At the end of July, the only question following Japan's record $90 billion yen intervention (which worked for about two weeks before the effects faded and Bessent had to engage in more market intervention), was whether and how much Treasuries Japan had sold as part of the intervention.
The BOJ spent a record $90BN to briefly push the yen higher.
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 31, 2026
Another catastrophic intervention by the central bank which is 100bps behind in rate hikes (chart Goldman) pic.twitter.com/xOGszXSgF7
We now now the answers: i) yes and ii) a lot.
According to Finance Ministry reserve data released Monday, Tokyo’s holdings of foreign securities fell by $87.8 billion at the end of August from a month earlier. That decline was close to the scale of Japan’s recent intervention to support the yen. Analysts suggested Japan likely sold Treasuries at the short end of the maturity spectrum, Bloomberg reported.
Prior to the latest reserve release, the ministry had already confirmed that authorities spent the equivalent of ¥15.4 trillion ($98.6 billion) in the month through Aug. 26, with part of the operation conducted jointly with the US. And as we reported previously, te monthly intervention was also the largest on record.
A ministry briefer said intervention was a factor behind the fall in foreign reserves, but did not confirm that Treasuries were offloaded. Another intervention finance
