(Bloomberg) -- Global bond and currency investors are debating if it's time to dust off last year's 'Sell America' trade after a flurry of economic-policy decisions out of Washington over the past two weeks.
First, Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's preference for sparse communication cast doubt on the central bank's commitment to fighting inflation, especially since an unusually high number of officials were in favor of an immediate interest-rate hike.
Then Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signed off on US support to help Japan prop up the yen — the first such coordinated effort in almost 30 years. While the intervention was carried out via the euro and designed to avoid disrupting the Treasury market, it still risks putting pressure on the dollar.
With fiscal concerns, a trade war and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East also threatening to underpin inflation, some in markets are starting to reassess their taste for US bonds and the dollar amid concern that US policy is again becoming hard to decipher.
The 30-year Treasury yield has risen above 5% to its highest since 2007 although has retraced some of its move since the Fed meeting, while the dollar has weakened against almost every Group-of-10 currency over the past one month despite higher US yields, which would normally support it.
"Bessent and Warsh are a double whammy to global markets that investors can't ignore," said Rajeev De Mello, global macro portfolio manager at Gama Asset Management, who is selling Treasuries and the dollar partly because of the policy uncertainty.
"They have to start pricing risks of their policies into the dollar, into the Treasuries curve, and in fact, they're doing it right now. It's the Trump administration premium," he said.
The "Sell America" trade gained traction last April, when President Donald Trump's tariff announcements triggered a simultaneous selloff in the dollar, stocks and US government bonds. While the move quickly faded, it challenged the assumption that the US could indefinitely rely on the dollar's reserve-currency status and deep capital markets to finance widening fiscal deficits.
This time, the picture is more nuanced. US stocks remain resilient, with a rally in technology stocks pushing the S&P 500 to a record high. Flows also suggest ongoing faith in the US. Foreign investors held $9.4 trillion of Treasuries as of May, up 4% from a year earlier, according to US government data.
But in bonds and currencies, some global investors warn the Fed risks losing its grip on the debt market without a clearer inflation strategy, while any direct US effort to support the yen weakens the dollar. That could also spill over into Treasuries if Japan — the largest foreign holder of US government debt — is forced to sell part of its more than $1 trillion holdings to fund intervention.
"This whole mix of confusing messages does not help capital flows into the US," said Carol Lye, money manager at Brandywine Global Investment Management in Singapore. The firm has a medium-term bearish dollar position.
"The fact that now Bessent is jumping on that and saying that maybe the yen should be stronger, that's going to help our dollar story — our weaker dollar story," she said.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index has lost about 2% since a peak in June.
What Bloomberg Strategists Say...
"With Treasury yields already under pressure amid concerns over the Fed's inflation fighting credibility under Warsh, Washington has an incentive to limit forced bond sales"
— Skylar Montgomery Koning, Markets Live strategist
Bessent defended US support for the yen, saying its weakness risked broader depreciation across Asian currencies. He told CNBC on Tuesday that Washington "will do whatever it takes" to support Tokyo in a way that benefits the US economy and stabilizes global markets.
Asked about the reported use of euros to buy yen in Friday's intervention, Bessent said US officials were in close contact with European partners and told them the move was "just a reallocation of our reserves."
The intervention has raised questions about the outlook for the dollar.
"Investors hate uncertainty," said Steve Brice, global chief investment officer, group wealth management at Standard Chartered in Singapore. He expects the dollar to fall about 3% to 4% over the next 12 months, saying that government actions and other factors were chipping away at the structural strength of US markets.
US Exceptionalism
To be sure, no one is suggesting the end of the dollar's dominance in the $9.5 trillion-a-day currency market or Treasuries' status as the world's benchmark risk-free asset.
US assets generally still remain attractive to foreign buyers, and one sign is the absence of major correlated selloffs, Lotfi Karoui, multi-asset credit strategist at Pacific Investment Management Co. wrote in a note.
This year, only around 2% of trading days and rolling five-day periods have seen 10-year Treasuries, US investment-grade corporate bond spreads and the dollar all sell off in tandem, he said. "If there were a true loss of confidence in US exceptionalism, we would expect such selloffs to be much more frequent."
But the catch is that their buying has not kept pace with how fast US borrowing is growing. The Treasury this week boosted its estimated borrowing needs for the current quarter to $739 billion, and market participants expect officials to carry on their bill-heavy issuance strategy in the months ahead.
Allianz Global Investors, which oversees 598 billion euros ($690 billion), favors yield-curve steepener trades, particularly in five- and seven-year maturities against 30-year bonds, on the view that the Fed's marginally dovish stance could leave longer-dated Treasuries under pressure.
"The risk is that the Fed could end up getting behind the curve in terms of any rate-hiking cycle," said Ranjiv Mann, a senior portfolio manager at the investment management firm. "You could see the back-end of the curve becoming a little bit more unanchored. And, as we know, the US faces significant fiscal challenges."
The concerns are showing up in prices. The term premium on 30-year Treasuries — the extra yield investors demand to hold long-dated debt — rose to 1.56% this week, the highest since 2013, according to Bloomberg Economics.
"There are just a lot of questions swirling around a changing backdrop for confidence in the US as the safe haven asset," Ronald Temple, chief market strategist for Lazard's Financial Advisory and Asset Management businesses, said in a Bloomberg TV interview this week. "Over the next several years, you're going to see US dollar depreciation resume."
(Bloomberg) -- US support for Japan's efforts to prop up the yen is unlikely to damage the dollar's status as the most dominant reserve currency in the world, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Japan is the biggest foreign investor in the $31 trillion Treasuries market, and last month's joint currency intervention has stirred some concern that US support for the yen — likely aimed at preventing unwanted volatility in US bonds — could erode confidence in dollar reserves. Such an argument assumes the US might try to hinder others from selling Treasuries in the future, Goldman said.
"This seems like quite a leap," strategists including Michael Cahill wrote in a note. "We are skeptical of arguments that this is negative for the dollar's reserve status."
The bank pointed to Japan's access to the Federal Reserve's Foreign and International Monetary Authorities Repo Facility, which allows foreign central banks to raise dollars against their Treasuries without selling them. It said that highlights a key advantage of the dollar: deep capital markets for building reserves in normal times and access to liquidity during periods of stress.
"We believe Treasury's actions and the availability and utility of the FIMA facility help demonstrate that no one else can come close to competing with the US dollar's usefulness, network effects, and supporting infrastructure right now," the strategists added.
The joint campaign by Washington and Tokyo to shore up the yen is the first of its kind in almost three decades. While the move was carried out via the euro to avoid disrupting the Treasuries market, some investors have raised concerns that direct US support for the yen could inadvertently weaken the dollar and dent the appeal of US bonds as reserve assets.
The mechanics of the intervention have also drawn scrutiny. The Financial Times reported that the US blindsided the European Central Bank last week, only informing officials in Frankfurt after it sold euros to buy yen.
What Bloomberg Strategists Say...
"Factors behind the dollar and bond market appear to be more entrenched. For the greenback, the ripple effect of joint US-Japan intervention in the yen is another major catalyst."
— Kristine Aquino, Markets Live Managing Editor
The yen has since surrendered nearly half of its intervention-driven gains, trading around 158.34 per dollar in Asia Friday. Bloomberg's dollar gauge has slipped 0.1% this week.
That's not to say Goldman sees no risks to the dollar's dominance. The strategists acknowledged that policy uncertainty can weigh on its global role — a concern that was central to their bearish dollar view in 2025. But they said that applying those concerns to the US support for the yen is a stretch.
The bank said there's precedent for countries tapping their Treasury holdings to support their currencies without prompting objections from Washington. In March, for example, several of them sold significant quantities of Treasuries to support their currencies amid signs of market strain.
"We think episodes like this of forced sales actually help reinforce the dollar's role over time," the strategists wrote.
US sold euros to prop up yen, euro currency symbol. Photo by BeInCrypto
The US Treasury sold euros, not dollars, to help prop up the Japanese yen last week. The European Central Bank only learned about the trade after it had already closed.
Christine Lagarde and Scott Bessent only spoke about the move a day later. However, by then, the New York Federal Reserve had already executed the sale for the US Treasury.
Why Washington Reached for Euros Instead of Dollars
Historically, Western central banks have relied on mutual consultation since World War II. They typically planned currency interventions together in advance.
Washington broke that pattern this time. In contrast, it notified the ECB only after completing the trade.
USD/JPY tumbled from around 163 to below 158 in late July, and has stabilized near 158.40 as of August 7. Image Source: Trading View
The choice of euros was deliberate, not accidental. Selling dollars might have signaled a retreat from Bessent's strong-dollar policy, so the Treasury tapped its euro reserves instead.
Some analysts argue the yen carry trade rule no longer holds, adding pressure to defend the currency through other means. Bessent has since addressed the intervention directly in his own yen intervention explanation.
Meanwhile, economists have linked the move to concerns that Japan could sell US Treasuries in response.
Europe Reacts to Being Left Out
Senior ECB officials called the episode a break from decades of coordination. One person close to the discussions called the moment unprecedented.
A Treasury spokesperson defended the decision.
"Decisions regarding the allocation of the Exchange Stabilization Fund are made by the US Treasury, taking into account assessments by the Treasury and the Federal Reserve of market liquidity, valuations and other relevant considerations."
However, a senior Trump administration official pushed back on the criticism. The official said Washington respects the confidentiality of talks with foreign counterparts and contrasted that approach with the ECB's handling of the matter.
Market Fallout and What Comes Next
The intervention pushed the yen from roughly ¥164 to about ¥158 against the dollar. Japanese equities absorbed the shock with only modest losses.
Traders now price in a 44% chance the Bank of Japan raises rates in September. BoJ Governor Kazuo Ueda has flagged rising inflation risks as a reason for caution.
The episode leaves European policymakers wondering whether this was a one-off. It could also preview how the Trump administration handles currency defense with allies going forward.
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A plunging Japanese yen has Washington taking one of its rarest financial actions in years.
After the US joined Japan in a rare effort to buy Japanese yen and support the struggling currency, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said (1) the Trump administration would do "whatever it takes" to keep supporting the yen.
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He added that the US would support Japan "in a way that helps the American economy, the American taxpayer."
The joint intervention (2), the first coordinated US-Japan effort to support the yen since 2011 (3), comes after the Japanese currency sank to roughly 40-year lows of around ¥164 per US dollar, before rebounding to about ¥156 following Friday's intervention.
Why the yen's strength matters
A stronger (or weaker) yen may sound like Japan's problem, but eventually, it affects what Americans pay for some imported goods.
Imagine a Toyota vehicle manufactured in Japan sells for ¥4.5 million. At an exchange rate of ¥164 per US dollar, that vehicle costs an American importer roughly $27,400 before tariffs, shipping, dealer markups and taxes.
If coordinated intervention helps strengthen the yen to ¥150 per dollar, the same vehicle would cost roughly $30,000. That's an increase of about 9.5% driven solely by the exchange rate.
Consumers won't automatically see a 9.5% hike at the dealership. Car manufacturers frequently cushion exchange-rate swings (4) by absorbing the costs into their profit margins or using financial hedging.
But exchange-rate shifts are one factor that can influence what Americans ultimately pay for imported Japanese products, including vehicles, electronics, cameras and industrial equipment.
Ironically, Japan has been dealing with the opposite problem. The yen's prolonged weakness has made imported goods more expensive for Japanese households, fueling inflation and weighing on Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's already-plummeting approval ratings (5).
Bessent insists the intervention isn't about making Japanese products more expensive.
Instead, he argues the yen has become "substantially undervalued," increasing the risk that other countries could weaken their own currencies to stay competitive.
The Treasury secretary also said supporting Japan helps protect the American economy by keeping financial volatility "offshore."
Another concern is Japan's position as the largest foreign holder of US Treasuries. If Tokyo sold those bonds to raise dollars and defend the yen, Treasury prices could come under pressure, pushing yields — and potentially borrowing costs for Americans — higher.
To reduce that risk, Bessent said he'd support expanding the Federal Reserve's Foreign and International Monetary Authorities (FIMA) Repo Facility, which allows major central banks to temporarily borrow dollars against their Treasury holdings instead of selling them outright.
But even if the intervention succeeds, it won't eliminate every ripple from a stronger yen. Exchange-rate shifts can still influence the prices Americans pay for imported goods over time, adding another variable to an inflation picture that has already strained many household budgets.
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Nudge from Bessent firms case for BOJ rate hike in September
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks to members of the media at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 30, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper/File Photo ·Reuters
TOKYO, Aug 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's public views on Japan's monetary policy have all but locked the central bank into an interest rate hike at its September meeting and raised questions about Washington's influence over domestic policy.
Bessent has had a busy media schedule since the joint intervention in the currency markets by Tokyo and Washington last week to shore up the battered yen, promoting the rare co-operation as a much-needed win for Japan's economy.
For Bessent, however, intervention needs to be followed up with rate hikes to arrest market fears the Bank of Japan is behind the curve in combatting inflation, concerns that have pushed up JGB yields and risked spilling over to already rising U.S. Treasury yields.
While that imperative aligns with the BOJ's current central view on the need for further rate hikes, there are concerns about the precedent U.S. pressure is setting for Japanese policy.
Kazuo Momma, a former BOJ executive who is currently executive economist at private think tank Mizuho Research Institute, said the joint intervention has given the BOJ a free hand to raise rates - but that comes with a catch.
"Intervention is a strategy that buys time and could end up being a waste without being followed up with BOJ rate hikes," said Momma. "The fact the United States joined in the intervention is very grave. If the Japanese government were to block the BOJ from raising rates, that would be an act of betrayal to the United States."
Japan's law grants the central bank independence from political interference, but also requires close coordination with the government's economic policy.
The BOJ has historically come under political pressure to fend off external shocks, such as volatile yen moves, with monetary policy.
CLOSE CONVERSATIONS
The joint intervention appears to have worked for now, giving the yen more enduring support than past unilateral actions by Japan have.
In an interview with public broadcaster NHK, Bessent said he was sure BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda will "do what is best" for Japan's economy suffering from a weak yen.
In a separate interview with CNBC, Bessent also urged Japan to follow intervention with "policy and fundamentals" to address what he saw as a substantial undervaluation of the yen.
"Through our conversations with them, we believe that they are going to continue to put the right policies in place that will lead the yen to get back to more of a normal equilibrium price," Bessent told CNBC about his discussions with Japan.
In keeping rates steady last week, the BOJ, too, left scope for a hike as soon as September by issuing the strongest warning to date on mounting risks of an inflation overshoot.
All eyes will be on a meeting Bessent said he would have with Ueda at a U.S.-hosted G20 finance leaders' gathering at end-August, which precedes the BOJ's September 17-18 policy meeting.
"Given its hawkish signals, it's clear the BOJ will hike either in September or October," a source familiar with the matter said, a view echoed by another source.
"If the Bessent-Ueda meeting were to take place, it would be very hard for the BOJ to avoid raising rates in September," a third source said.
BOJ Deputy Governor Ryozo Himino will also deliver a speech in Japan on August 27, which could offer clues on whether the central bank could hike in September.
"There's probably no strong views yet within the BOJ on the next rate-hike timing. But if it wanted to hike in September, it would need to drop signals in advance," a fourth source said.
The sources spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly.
In a news conference on Wednesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara declined to comment on Bessent's remarks and said specific monetary policy means were left to the BOJ to decide.
QUARTERLY HIKES?
The BOJ ended a decade-long, massive stimulus in 2024 and raised interest rates several times including in June, when it took its policy rate to a 31-year high of 1%.
But the slow pace of hikes has been blamed for the yen's slide to 40-year lows by keeping the Japan-U.S. rate gap wide.
A weak yen has become a headache for policymakers by pushing up import prices and, coupled with rising fuel costs from the Middle East conflict, raising households' cost of living.
The timing of the BOJ's next rate hike will affect market perceptions on how quickly and by how much the central bank will push up borrowing costs in the future.
A majority of analysts polled by Reuters expect the BOJ to raise rates again by December and possibly as soon as October.
Hiking in September, rather than October, could fuel market bets the BOJ will raise rates once every quarter, rather than the current speed of roughly twice a year, some analysts say.
"While the BOJ did open the door for a September rate hike, it probably wants to wait until October to spend more time scrutinising the economic impact of past rate increases," said Ayako Fujita, chief Japan economist at JPMorgan Securities.
"Hiking rates in September would also turn the December meeting into a live one, something the Takaichi administration may not be happy with," she said. "The timing will really depend on yen moves."
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Sam Holmes)
Bessent says he is sure BOJ chief Ueda will 'do what is best', NHK reports
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks to members of the media at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 30, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper/File Photo ·Reuters
By Leika Kihara
2 min read
By Leika Kihara
TOKYO, Aug 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he was sure Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda will "do what is best" for the country's economy, public broadcaster NHK reported on Wednesday.
"I do believe that part of the inflation uptick in Japan was a result of the weak yen and also the energy prices," Bessent told NHK in an interview.
As energy prices come down and excessive yen weakness is fixed, Japan's inflation will slow, allowing Japan and the yen to "go into a virtuous cycle," he said.
The remarks, which follow a series of comments from Bessent in the past calling for higher Japanese rates, heighten the chance of an interest rate hike by the BOJ at its next policy meeting on September 17 and 18.
Bessent had said he would meet Ueda at a U.S.-hosted G20 finance leaders' meeting at the end of August, which would precede the BOJ's September policy meeting.
Japan and the United States launched a rare joint yen-buying intervention last week and vowed to take further action if needed to shore up the currency, underscoring their resolve to arrest the yen's slide to 40-year lows.
WEAK YEN HURTING ASIAN CURRENCIES
In a separate interview with Japan's Nikei newspaper published on Wednesday, Bessent said the joint yen intervention was aimed at preventing the currency's weakness from spreading instability across Asian currencies.
"Many Asian currencies follow the Japanese yen currently. Korean won is weak because the yen is weak. Many people believe China has a very undervalued currency and they are reluctant to strengthen the currency too much just because of yen weakness," Bessent was quoted as saying by Nikkei.
When asked about growing market expectations of an early rate hike by the BOJ, Bessent told Nikkei: "I have known Governor Kazuo Ueda for 15 years. I have great confidence in him. He is very market-savvy."
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Edmund Klamann and Shri Navaratnam)
(Bloomberg) -- Scott Bessent wanted to help Japan prop up its currency. So he decided to let the media spy on his notepad, where a to-do list included buying as much as $10 billion in yen.
It was an unorthodox tactic, but that's become a Bessent hallmark. In a previous life on Wall Street, he made $1 billion on big currency bets while working for George Soros. As President Donald Trump's Treasury secretary, he launched a high-risk rescue plan for Argentina. Now he's coming to the aid of another US ally.
The joint campaign by Washington and Tokyo to shore up the yen is the first of its kind in almost three decades. Beyond the notepad maneuver, Bessent has tapped a range of tools that surprised some Treasury watchers, like deploying US holdings of euros and talking up a Federal Reserve facility that Japan could use.
"I feel like he's more thinking like, well, this would've been a good move when I was a trader," said Stephen Myrow, a managing partner at Beacon Policy Advisors and former Treasury official in the George W. Bush administration. "He is very comfortable operating outside of his lane because his lane isn't a traditional Treasury lane. It's market credibility."
Early results were encouraging, with the intervention helping the Japanese currency rebound from a four-decade low. Still, with traders focused on the rally's staying power, Bessent signaled Tuesday there'll be further action. He said the yen's weakness raised the risk of broader currency depreciation across Asia.
If these maneuvers suggest a more active approach to economic diplomacy, it could be a result of the Treasury chief's professional background. Most recent predecessors, like former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives Henry Paulson and Robert Rubin, came from the so-called sell-side of finance, where risk management is a key concern.
Bessent, with a decades-long hedge fund career, is different.
"We never had a true buy-side person," said Myrow. "He's acting more like a macro trader than a traditional Treasury secretary."
Bessent laid out his philosophy of economic statecraft in a June speech to the Economic Club of New York. In practice, part of it involves shoring up countries willing to tag-team with Washington.
US Benefit
In commenting on the yen intervention Sunday, Trump said the US will get "financial benefit," without detailing what that would be. Bessent has signaled concern about spillovers from Japanese markets into US Treasuries. Both men have also invoked the importance of the US-Japan alliance.
"The Trump administration delivers for America's trusted partners," Bessent said in a post on X Sunday confirming joint intervention to aid the yen. That intervention followed the move to effectively show reporters his notepad in a Friday cabinet meeting, which outlined buying yen as a "to do" item.
"I just wanted to make sure that all the reporters looking on, over my shoulder, also knew the symbol 'JPY' for the Japanese yen," Bessent said on CNBC Tuesday. He also confirmed that the US had used euros, which analysts suspect was done to limit downside pressure on the dollar.
A hedge fund trader has the luxury of an immediate exit to a successful bet, something not necessarily open to the Treasury secretary. Last year's wager on Argentina paid off when Trump ally President Javier Milei swept to an unexpected victory in legislative elections.
Now, Bessent has linked some of his credibility to the yen, which has been vulnerable to investor concerns about Japanese fiscal policy and a slow cadence of interest-rate hikes at the Bank of Japan.
"Taken together, the Argentine and Japanese episodes suggest a Treasury that is becoming more willing to use the ESF in support of broader economic and geopolitical objectives," said Chris Turner, global head of markets at ING, referring to the Treasury's Exchange Stabilization Fund that Bessent has deployed.
"That marks a notable departure from the relative passivity that has characterized US foreign exchange policy for much of the last two decades," Turner said.
Bessent's been able to take on risks from a position of strength within the Trump administration. One potential illustration came Tuesday, when Trump looked on as Bessent conducted the swearing in of Jay Clayton, the new director of national intelligence. On Wednesday, the Treasury chief is slated to appear alongside Speaker Mike Johnson during a visit to Arizona to highlight the administration's achievements ahead of the midterm elections.
While Bessent and Howard Lutnick were rivals for the Treasury job, Bessent briefed the Commerce secretary on discussions around the US's yen intervention after Lutnick had been unable to attend Friday's cabinet meeting, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Bessent has made clear he saw an element of broader leverage in the Argentina and Japan wagers. In Argentina's case, he highlighted last year that an electoral win for Milei could help strengthen a swing toward right-of-center parties across Latin America. Indeed, conservative leaders went on to win presidential ballots in Colombia and Peru.
In Japan's case, Bessent said Tuesday that a weak yen posed a challenge not just for the country's inflation "problem" but also for a host of other Asian currencies. "If the yen were to weaken substantially, then the other currencies would follow it," he said.
Japan Expertise
Bessent has a great deal of experience with Japan. He has visited the country more than 50 times, including three times as Treasury secretary, and would shuttle there on a monthly basis in the early 2010s to get a better grasp of issues on the ground. His former boss, Soros, made more than $1 billion on bets the yen would tumble as former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe enacted reforms designed to reflate Japan's economy.
Bessent has taken an active interest in Japan's economic affairs, working in close coordination with his counterparts in the country, including Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda, whom he called his longtime friend.
When working for Soros, Bessent served alongside renowned hedge fund trader Stanley Druckenmiller, who went on to mentor Kevin Warsh, who's now Federal Reserve chairman.
During his April Senate confirmation hearing, Warsh had endorsed the administration's "economic statecraft agenda," without spelling out what role he envisioned for the Fed.
Bessent hasn't been so reticent. On Sunday and again Tuesday, he highlighted a tool at the US central bank that could potentially help Japan in intervening to support the yen without immediately disposing of a swath of its $1 trillion-plus Treasuries stockpile.
The Fed's Foreign and International Monetary Authorities Repo Facility, or FIMA, "is a very robust facility and it was set up for occasions just like this," Bessent said on CNBC.
--With assistance from Hadriana Lowenkron and Greg Ritchie.
The US dollar (DX-Y.NYB) has weakened after the US and Japan jointly intervened to boost the yen.
Yahoo Finance Markets and Data Editor Jared Blikre takes a closer look at the dollar's decline and the yen's growing strength, comparing it to prior events in the yen's history.
