The US Treasury Department intervened in currency markets on August 1 to buy yen, joining Japan's Ministry of Finance in a coordinated effort to support the yen near 40-year lows; CNBC reported it was Washington's first yen-buying intervention with Tokyo in more than a decade; Nikkei Asia reported Scott Bessent's to-do list showed a planned purchase of US$5bn to US$10bn of yen
Japan's national currency, issued by the Bank of Japan, is the world's third most traded currency and the primary vehicle for carry trades that destabilize Asian markets when unwound.
full dossier ›Japan's central bank holds interest rates at 1%, warns core inflation is running above its 2% target
The Bank of Japan's policy board voted on July 31 to hold its benchmark rate at 1%, pausing after a June hike; the BOJ warned that core inflation is exceeding its 2% target, keeping a further hike on the table; separately, the yen surged 3% against the US dollar on July 30, with traders citing suspected Tokyo intervention
The Japanese yen fell to 163 per US dollar on July 22, its weakest level in roughly 39 years, as Iran war tensions pushed dollar demand higher alongside a Brent crude surge above US$92 per barrel; Tokyo intervention talk mounted as the yen steadied slightly through the day
The Japanese yen hit 162.27 per dollar in early Tokyo trading on June 30, its weakest since 1986 and past the 161.95 level at which Japan intervened in July 2024; Finance Minister Katayama repeated a warning of "decisive action" co-ordinated with the US Treasury
Japan's statistics bureau reported Tokyo's core consumer price index gained 1.6% year-on-year in June, with services inflation crossing 1% for the first time in four months, meeting the Bank of Japan's stated threshold for the next rate hike
Japan's central bank, whose three-decade exit from ultra-loose monetary policy and the yen's multi-decade lows make its rate decisions a global-markets variable.
Japan's sovereign bond market, the world's second-largest by outstanding stock, where the Bank of Japan's decade-long dominance and ongoing exit make JGB yields a global-markets variable.
Tokyo headline CPI rose to 1.7% in June, the first reacceleration in eight months, but the yen stayed pinned at multi-decade lows as markets weigh BoJ hike expectations against a Federal Reserve that is no longer cutting