What a difference eight years make for Japan¡¯s currency.
¡°Yen Rises for Fifth Day Amid Ukraine Tension,¡± a Bloomberg News headline exclaimed in March 2014, when Russia was moving in on Crimea. The story noted, ¡°Investors sought haven assets¡± amid intensifying geopolitical risks.
It was the kind of move seen time and again over the years ¡ª a basic tenet of global markets was that when bad things happened, traders piled into the yen. It stemmed from Japan¡¯s status as the world¡¯s largest net creditor. Japan didn¡¯t need anybody else¡¯s money, and it had a whole lot of assets.
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