USD/JPY keeps the red near mid-113.00s

   •  Persistent USD selling offsets upbeat US PPI print. 
   •  Yen benefits further from reviving safe-haven demand. 

The USD/JPY pair held weaker through the early NA session and refreshed session low in the past hour, albeit quickly rebounded few pips thereafter.

The pair's sharp retracement from just ahead of the 114.00 handle accelerated following some dovish comments by the St. Louis Fed President James Bullard. 

The selling pressure, however, receded after US PPI print smashed expectations (2.4% y-o-y) and surged at its fastest rate in almost 6-years (2.8% y-o-y). The core CPI also bettered consensus estimates and rose 2.4% y-o-y, the highest since Feb. 2012. 

Today's strong PPI figures reinforced December Fed rate hike move and helped the US Treasury bond yields to recover early lost ground, eventually lending some support to the major. Meanwhile, mounting concerns over the US tax reform plan overshadowed the upbeat data, with persistent US Dollar selling bias failing to provide any fresh bullish impetus.

Meanwhile, a modest pull-back in European equity markets and indications of a weaker opening in the US remained supportive of the Japanese Yen’s safe-haven appeal and further collaborated towards keeping a lid any meaningful up-move for the major. 

Moreover, investors also seemed refraining from placing aggressive bets ahead of Wednesday's release of prelim GDP growth figures from Japan and has eventually led to a subdued price-action around mid-113.00s.

Technical outlook

Valeria Bednarik, American Chief Analyst at FXStreet writes, "given that in the 4 hours chart, the early advance was limited by selling interest around a horizontal 100 SMA, while technical indicators turned lower,  currently pressuring their mid-lines. 113.10 is the immediate support, with a break below it fueling the decline, probably all through the US session."