Japanese Yen Hits  Against the Dollar

The Japanese yen fell below 150 yen to the dollar, a psychologically significant level, and reached levels not seen since August 1990. The Bank of Japan will meet for two days next week. Policymakers have ruled out raising interest rates to protect the currency from further depreciation.

Japan’s 10-year Treasury yield closed at 0.252 percent, surpassing the 0.25 percent limit the central bank vowed to defend on Thursday. The yield on the 20-year Treasury note is the highest since September 2015.

The Bank of Japan announced an emergency bond purchase on Thursday. It aims to buy 100 billion yen ($666.98 million) of Japanese government bonds over 10 to 20 years.

As part of the stimulus, the central bank has re-committed to buying an unlimited number of fixed-rate bonds, capping the yield on 10-year government bonds at 0.25%.

Currencies

The dollar outperformed major rivals on Thursday as government bond yields hit a multi-year high and the yen fell to a 32-year low, warning the market of intervention.

Sterling fell 0.2 percent to $1.12005 on Wednesday despite data showing the biggest rise in food prices since 1980, pushing UK inflation into double digits last month.

The euro fell 0.1% to $0.97621. The euro has been losing ground against the dollar, but one industry expert believes this could translate into massive European investment in US commercial real estate assets.

The Australian dollar fell 0.2% to $0.62578, while the New Zealand dollar fell 0.36% to $0.5646.

Australia’s unemployment rate fell to 3.53 percent in September, the lowest in 50 years, data released Thursday showed. However, the very tight labor market showed signs of easing as job growth fell short of expectations.