The US dollar appears to have finally cracked, which would be good for the euro and the yen, along with gold, bitcoin, silver, copper and bonds. x.comÂ
Dr. Stoxx
Stock Trader & Author, Oxford DPhil, Trading Education
The euro should stay resilient because higher European interest rates make it structurally far sturdier than the yen, especially with so many shorts placed against it. US selling of euros to buy yen was too small to overwhelm broader euro-bullish macro trends in a market trading over $7.5 trillion a day. x.comÂ
The US dollar is unlikely to break out in the short term without a catalyst. An in-line PCE print pulled down 2-year and 10-year Treasury yields, the dollar index sits at major resistance at its May 2025 high, USD/JPY at 162 is a critical level for the Bank of Japan to defend, and currencies move slower than bonds. A reopened Strait of Hormuz would also help Europe and the euro recover, adding pressure; that favors short-term longs in gold and emerging markets. x.com x.comÂ
The US needs a weaker yen, so Treasury Secretary Bessent's visible note to "Buy Japanese Yen (JPY) $5-10 bil," chickenfeed in any case, looks like a psyop and misdirect, calling for the opposite positioning; the buying was a chunk of carry trade to close. Per @TreasuryBonds1, Japan reportedly spent about $53 billion buying yen in a single day, its largest intervention ever, and Bessent called the yen very undervalued. x.com x.comÂ
The euro should grind higher against the dollar through 2026 as a more dovish Fed weighs on the dollar over the medium term, even though safe-haven flows support the dollar near term. EUR/USD stands at 1.1720, with the dollar index flat at 98.50. x.comÂ
The yen looks set to keep strengthening against the dollar, because Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appears determined to push USD/JPY lower. Bessent said in an interview that as "the house" he knows exactly what Japan, the Bank of Japan and its policymakers will do when the US intervenes in the yen, and dared markets to bet against him. As a former fund manager who helped successfully attack the pound and the Thai baht, he holds a real information advantage. x.comÂ
The US dollar's strength against the yen is a trend, as the Bank of Japan neither wants nor dares to reveal its hand. It is avoiding a clear 160 line and instead trying hit-and-run moves against yen shorts, and it is unclear whether it will actually strike. There is little basis for a sustained yen rally; even if it intervenes, its realistic approach is to fight while retreating, unless Fed policy clearly pivots, and Fed chair Warsh does not seem to want to give markets a clear signal. x.com … Show more
The dollar should catch a monster bid before any structural weakness, because fiat is a menu of bad choices and in a deleveraging no one reaches for euros or renminbi. If the US concludes it will not win in AI, there is a high probability the next step is to tank everything, and the dollar and US bonds would then be bid; the yen could also rise as carry trades unwind. Dollar strength comes first and leads to structural dollar weakness on the other side. x.com x.comÂ
Shorting the yen against the dollar makes little sense given Japan's stronger fiscal and external position. Japan's primary deficit is a fraction of the US's, it is cutting energy imports through renewables, holds massive external assets and shows budget wariness, such as refusing Asian Games spending. Meanwhile Trump promises $5,000 per voter for the midterms. Shorting the yen against commodities such as silver is understandable; against the dollar, not. x.com x.com x.comÂ
Currency interventions are only a band-aid for the Japanese yen's decline. Treasury Secretary Bessent and the Bank of Japan spent $90B to halt the slide when USDJPY hit 164, and the move has already recovered nearly half. x.comÂ
The US dollar is overvalued and weakening as Asian surplus countries stop recycling their surpluses into dollar reserves, an external drain. Without that recycling, both yields and the currency are in price discovery. Ken Rogoff concluded that Asia not recycling would mean a lower dollar against Asian surplus currencies and higher nominal rates, both now happening. Per @DrDavidKass, Ed Yardeni blames the global bond rout on the yen-carry unwind; the explanations are not mutually exclusive. x.com … Show more