U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explicitly denied on Wednesday that the United States is considering intervening in the foreign exchange market to sell dollars and buy yen to help Japan stabilize its currency, while reaffirming America's long-standing "strong dollar policy." These remarks quickly dampened market speculation about a potential joint US-Japan intervention in the forex market. The yen subsequently weakened against the dollar, the U.S. dollar index strengthened, briefly climbing above 96.58, and spot gold experienced a short-term plunge, with its gains narrowing to below 2%. Bessent stated in an interview that the U.S. would "absolutely not" intervene in the forex market to push the yen higher. When asked if the U.S. might take similar action, he emphasized, "We will not comment on that, only to say that we have a strong dollar policy." Influenced by these comments, the yen fell rapidly during New York trading hours, dropping by approximately 0.9% at one point to around 153.55 yen per dollar. The earlier surge in market speculation primarily stemmed from last week's reports about the New York Fed conducting so-called "rate checks" on the dollar-yen pair. Because the New York Fed acts as the Treasury's agent in forex market operations, this news had initially led investors to bet that the U.S. might join the Japanese government in selling dollars to support the yen. Bessent attempted to cool market expectations, stressing that the so-called "strong dollar" does not imply short-term exchange rate operations but is based on fundamental policy. "The United States has always had a strong dollar policy, but that means getting the economic fundamentals right," Bessent said. "If the policies are sound, money will naturally flow to the United States." He also pointed out that a narrowing U.S. trade deficit would automatically boost the dollar's trend over the long term, suggesting that dollar strength should rely more on structural improvements than administrative intervention. Beyond exchange rate issues, Bessent also responded to several macro and policy risks of market concern. He mentioned that the risk of another U.S. government shutdown is "unclear at the moment," but emphasized that President Trump has urged Democrats to avoid a shutdown and expects the U.S. economy to maintain "very strong" growth this year. Regarding international trade, Bessent stated that negotiations related to the USMCA are about to restart, and the U.S. will avoid proactively provoking disputes during the process. He remains optimistic about the prospects for trade talks with Canada and encouraged the Canadian Prime Minister to make decisions based on his country's own interests. Discussing the selection of the next Federal Reserve Chair, Bessent said the candidate pool has neither been narrowed nor expanded at present, revealing that he had a lengthy discussion with Trump about it on a plane. He simultaneously emphasized that the Fed's interest rate decisions should remain entirely independent, but expressed hope that it would maintain an open attitude on policy. Bessent also noted that the S&P 500 index breaking through 7000 points for the first time reflects the positive results achieved by the current pro-growth policy mix.