A tumbling yen is spurring traders to game plan how much further Japan’s beleaguered currency can fall even with the specter of intervention looming.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s private banking unit and Bank of America see ¥160 as the next potential milestone for the currency that’s already sunk to a 34-year low against the dollar. T. Rowe Price is mulling the risk of the yen dropping to around ¥170 — a level last seen in the 1980s.
The path to these levels may be clearer than previously thought if recent market action is any guide. The yen weakened 1% last week alone as fears of higher-for-longer U.S. borrowing costs spurred a stampede to the dollar. That obliterated forecasts for the yen to rise just a month after the Bank of Japan’s first rate hike since 2007.