Quote from JSSPMK:
"However, Mr Noda warned that the Tokyo government was watching the market with great interest and that it would take âdecisive action, including intervention, if necessary.â
The trade balance declined 35.2 per cent in August from a year earlier to Y195.9bn, its first drop in more than a year.
Export growth slowed to a 16.5 per cent rise from a year ago, down from Julyâs 24.7 per cent gain."
Source FT.com
October 8 2010 05:34
Also there is this:
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Investors sharply increased their bets in favor of the yen--by 72%--according to data released Friday.
Net speculative bets, called longs, in favor of the yen increased to 49,206 contracts in the week ended Tuesday, compared to last week's data that showed 28,666 pro-yen contracts, according to a Scotia Bank analysis of the weekly Commitments of Traders report released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission late Friday afternoon.
All currencies now have net long positions against the U.S. dollar, said Camilla Sutton, currency strategist at Scotia Capital in Toronto, with a value of bets against the dollar at $35.3 billion. That puts anti-dollar bets at their highest level since December 2009, when dollar shorts totaled $26 billion, Sutton said.
Net bets in favor of the euro also increased, according to the Scotia analysis of the latest data, with the number of pro-euro contracts increasing to 48,243 compared to last week's data showing 35,330 contracts.
The dollar has weakened broadly against its major rivals in recent weeks, with the ICE Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a trade-weighted basket of currencies, sinking Thursday to its lowest level since January. It hovered at that level Friday.
As bets in favor of the yen have increased, the dollar has dropped to a series of 15-year lows against the Japanese currency. Although the CFTC data does not include Friday's price action, the dollar on Friday dropped to Y81.72. Late Friday, it traded at Y82.06 from Y82.40 late Thursday, according to EBS via CQG.
The strengthening yen has put investors on high alert for signs of Japan intervening in currency markets to stem yen strength. Analysts said they saw no signs Friday of Japan's hand in currency markets.
Investors betting in favor of the yen show that "they are not fearing intervention, nor the [Bank of Japan] monetary" easing, which was implemented this week in a so-far unsuccessful effort to drive down the yen, Sutton said.
The data represent only a small slice of the foreign-exchange market and reflect positions taken by the most active speculative investors. The report does, however, give a sense of market sentiment toward the euro based on the direction and volume of bets.
-By Bradley Davis, Dow Jones Newswires
