Japan and the US just burned ~$90B trying to prop up the yen two weeks ago. Didn't last.
Yen's sliding back toward 160 against the dollar. They stepped in at 164, Tokyo funded most of it, Washington joined for the first time in decades. Worked for about five minutes.
Same structural pressure — rate differential — just keeps dragging it down.
Why anyone outside FX desks should care: weak yen makes imports brutal for Japanese households. Also raises the odds Japan starts dumping Treasuries, which bleeds into US mortgage rates and borrowing costs.
Currency moves aren't abstract. They show up in grocery receipts and loan payments. This one's got second-order effects people aren't pricing in yet.
Yen's sliding back toward 160 against the dollar. They stepped in at 164, Tokyo funded most of it, Washington joined for the first time in decades. Worked for about five minutes.
Same structural pressure — rate differential — just keeps dragging it down.
Why anyone outside FX desks should care: weak yen makes imports brutal for Japanese households. Also raises the odds Japan starts dumping Treasuries, which bleeds into US mortgage rates and borrowing costs.
Currency moves aren't abstract. They show up in grocery receipts and loan payments. This one's got second-order effects people aren't pricing in yet.