Japanese Yen, USD/JPY Key Points

• Ongoing yen weakness has prompted aggressive verbal intervention from Japan’s Finance Ministry.
• Back in January, coordinated “price checks” between the US and Japan led to a 2100-pip drop in USD/JPY over 10 trading days.
• Other yen crosses are at even more extreme levels, with GBP/JPY at 18-year highs and EUR/JPY testing 43-year highs.

With headlines out of the Middle East seemingly trending in the right direction (for today at least!), traders are refocusing on more traditional market drivers like economic data and policy decisions.

On the former front, the US reported another solid reading on initial unemployment claims this morning, showing just 207K new Americans claiming unemployment benefits last week, below the 213K expected by markets, bringing the 4-week moving average to an historically low 210K. On the back of this report, the US dollar is the second strongest major currency on the day.

Arguably the most important (non-Iran) headline of the week so far comes from the policy side, where Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama has upped her “verbal intervention” in recent days. In today’s Asian session, she noted that authorities are “closely watching” FX moves, that the recent round of yen weakness is “affecting livelihoods” of Japanese citizens, that she plans to “further intensify” communication with US Treasury Secretary Bessent and is prepared to take “bold action” if necessary.

For readers not used to reading between the lines of policymaker comments, it’s clear that Japan’s Finance Ministry is growing increasingly uncomfortable with the yen’s ongoing weakness, raising the odds of outright intervention in the forex market to support the yen.

Traders will recall a similar situation in January, where Katayama and Bessent worked together to conduct price checks in the market, the final step before outright intervention, which led to a near-term bottom in the yen, though it’s now weakened beyond that point. Because the current US Administration is loathe to see continued strength in the greenback, continued coordination across the Pacific on this situation makes sense.

As we head into the weekend, readers should be aware of the risk of a similar situation playing out, especially if USD/JPY rallies above the psychologically-significant 160 level.

Japanese Yen Technical Analysis: USD/JPY Daily Chart

 

Source: Tradingview, StoneX

Technically speaking, the recent consolidation in USD/JPY masks the broader yen weakness that we’re seeing in other crosses. As the chart above shows, both GBP/JPY and EUR/JPY have seen larger rallies so far this month, taking those pairs to 18-year and 43-year (!!) highs respectively.

If USD/JPY plays catch-up with those crosses (potentially on the back of another delay in US-Iran peace talks over the weekend), Japanese authorities may feel compelled to intervene, likely leading to a large downside move in yen crosses. To put some numbers around it, January’s price checks kicked off a 2100-pip drop in USD/JPY over the next 10 days, and that fell short of direct intervention.

For traders, the takeaway is clear: While the current fundamental and technical setup favors continued strength in USD/JPY and other yen crosses, the risk of a sharp downside reversal is rising, especially if USD/JPY breaks above the 160.00 level heading into the weekend.

— Written by Matt Weller, Global Head of Research

Check out Matt’s Daily Market Update videos on YouTube and be sure to follow Matt on Twitter: @MWellerFX