Japan’s strength produces a weak yen

Preliminary data suggest that the central bank sold over $35bn of foreign-exchange reserves on July 11th and 12th (the scale of the most recent apparent intervention remains unclear). These sales would add to over $120bn of intervention in the past two years, more than half of which occurred between late April and late May. Such moves burn the fingers of currency traders. They are unlikely to have a long-term impact on the exchange rate, however, which will disappoint officials and delight the tourists now flooding Japan.