Why the US and Japan Moved to Support the Yen – and What It Means for Global Markets

An unexpected alignment between the world's two largest economies has triggered a sharp shift in the euro's exchange rate and drawn renewed attention to vulnerabilities within the U.S. debt system. US and Japan Support the Yen to Ease Pressure on Debt Markets For the first time in 15 years, the United States and Japan reportedly carried out large-scale purchases of the Japanese yen on the foreign exchange market, using the euro in the transactions to help support the Japanese currency. According to banking analysts, the U.S. Treasury chose to use euros for the operation in order to avoid weakening the dollar. As a result, the euro fell against most major G10 currencies and lost approximately four percent against the yen within just a few days.