Half of Intervention Gains Vanish as Yen Weakness Persists
The largest-ever yen-buying operation by the Japanese and U.S. governments has already seen half of its gains erased in just seven trading days, according to recent data.
The intervention, which took place on August 14, saw Japan's Ministry of Finance and the U.S. Treasury team up to purchase approximately 5.3 trillion yen, marking the first joint U.S.-Japan intervention since 1998.
This move pushed the yen sharply higher from near 164.00 to above 155.00, appreciating nearly 9 yen over two days. However, the exchange rate has since retraced to 159.50, implying that about 4.5 yen of that gain has been erased by the market.
Mitsuhiro Furusawa, Japan's former top foreign-exchange official at the Ministry of Finance, stated that the current yen exchange rate is 'clearly too weak,' and that the United States and Japan could once again conduct joint intervention at any time.