Just a step away from intervention? Stocks and bonds slightly in the green today

On a day lacking in important price-setting news, it is mainly Japan that is worth paying attention to. Although nothing much is happening with the exchange rate of the yen today, the tension in the market is evidently rising. The official institutions, the BoJ and the Ministry of Finance, are apparently increasingly dealing with what to do with the exchange rate of the currency, which remains weak even after the latest increase in interest rates. What was speculated about, that is, the verbal intervention, also came: Finance Minister Suzuki said that strong measures could come against excessive movements, while not ruling out any possibilities.

The yen is trading at 151.35 against the dollar and attention is directed towards the 152 level. This is considered a certain pain threshold of the ministry, beyond which direct intervention would probably come. Additionally, the market is now set strongly against the yen, with a large number of options expiring tomorrow and it is unclear how much issuers will want to hedge. The pair is thus at risk of considerable volatility.

Shares on the main markets are trading slightly higher at the index level, and gains are within half a percent. Bonds are also showing profits, or their yields have gone down. We see more movement in Europe, for example in Germany it is around 5 bps. However, the Eurodollar remains relatively calm at the current 1.0825. Both gold and oil improved their positions slightly during the day. The koruna weakens slightly to 25.33 per euro.