Japan confirms first currency intervention since 2022 with $62 billion in spending

Japan confirms first currency intervention since 2022 with  billion in spending


New Japanese 1000 Yen banknote on display inside the Currency Museum of the Bank of Japan’s Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies. The new banknotes will start circulate from July 3, 2024. 

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Data from Japan’s Ministry of Finance Friday confirmed the country’s first currency intervention since 2022, after the Japanese yen plunged to a 34-year-low in April.

The finance ministry on Friday stated that Japan spent 9.7885 trillion yen ($62.25 billion) on currency intervention between April 26 and May 29, according to a Google-translated statement.

This is the first time that the Japanese government has undertaken such a market measure since October 2022, according to ministry records.

The timeline of the government step coincides with a sharp rebound in the Japanese currency in recent weeks, after the yen plunged to a 34-year-low of 160.03 against the U.S. dollar on April 29.

It later bounced to 156 levels later in that session, heating speculation of a potential intervention by Japanese authorities. The currency further strengthened by more than 2% within days.

At the time, analysts at Bank of America Global Research estimated that the size of the first suspected intervention could have been between 5 trillion and 6 trillion yen ($32.7 billion to $39.2 billion), based on Bank of Japan data.

The yen has been combating sustained pressure since the Bank of Japan ended its monetary policy of negative interest rates in March. It traded at 157.25 against the U.S. dollar at 11:55 a.m. London time on Friday.

Earlier this month, Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki backed the need for interventions, if sharp currency moves started to impact households and companies. He declined to comment at the time when asked whether the ministry had stepped in to prop up the yen.

“When there is an excessive movement, it may be necessary to smooth it out,” Suzuki told CNBC’s Dan Murphy on May 3, according to a translation.

Japan last intervened to stabilize the currency in October 2022, when the yen fell to lows of around 152 per dollar. Authorities intervened three times that year to stabilize the currency, reportedly spending as much as a combined 9.2 trillion yen over the period.



Source

Are 2 to 3 cups of coffee a day too much? It’s complicated, experts say: ‘It’s different for each person’
World

Are 2 to 3 cups of coffee a day too much? It’s complicated, experts say: ‘It’s different for each person’

Two-thirds of Americans drink coffee every single day, according to data collected by the National Coffee Association in 2022, and the debate about how much is too much and whether or not any amount of caffeine is safe persists. But recent research shows that the answer is more complicated than you’d think. A Harvard study, that followed […]

Read More
Media trailblazer Tom Rogers changes ‘raging bull’ stance on Netflix, sees worrisome signs
World

Media trailblazer Tom Rogers changes ‘raging bull’ stance on Netflix, sees worrisome signs

Former NBC Cable President Tom Rogers is dialing back his bullishness on Netflix. The media trailblazer, who was a self-proclaimed “raging bull” on Netflix, told CNBC’s “Fast Money” this week he’s starting to worry — and listed competition with free content on YouTube as a headwind. “[Netflix] still [has] more hit shows than all the […]

Read More
I went to a Costco in Japan—the variety of foods was ‘incredible’: Here’s the stuff you don’t really see in the U.S. stores
World

I went to a Costco in Japan—the variety of foods was ‘incredible’: Here’s the stuff you don’t really see in the U.S. stores

As a Japanese nutritionist living in the U.S., I love shopping for traditional foods that I grew up eating, such as seaweed, beans, matcha, multigrain rice, and sweet potatoes. I sometimes go to Costco to buy those staples in bulk. But during a recent trip to Japan, I had the chance to shop at the […]

Read More