Japan’s finance minister, Satsuki Katayama, is under pressure to strengthen the yen while balancing competing demands from the prime minister and Washington.
The U.S. and Japanese governments have acted together to try to prop up the value of the yen on global currency markets. The way they did it contains a clue about U.S. goals — and has some worrying implications for global markets. The big picture: Headline indicators have been steady across global financial markets this summer. Yet there are some signs of strains beneath the surface, particularly in the form of rising long-term borrowing costs at a time of elevated debt worldwide. - The U.S. participation in the yen intervention may have been an effort to enable the Japanese to smooth gyrations in their currency without creating more market pressure for Treasury bonds. - Japan has intervened in the market for the yen off and on for…
U.S. and Japanese officials confirmed on Sunday that the Treasury Department had moved last week to help the currency.