Rabobank’s Senior Market Strategist Benjamin Picton highlights coordinated action between the US Treasury and Japan’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) to defend the Japanese Yen (JPY), framing it as a potential “financial Fort Sumter” in capital markets. Picton argues this cooperation supports Japan’s currency, protects US Treasury borrowing costs, and may herald a shift away from the post Bretton Woods free-floating Dollar-centric regime.
Coordinated support for Japanese Yen
"Sovereign yields pushed lower across Europe and North America with Treasuries likely encouraged by comments from Japanese Finance Minister Katayama yesterday that Japan intended to tap the Fed’s FIMA facility to defend the Yen in the future, thereby avoiding the necessity to sell Treasuries to fund Yen purchases."
"In this respect, the US Treasury’s support of the Japanese Ministry of Finance and the BOJ in defending the Yen may have been a financial Fort Sumter moment."
"In supporting Japan’s efforts to defend its currency to stave off imported inflation pressures the USA not only takes out insurance against rising borrowing costs for the US Treasury while buying up assets that Bessent considers to be undervalued relative to Japan’s improving fundamentals, it also relieves competitive pressure on US manufacturers (currently in rude health according to yesterday’s manufacturing ISM) and pulls Japan closer into the US’ strategic orbit."
"Coordinated intervention between the Japanese Ministry of Finance and the US Treasury to manage the value of the Yen is perhaps the first concrete sign of the emergence of a new monetary order as foreshadowed by RaboResearch Global Strategist Michael Every several years ago in FX Wars."
"Naturally, the US does not want to see a situation where the global role of the Dollar is undermined by developed market central banks holding larger and more diversified FX reserves, so watch as a system of “you scratch my back, I scratch yours” dollar swaplines emerges with common trade restrictions or other boons for US strategic interests as a kind of quid pro quo."
(This article was created with the help of an Artificial Intelligence tool and reviewed by an editor. Know more.)
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