US Treasury Buys Up to $10 Billion in Japanese Yen

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent planned a market intervention to purchase between $5 billion and $10 billion in Japanese yen during a cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump at Camp David. The plan was inadvertently revealed via a Reuters photograph of Bessent's notepad, which listed the purchase under a "To Do" heading.

Following notifications to banks regarding potential intervention, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York sold euros to buy yen on behalf of the Treasury Department. This represents the first time the United States has intervened to support the Japanese currency since a coordinated G7 effort in 2011.

These actions coincided with interventions by Japanese authorities in Tokyo to prop up the yen, which had recently fallen to its weakest level since 1986 due to rising oil prices. While the U.S. Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the leaked notepad, the combined efforts of both nations contributed to a strengthening of the yen against the dollar.