- The U.S. and Japan coordinated to engineer a notable rebound in the yen, which had been in a yearslong decline.
- The yen strengthened to 157.40 per dollar on Friday, its strongest since early May, after flirting with 1986 lows just two days earlier.
- The sharp gains resulted from direct yen purchases, official calls to banks, and jawboning by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama.
- The yen's previous weakness had stoked inflation in Japan and rippled through global markets, alarming Tokyo as import costs rose.