Japan and US Conduct Joint Yen-Buying Intervention

The Japanese Ministry of Finance has announced that it conducted a joint yen-buying intervention with the U.S. Treasury Department on Friday, August 3, in coordination with the U.S. finance chiefs' statement from last September.

The action was taken to counter excessive volatility and disorderly movements in the Japanese yen in recent months, according to Minister of Finance Satsuki Katayama.

Katayama stated that Japan plans to utilize the U.S. Federal Reserve's Foreign and International Monetary Authorities Repo Facility in the future, which provides temporary dollar liquidity to foreign authorities.

This is the first coordinated foreign exchange market intervention by Japanese and U.S. authorities since a massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan in March 2011.