Yen nears key ¥160 level after U.S. inflation data, sparking intervention risk

Japan’s chief currency official Atsushi Mimura says he has a strong impression that currency moves over the past few days have been "too fast.” | Bloomberg

Nov 12, 2026

The yen is near a key threshold of ¥160 to the U.S. dollar, putting renewed pressure on policymakers in Tokyo to step in and support the currency.

Japan’s currency stabilized after falling as much as 0.8% to ¥159.94 per greenback overnight, breaking out of the tight range that had prevailed in recent weeks. The move came as the dollar strengthened after hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation fueled bets that the Federal Reserve may need to raise interest rates further.

The yen edged 0.1% higher to ¥159.63 on Thursday after Japan’s chief currency official Atsushi Mimura said he has a strong impression that the currency moves over the past few days had been “too fast,” and that it was too soon to forget about the intervention this summer.

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