USD/JPY breaks below 107.00 handle, fresh session lows

   •  USD consolidates amid retracing US bond yields.
   •  JPY boosted by global risk aversion trade.
   •  US weekly jobless claims data fails to lend any support.

The USD/JPY pair extended its overnight rejection slide from the 108.00 neighborhood and has now slipped back below the 107.00 handle. 

The pair is trading with a negative bias for the first time in the past five trading session and has now retreated around 100-pips from post-FOMC minutes swing highs amid reviving safe-haven demand on the back of global risk aversion trade.

Despite Wednesday's hawkish FOMC meeting minutes, sliding US Treasury bond yields kept a lid on the ongoing US Dollar recovery move and further collaborated to the pair's sharp retracement slide on Thursday. 

Meanwhile, today's better-than-expected weekly jobless claims data from the US, coming in at 222K for the week ended Feb. 17 as against last week's 229K, went passed unnoticed and did little to provide any immediate respite for the bulls. 

Moving ahead, traders would not take cues from the upcoming Fedspeeches while the key focus would be on the Japanese inflation figures, due for release during the early Asian session on Friday.

Technical outlook

Valeria Bednarik, American Chief Analyst at FXStreet writes, “the pair is skewed toward the downside, although further technical confirmations are required, not only because the pair remains above the mentioned Fibonacci support, but also because, despite retreating, technical indicators hold within positive territory, with the RSI losing its bearish strength, turning flat around 52, in the 4 hours chart. In the mentioned time frame, the pair continues developing well below its 100 and 200 SMAs, with the shortest losing its bearish strength, now at 108.20.”