What's the deal with the Yen?

[loosecannon]

I know all about the lost decades, the recent upheaval in Japanese poli leadership and monetary policy, I am aware of the jostling of liquidity toward safer havens etc.

What I don't get is the Yen's sudden rise. Compared to dollar instruments esp.

Japan's $10.5 trillion national debt surpasses their GDP, their economy is poised for what looks like permanent stagdeflation until they absorb a significant correction in living standards.

IOW the yen is about as unsafe a haven, long term, as I can imagine.

So what's the deal?

 

[loosecannon]

So none of the great economic minds on this board have any idea wtf is up with the Yen?

 

[uscitizen]

Perhaps compared to the dollar it is stable as a rock?

I don't really have a yen to know about the Yen.

 

[loosecannon]

Perhaps compared to the dollar it is stable as a rock?

I am thinking the same thing. But I really have no idea.

I don't really have a yen to know about the Yen.

Me neither, but something big is happening. The Euro is down, congrats to the EUpeans, and that makes full sense.

The Yuan is pegged to the dollar and all of SEA is following China's lead; again makes perfect sense.

But the Yen is climbing like it's the only safe refuge left? And climbing like mad? It is irrational to me.

 

[loosecannon]

OK, according to this CIA comparison of nation's debts vs GDP, Japan is ranked second in the world behind Zimbabwe as having a debt of 189.3% of GDP.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2186rank.html

And the Yen is rising because it is the safest haven on earth?

This can't be real......

It simply is not possible that the rise in the yen is a result of folks fleeing to the Yen as the best safe haven.

The only explanations I can imagine is that the economy is so broken that the irrational is the new rule, or somebody, like maybe the Treasury, is playing games with the currency exchange markets.

Which wouldn't really surprise me since i still think the PIIGS bond "crisis" was largely manufactured to drive down the Euro.

What does a treasury do when all other quantitative easing options are exhausted, you still have unlimited "money" to throw around, and you can't drive your own currency down because the Yuan is pegged to it's ass? well you can't drive the Euro up, or the Yuan up but you can drive up every other currency in the basket.

 

[Neubarth]

I keep on telling you guys that it is market manipulation. The world's big players like Goldman Sachs move the stock market any direction they want. They even boasted about it on CBS.

Goldman is now playing with international exchange rates and making Billions off of fools who think it is a fair market for exchange. It is all manipulated as I have pointed out thousands of times over on this forum.

 

[loosecannon]

I keep on telling you guys that it is market manipulation. The world's big players like Goldman Sachs move the stock market any direction they want. They even boasted about it on CBS.

Goldman is now playing with international exchange rates and making Billions off of fools who think it is a fair market for exchange. It is all manipulated as I have pointed out thousands of times over on this forum.

The problem with that thesis is that the international currency exchanges exchange trillions of $/day in currencies. To manipulate those markets takes deeeeeep pockets.

Which is why both China and japan have had to each buy about $800 billion in $ assets to manipulate their currencies.