The exchange rate shifted gears to start the year and hit a two-week high of ¥146.00. Lack of news pushed traders to old-school chart reading.

• The USDJPY pair slipped to start Tuesday trading and rebounded off the 200-day moving average. The exchange rate dropped to ¥143.50 before bulls stepped in and scooped up some discounted trades. Nevertheless, the buying momentum was not enough to flip the pair into the green and it is still on track to close its third straight day in decline.
• Volatility has recently picked up as traders reassess their positions in the US dollar in the midst of a creeping US labor market. A continued trend of rising employment has the potential to wean the Federal Reserve away from its intention to cut interest rates at least three times this year.
• In Japan, headline inflation for Tokyo came in at a modest 2.4% in December, down from 2.6% in the prior month. The concentrated consumer-price print generally carries less weight than the national CPI figure, due in roughly three weeks. Before that, on Thursday, markets will be parsing the US inflation print, expected to land at 3.2% for December.

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