The Japanese and US governments jointly intervened to buy yen on 31 July, driving the dollar-yen rate from the ¥163 range to the ¥155 range by 3 August as the yen appreciated. A concise look back at the history and background of past interventions.
The announcement that Japan and the United States had jointly intervened to buy yen drove the currency market from the ¥163 range per dollar to the ¥155 range temporarily on 3 August as the yen appreciated.
The coordinated intervention was the first in 15 years, since 2011, and is believed to have been carried out to correct the yen's weakness. As a yen-buying intervention, it was the first such instance in 28 years, since 1998.
Japan wanted to contain price increases caused by the yen's weakness, while the United States was concerned about the spillover from the higher interest rates resulting from yen depreciation and the decline in US export competitiveness. The intervention is said to have taken place because the interests of the two countries aligned.
Events in the history of foreign exchange include the outflow of gold coins at the end of the Edo period and the transition from a fixed exchange-rate system to a floating exchange-rate system. Exchange-rate movements have influenced socioeconomic conditions throughout history. Whether this intervention will go down in history will depend on future reporting.