Speculators and much of the investing world have turned optimistic on the yen as U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war keeps markets on edge. But there’s one key holdout that isn’t ready for bullishness: Japan’s richest citizens, worried about the economic outlook, according to a global wealth manager.
That’s in part because the country’s most prosperous households, who are sitting on loads of cash in bank accounts losing value by the day due to inflation, are still scarred by the market’s collapse in the early 1990s, according to Daiju Aoki, regional chief investment officer at UBS SuMi Trust Wealth Management in Tokyo.
"Many wealthy clients are very, very concerned about the yen weakening, with 180 or 200 becoming realistic because of the softer economy and lack of investment in industry,” Aoki said in an interview at the firm’s Tokyo office, referring to how much a dollar is worth in yen. While Trump’s back-and-forth trade policy remarks muddy the currency’s path in the near term, those levels may come "within the next economic cycle.”
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