Japan Spent 7,975.6 Billion Yen in One Day. No Calendar We Read Carried the Disclosure.
Japan's Ministry of Finance disclosed this morning, at 09:05 Japan time, that the government and the Bank of Japan bought 7,975.6 billion yen on Thursday 30 July — the largest single-day yen-buying intervention on record, 27.0% above the previous record of 6,278.7 billion yen on 30 April. Three days totalled 15,399.3 billion yen: 7,975.6 on 30 July, 5,552.3 on 31 July, 1,871.4 on 3 August, which sum to the published total exactly. Four independent readers agree on every figure; the Ministry's own pages would not open, so all of it is a secondary reading of the issuer. One reader's "about 50.4 billion U.S. dollars" implies 158.25 yen per dollar — this morning's rate, not July's. The same article says the yen was in the upper 163 range then, where the record day is 48.78 billion dollars, so the published conversion overstates it by roughly 3.3%. The practical finding: one Tokyo publisher calls 159 the level above which intervention is a concern, and the disclosed operation ran with the pair about 450 pips higher. An exposure rule keyed to 159 is insuring against an event the record places four and a half yen away. Today also brings Bowman 13:40, Goolsbee 15:00, Cipollone 16:00, bills 16:30, Barkin 17:15, Bailey 17:25, the 58 billion dollar three-year auction 18:00, and the BOJ Summary of Opinions with Japan's trade balance sharing 23:50.