Japan and the United States jolted the yen out of a historic slide.
US and global stocks keep pressing toward records
The US dollar versus the yen (JPY=X) fell from nearly 164 to as low as 155 after Japan acted Thursday and coordinated with the United States on Friday. (Because the below chart tracks dollars per yen, a falling line means the yen is strengthening.) It was the first joint currency intervention since 2011 and the first time the US had stepped in to strengthen the yen since 1998. Japan kept interest rates near zero for decades while rates elsewhere moved much higher. That gap pushed money toward higher-yielding currencies and steadily weakened the yen.
Now Japanese rates are rising and the currency is adjusting, leaving authorities to manage the transition without allowing it to become disorderly. The US 10-year Treasury (^TNX) still yields about 1.8 percentage points more than its Japanese counterpart, but that gap has been cut roughly in half since early 2025. The shock reached Japanese companies Monday.