US, Japan buy yen jointly as currency jumps to 155.20
What's next: Tokyo warned it could intervene again after estimates put the latest yen-buying operation at as much as $58.97 billion.
Japan and the United States carried out a coordinated intervention to buy yen last week, the first such joint move since 2011, as Tokyo tried to stop the currency’s slide to a 40-year low. Japan’s finance ministry said Monday that it would not hesitate to act again with the US Treasury. The yen rose more than 1% to 155.20 per dollar before easing to around 157 later in the day. Bank of Japan data cited in market reports suggested Tokyo may have spent as much as $58.97 billion on July 30, while central bank figures in another estimate pointed to about $36.58 billion. Officials tied the move to concerns that sharp yen weakness and stress in Japanese government bonds could spill over into global markets and push up US Treasury yields.