USD/JPY refreshes two-week high near 148.80 ahead of Fed Powell's speech

• USD/JPY jumps to near 148.80 as the US Dollar advances ahead of Fed Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium.
• Fed's Powell is expected to reiterate a "wait and see" approach on the monetary policy outlook.
• Japan's National CPI grew moderately in July.

The USD/JPY pair posts a fresh two-week high near 148.80 during the European trading session on Friday. The pair strengthens as the US Dollar (USD) trades firmly ahead of Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium at 14:00 GMT.

During the press time, the US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the Greenback's value against six major currencies, refreshes 10-day high near 98.80.

The US Dollar strengthens on expectations that Fed Chair Powell will not support monetary policy adjustments in the near term as the central bank still needs time to gain clarity on the likely impact of tariffs on inflation and the economy.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes of the July policy meeting showed on Wednesday that a majority of members, including Jerome Powell, underscored the need for time to gain clarity on the "magnitude and persistence of higher tariffs' effects on inflation".

Ahead of Fed Powell's speech, traders have trimmed bets supporting interest rate cuts by the central bank in the September meeting. According to the CME FedWatch tool, the probability of the Fed cutting interest rates in September has eased to 73.3% from 85.4% seen a week ago.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Yen (JPY) underperforms across the board as inflationary pressures in Japan have cooled down in July. The Statistics Bureau of Japan reported earlier in the day that the National Consumer Price Index (CPI) ex. Fresh Food rose moderately by 3.1% on year against 3.3% growth in July. However, the pace of growth was higher than the expectations of 3.0%. The headline CPI also rose at a slower pace of 3.1%, compared to the prior reading of 3.3%.