USD/JPY still holds the key for the wider dollar

Once again today we have a number of Japanese officials spouting about future Japanese monetary policy and the exchange rate. There can be little doubt that the abject Yen weakness so far this year has been the driver for the dollar as a whole. The move above 150 in the USD/JPY has stymied any real gains in the likes of the EUR/USD and the GBP/USD, notwithstanding near decade highs for the GBP/JPY and EUR/JPY. The Bank of Japan has it within its power to dramatically shift the whole Yen dynamic on March 19. It remains to be seen if they will end decades long almost zero monetary policy. The risks that they might must be countered by the risks that they do not. That surely holds the key as to whether the USD/JPY will rise above 152, or fall back significantly below 150. Meantime, the USD/JPY continues to stall south of 151 ahead of that March 19 decision. The USD/JPY closed in the US last night at 150.53. The range so far today is 150.35 to 150.55. It is right now at the lower end of that, currently trading at 150.40