Data released by Japan's Ministry of Finance on Friday showed that the government spent a cumulative 15.4 trillion yen (approximately $96.4 billion) to intervene in the foreign exchange market between July 30 and August 26, setting a new historical record for monthly intervention scale. This came after the Japanese yen had fallen to its lowest level in 40 years, nearing 164 yen per U.S. dollar. Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed in early August that both parties had implemented a joint intervention on July 31, marking the first coordinated U.S.-Japan intervention to support the yen since 1998. Scott Bessent expressed strong support for Japan's efforts to correct the severely undervalued yen and stated that future foreign exchange interventions could utilize the Federal Reserve's Foreign and International Monetary Authorities (FIMA) Repo Facility. Following the announcement of the joint intervention, the yen rose to a high of 155.23 yen per U.S. dollar, and as of Friday evening in Tokyo, it was trading at 159.68 yen per U.S. dollar.