Traders are questioning how effective Japan could be if it were to intervene alone to support the yen, after U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent cast doubt on the prospect of coordinated action.
Those hopes were dented after Bessent said on Wednesday the U.S. is ¡°absolutely not¡± intervening in the dollar-yen market, helping trigger as much as a 1.2% slump in the yen ¡ª its biggest in more than five weeks. Earlier, speculation of so-called rate checks by the Federal Reserve of New York gave the yen a lift, nudging the pair toward the 150 handle.
While the yen is still some distance from levels widely viewed as triggering imminent intervention, traders are once again forced to assess how Japan might respond if the currency were to sell off sharply between now and the snap Lower House election on Feb. 8.
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