Investing.com - The U.S. dollar moved lower against the Japanese yen in Asian trade Thursday, following a losing session on Wall Street and a downbeat assessment of the U.S. labor market from the Federal Reserve Bank chairman.
In mid-day Asian trade USD/JPY hit 76.42, the pair’s lowest since Wednesday; the pair subsequently consolidated at 76.53, dropping 0.11%.
The pair was likely to find support at 75.97, the low of August 19, and resistance at 77.86 the high of September 9.
Earlier Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Barnanke said that the ailing U.S. labor market was a “national crisis that required attention from Congress and the White House.”
“We’ve had close to 10% unemployment now for a number of years, and of the people are unemployed, about 45% have been unemployed for six months or more. This is unheard of,” Bernanke added.
Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that core durable goods orders fell in August to a seasonally adjusted -0.1, down from 0.7% the previous month.
Economists had forecast the figure to rise 0.2% last month.
Wall Street endured its first losing session in three, as Greek debt concerns and a dim corporate profit outlook sparked aggressive sell-offs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.61%, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 2.17%, and the S&P 500 shed 2.07%.
On Wednesday, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry reported that retail sales fell more than expected in August, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of -2.6%, down from 0.6% the previous month
Economist’s has forecast a -0.8% drop last month.
Meanwhile, the yen moved higher against both the euro and the British pound with
Weekly figures for continuing and initial jobless claims were due out from the U.S> Department of Labor later Thursday.