Macro

Japan bought a record ¥7.98 trillion of yen in one day, MOF data show

July 30's dollar-sold, yen-bought print topped April's prior daily record; July 31 included coordinated action with Washington, Asahi and CNA report.

By James Mitchell · Nov 9, 2026, 9:20 AM EST

Why it matters: The daily breakdown shows how far Tokyo went to slow a yen that had slid near multi-decade lows against the dollar.

For information only, not investment advice.

Japan's Ministry of Finance said the government sold dollars and bought yen totaling ¥7,975.6 billion on July 30, the largest single day in its July–September 2026 release and above April's prior record.¹ The Asahi Shimbun put that figure at about $50.45 billion and called it a record one-day intervention to halt the yen's decline.³

MOF's English and Japanese tables list two more dollar-sold, yen-bought operations in the same window: ¥5,552.3 billion on July 31 and ¥1,871.4 billion on Aug. 3.¹² Total foreign-exchange intervention for July–September was ¥15,399.3 billion.¹

Asahi reported the previous single-day record was ¥6.2787 trillion on April 30, and that the July 31 operation was a coordinated yen-buying move with the United States — the first such yen-buying coordination since June 1998 and the first two-country FX coordination in 15 years since March 2011.³ The published amounts reflect only Japan's share; the U.S. side has not disclosed its amount, Asahi said.³

CNA, citing the same MOF release, said the July 30 print surpassed the April 30 mark in data dating to 1991, and that the U.S. also intervened on July 31 by selling euros for yen.⁴ It said Japan re-entered the market from July 30 as the yen reached its weakest levels in 40 years near 164 per dollar.⁴

Tags: markets-moves · treasury · interest-rates