following the release of the latest US monthly jobs report, which showed that the economy added 130K new jobs in August as compared to 158K expected.
 
The disappointing headline print overshadowed stronger than expected wage growth data and the market disappointment was evident from a sharp intraday pullback in the US Treasury bond yields, which further exerted some downward pressure on the major.
 
However, the prevalent risk-on mood continued weighing on the Japanese Yen's perceived safe-haven status and seemed to be the only factor that helped limit further downside ahead of the Fed Chair Jerome Powell's scheduled speech, due later during the US trading session.
 
Hence, it will be prudent to wait for a subsequent downfall before confirming that the recent corrective bounce has already run out of the steam and positioning for the resumption of the pair's prior depreciating move amid renewed optimism over the US-China trade talks.

Technical levels to watch