Japan's Katayama: Getting closer to taking decisive step in FX market

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said on Thursday that they are moving closer to taking a decisive action in the foreign exchange markets, as reported by Reuters.

The Japanese Yen suffered heavy losses against the US Dollar (USD) on Wednesday and continued to weaken on Thursday, with the USD/JPY pair climbing to its highest level since July 2024 above 160.70. The Federal Reserve's (Fed) hawkish policy hold and global inflation fears, due to rising crude Oil prices, help the USD outperform its rivals.

Market reaction

With the immediate reaction to Katayama's verbal intervention, USD/JPY corrected lower and was last seen trading near 160.00, losing about 0.25% on the day.

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

AUD/USD weakens to multi-month lows; challenges 0.6800

AUD/USD has come under heightened downside pressure, briefly slipping back below the 0.6800 yardstick on Thursday. Indeed, the pair has revisited levels last seen in late January in response to the continuation of the bullish momentum favouring the Greenback, which remained propped up by rising bets over extra Fed tightening.

USD/JPY eases from near 160.00 amid looming intervention risks, BoJ hike bets

USD/JPY retreats slightly from an over two-month high as the recent surge back to the 160.00 psychological mark prompted verbal warnings from Japanese authorities and sparked fears of direct FX intervention. Moreover, data showed that Japan’s wholesale inflation picked up again in October, strengthening the case for a BoJ hike in December and lifting the Japanese Yen. However, a bullish US Dollar, bolstered by odds of a jumbo Fed rate hike in December, could cap the pair's downside.

Gold shifts the focus to $3,800 amid stronger US Dollar

Gold comes under heightened downside pressure, retreating for the third consecutive day and approaching the $3,800 region per troy ounce on Thursday. Increasing speculation of a 50-bps rate hike by the Fed in December continues to weigh on the precious metal amid further gains in US Treasury yields.

Dogecoin Price Forecast: DOGE tests three-year low as selling pressure deepens

Dogecoin (DOGE) trades lower around $0.0650 on Thursday, as bears tighten their grip. The path of least resistance remains downward not only for the largest meme coin by market capitalization but also for crypto majors Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP). DOGE is down about 2.6% on the day, aligning with levels last seen in October 2023.

Nvidia shares crash as Jensen Huang resigns as CEO

Nvidia (NVDA) shares collapsed in Thursday's premarket after longtime CEO and co-founder Jensen Huang resigned as CEO in the face of board scrutiny over several affairs. Nvidia shares have shed 10% at the time of writing as the leading AI chipmaker chose chief financial officer (CFO) Colette Kress as interim CEO.

What the US CPI headline doesn’t tell you about inflation

Brent crude has fallen about a third since mid-October on hopes the Iran war is ending, but diesel, freight and fertiliser costs haven't followed. Those costs reach US consumer prices in stages through 2027 and could keep inflation high after gasoline gets cheaper.