USD/JPY was a notch firmer on Monday, being not far from last week’s 9 1/2-month high, with trading volumes likely to remain light due to the Labor Day federal holiday in the United States.

As the major Forex pair continues to trade in the area around the psychological 145 level, market players are still on watch for any signs of intervention.

Japanese monetary authorities intervened in the Forex market in September 2022, when the USD/JPY pair surged beyond the 145 level to a 32-year peak, prompting Yen purchases that pushed the pair back down toward 140.

Meanwhile, the latest US employment data prints hinted at certain cooling and added to expectations that the Federal Reserve may be nearing the end of its policy tightening cycle.

Data showed on Friday that the US economy had added 187,000 jobs in August, exceeding market consensus of 170,000.

August has been the third straight month when job growth remained below the 200,000 threshold, which suggested a gradual easing of labor market conditions.

The rate of unemployment in the country increased to 3.8% in August, the highest level since February 2022, from 3.5% in July.

Moderating inflation and an easing labor market have added to hopes that the US economy may not slow sharply and may be able to achieve a soft landing.

As of 9:26 GMT on Monday USD/JPY was edging up 0.11% to trade at 146.410. Last week, the major Forex pair went up as high as 147.375. The latter has been the pair’s strongest level since November 7th 2022 (147.567).

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