By FX Empire.com

The USD/JPY pair traded with thin volume near its lowest level in three weeks with the beginning of the week, where the yen and the dollar still have the market attention as safe haven currencies, which drove the pair to move in a limited range.

The merchandise trade balance in Japan recorded an unexpected deficit in October, as a result of the strong yen which eroded any recovery in the nation’s exports.

On the other hand, the Bank of Japan failed to offer any new clues during the last meeting, where investors found no new measures from the BOJ to prevent the yen from recording more gains against the dollar and other major currencies.

The EU debt crisis has a great pressure on the yen, where investors avert risk and head to low yielding funding currencies such as the yen which open the way for the Japanese currency to make profits.

On Tuesday at 13:30 GMT, the U.S. economy will release the annualized Gross Domestic Product for the third quarter, where it’s expected unrevised at 2.5%.

The Personal Consumption for the third quarter is also expected unrevised at 2.4% as well as the Core Personal Consumption Expenditure to hold at 2.1%.

At 19:00 GMT, the Federal Reserve Bank will release its minutes for the Nov. 1-2 FOMC meeting.

Originally posted here