Treasury
3-MO 3.83% +1bp 6-MO 3.98% unch 1-YR 4.08% +4bp 2-YR 4.28% +5bp 3-YR 4.34% +4bp 5-YR 4.45% +7bp 7-YR 4.59% +7bp 10-YR 4.75% +7bp 20-YR 5.28% +6bp 30-YR 5.27% +6bp 3-MO 3.83% +1bp 6-MO 3.98% unch 1-YR 4.08% +4bp 2-YR 4.28% +5bp 3-YR 4.34% +4bp 5-YR 4.45% +7bp 7-YR 4.59% +7bp 10-YR 4.75% +7bp 20-YR 5.28% +6bp 30-YR 5.27% +6bp 3-MO 3.83% +1bp 6-MO 3.98% unch 1-YR 4.08% +4bp 2-YR 4.28% +5bp 3-YR 4.34% +4bp 5-YR 4.45% +7bp 7-YR 4.59% +7bp 10-YR 4.75% +7bp 20-YR 5.28% +6bp 30-YR 5.27% +6bp 3-MO 3.83% +1bp 6-MO 3.98% unch 1-YR 4.08% +4bp 2-YR 4.28% +5bp 3-YR 4.34% +4bp 5-YR 4.45% +7bp 7-YR 4.59% +7bp 10-YR 4.75% +7bp 20-YR 5.28% +6bp 30-YR 5.27% +6bp 3-MO 3.83% +1bp 6-MO 3.98% unch 1-YR 4.08% +4bp 2-YR 4.28% +5bp 3-YR 4.34% +4bp 5-YR 4.45% +7bp 7-YR 4.59% +7bp 10-YR 4.75% +7bp 20-YR 5.28% +6bp 30-YR 5.27% +6bp 3-MO 3.83% +1bp 6-MO 3.98% unch 1-YR 4.08% +4bp 2-YR 4.28% +5bp 3-YR 4.34% +4bp 5-YR 4.45% +7bp 7-YR 4.59% +7bp 10-YR 4.75% +7bp 20-YR 5.28% +6bp 30-YR 5.27% +6bp
US Treasury par yield curve · Jul 31 · Source: U.S. Treasury
Sunday, August 2, 2026
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Foreign Exchange Intervention Operations

Japan's finance ministry published a zero for the month to 29 July, and the operations now being reported began the day after that window closed

Money & World
The Editorial Team ·
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Photo: Igor Sanches / Pexels

Zero.

That is the whole of the figure the Ministry of Finance of Japan published on 31 July for foreign exchange intervention operations between 29 June and 29 July. One line, one number, no commentary.

Why the zero is not the answer to the question being asked

The window closed on 29 July. Kyodo News reported on 1 August that Japanese authorities intervened on Thursday 30 July, when the yen gained almost 5 yen against the dollar from levels close to four decade lows, and again during New York trading on Friday 31 July, when the currency touched 157.24 per dollar, its strongest since mid-May. Kyodo attributed the confirmation to Japanese government sources.

Both dates fall outside the period the ministry has just reported on. Nothing in the 31 July release bears on them, and nothing in it can, which is a fact about the calendar rather than about what did or did not happen.

Kyodo also reported, attributing it to the Financial Times, that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York sold euros to buy yen on behalf of the United States Treasury on Friday. The Treasury press release index carries nothing on the subject. Its newest item concerns a G7 cross border coordination exercise, and the absence of a statement is recorded here as an absence rather than treated as evidence either way, because currency operations are frequently not announced by the party conducting them.

What the ministry has confirmed this year

One operation. In the window running 28 April to 27 May, the ministry recorded a total of 11,734.9 billion yen, which is roughly 11.7 trillion yen. Every other monthly window published in 2026 reads zero, including the two most recent.

The day by day detail of that April to May operation is still not public. The ministry publishes daily figures quarterly, and the most recent quarterly release covers January to March 2026 and went out on 12 May. So the largest confirmed yen operation of the year currently exists in the official record as one monthly total, without dates.

What was said out loud

Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama declined on Friday to say whether the authorities had intervened, telling reporters that they are always acting with vigilance, according to Kyodo. That is the standard formulation and it commits to nothing.

Kyodo also described a photograph taken by a Reuters photographer over the shoulder of Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at a Camp David cabinet meeting, showing a notepad with a to-do list reading "Buy Japanese Yen (JPY) $5-10 bil." A notepad is not a policy document and is not treated as one here.

The next number that settles any of this is the monthly release at the end of August.

Where we read it: Kyodo News.

The document: Ministry of Finance of Japan, Foreign Exchange Intervention Operations (Monthly Release), covering 29 June 2026 through 29 July 2026, dated 31 July 2026. The page was fetched and read here rather than summarised by a fetch tool, in line with RULEBOOK 2a. It carries a date line reading July 31, 2026, the issuing body as Ministry of Finance, the period as June 29, 2026 through July 29, 2026, and a single figure for the total amount of foreign exchange intervention operations for that period, which reads zero yen. Every other monthly release published in calendar year 2026 was fetched from the same directory and read the same way, and the totals are: 29 December 2025 to 28 January 2026, zero; 29 January to 25 February, zero; 26 February to 27 March, zero; 30 March to 27 April, zero; 28 April to 27 May, 11,734.9 billion yen; 28 May to 26 June, zero; 29 June to 29 July, zero. So exactly one window in 2026 carries a non-zero figure. The quarterly release index at the same host was also read: the most recent quarterly release, which is the series that carries the day by day breakdown, is January to March 2026 and was published on 12 May 2026, meaning no daily breakdown of the April to May operation has been published as at the date of this item. The ministry's full historical file, April 1991 to March 2026, was downloaded from the same directory and parsed as a further check on the quarterly totals. Separately, the United States Treasury press release index at home.treasury.gov was fetched and read, and it carries no release on this subject; the newest item on it is the G7 2026 Cross Border Coordination Exercise. That absence is reported below as an absence and nothing is inferred from it. The credited reporting is used only for the events of 30 and 31 July, which no ministry document yet covers. Kyodo News publishes this item under an institutional byline rather than a named reporter, and no individual byline exists to credit. Where a fact in that report originates with another newsroom it is attributed to that newsroom in the copy rather than absorbed. No conduct is asserted, no motive is supplied for any currency move, and the ministry document states a total and nothing else..

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