USD/JPY is trading at 160.54 at the moment of writing after breaking through the levels that had triggered a large-scale FX intervention in April and touching 106.87 overnight. FX intervention alarms are as loud as they get, but we have to make a couple of considerations, ING’s analyst Francesco Pesole notes.
The latest moves have been described as ‘rapid’, but not ‘excessive’, which may be the new term for a 10 Yen move in USD/JPY.” “In April, USD/JPY had risen from a low of 150 to a high of just below 160 over a little less than a month when Japan intervened, which is consistent with Kanda’s hint. In the past 30 days, the low was 154.60, which would by the same logic place the intervention level at 164/165.