US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dared traders to challenge his determination to strengthen the yen, adding that any market prediction he makes is supported by inside information.
"Whenever people say, 'Oh, well, Treasury Secretary is taking a risk,' - well, it’s my dream, I have asymmetric information," Bessent said at a Southern Methodist University event on Tuesday.
"I am the house now, so when we intervene with the Japanese yen, I have pretty good insight into what the Japanese, what the Bank of Japan is going to do, what Japanese policymakers are going to do," Bessent noted, adding that "And you can bet against me if you want."
Bessent, the former hedge fund executive, also reviewed several experiences of market interventions, including the joint action of yen purchases with Japan's government on July 31.
Although Japan's currency lifted sharply at the beginning, the gains narrowed in the subsequent sessions, partly as traders thought the US Treasury's limited firepower for foreign-exchange purchases.
