Japan chief cabinet secretary Suga crossing on Reuters

  • Recent FX moves are one-sided and speculative
  • Closely watching FX moves
  • Will take steps vs FX moves as needed
  • Excess FX volatility, disorderly moves hurt economy

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Suga was at it on the weekend too

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The point about these sorts of comments is that Suga is laying the groundwork for possible intervention.

Japanese authorities cannot just intervene 'cause they don't like the strengthening yen, they have to make the case that the move is excessive and not justified by fundamentals. Hence you get these sorts of comments, that the move is

  • one-sided
  • Speculative (i.e not due to fundamentals)
  • Damaging volatility of the moves
  • etc.