US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has warned currency traders not to bet against the yen, declaring “I am the house now” after recent US-Japan joint intervention to support the currency. Speaking at Southern Methodist University in Texas, Bessent said he has asymmetric insight into Bank of Japan and Japanese policymaker actions, giving him an edge in market moves. His comments follow the unusual end-of-July intervention that blindsided the European Central Bank, aimed at preventing Japan from selling US government bonds to prop up the yen, which had fallen to a 40-year low.

Bessent also announced an expanded buyback of long-term US Treasury bonds, pledging to at least double purchases to $4bn to curb soaring borrowing costs, with 10-year yields near their highest since 2023. The yen rebounded after the intervention, strengthening to ¥153.3 per dollar on Wednesday, its strongest level of the year, later settling at ¥153.59. Analysts, including Lee Hardman of MUFG, said Bessent’s remarks reinforce expectations of coordinated Japan-US policy support for the yen, while Mansoor Mohi-uddin of Bank of Singapore warned such interventions increase market uncertainty and volatility.