BREAKING: Japan just confirmed a massive Yen-buying intervention.
Last time the Bank of Japan sold US dollars to save the Yen, global markets crashed brutally.
But this time it is even worse.
Today they are dealing with two problems at the same time.
Japan's 10 year bond yield is at 2.52%, the highest since 1999. The 5 year bond just hit a record high of 1.88%. The BOJ is defending the yen while its own bond market is selling off hard.
In 2024 bonds were stable. Today every dollar they spend buying yen tightens liquidity, and tightening liquidity puts more pressure on bonds already at 27 year high yields. Both problems feed each other and there is no clean way out.
Oil is at $120 and Every barrel Japan imports gets more expensive as the yen weakens, which pushes inflation higher, which forces the BOJ toward rate hikes, which slows an economy already being damaged by the US-Iran war.
The BOJ raised its inflation forecast this week to 2.8% while simultaneously cutting its GDP growth forecast to just 0.5%. Three of nine board members already voted for a rate hike at the last meeting. The BOJ is being squeezed from both sides, hike rates to defend the yen and you damage an economy already under pressure from the war.
Do nothing and the yen keeps weakening and imported inflation keeps rising.
In 2024 oil was not a factor. Today it is the core driver of everything.
Investors currently hold the largest short yen position since July 2024. Every single one of those positions is now being forced to unwind at the same time. When that happened in 2024 it did not just move the yen, it crashed stocks, crypto, and bond yields simultaneously across every major market.
Japan's Finance Minister Katayama told G7 members Japan is watching FX with a "high sense of urgency" and confirmed direct talks with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about the yen.
And Kevin Warsh takes over as Fed Chair on May 15. If he signals any lean toward rate cuts, the interest rate gap between the US and Japan narrows and the carry trade that has been driving USD/JPY to 160 unwinds violently on its own, without any BOJ action needed at all.
In 2024 the BOJ had one tool and one problem. They spent $62 billion and it worked temporarily.
Today they have a weak yen, a bond market at 27 year highs, oil at $120, an active war raising inflation, and a new Fed Chair arriving in two weeks.