Treasury notified banks of possible yen intervention Friday, source says
A Reuters photographer captured an image of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s notepad during a Camp David cabinet meeting Friday, revealing a handwritten to-do list that included a proposal for the United States to buy $5 billion to $10 billion in Japanese yen.
The image, taken over Bessent’s shoulder during a portion of the meeting open to journalists, showed a Camp David notepad with the underscored words “To Do” followed by “Buy Japanese Yen (JPY) $5-10 bil,” Reuters reported. Bessent’s name card on the conference table was visible and positioned immediately above the notepad. The photograph was taken at 11:33 a.m. local time.
A Treasury spokesperson did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the contents of the notepad or whether the Treasury had intervened to help support the yen’s value against the dollar on Friday.
Earlier on Friday, about two hours before the note was seen, Reuters reported that the Treasury Department had notified a number of banks that it could intervene in the yen market that day, according to an unnamed source.
Japanese authorities stepped in to support the yen earlier Friday, triggering a substantial strengthening of the Japanese currency during early trading hours. There appears to have been another sizeable strengthening of the yen against the dollar during the late afternoon on Friday. Data from LSEG showed the dollar dropped from about 158.9 yen at around 4:14 p.m. ET to about 157.6 yen just before 5 p.m. – a drop of about 0.8%.
The U.S. Treasury has not intervened to support the yen since 2011, when it joined other G7 countries in a coordinated action after a devastating earthquake and tsunami rocked Japan.