US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent challenged traders to counter his efforts to strengthen Japan’s currency, touting that when he makes market calls nowadays he’s effectively doing so with 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 in Texas Tuesday.
Bessent, a former hedge fund executive, was reviewing occasions when he’s intervened in markets, including the joint purchases of yen he mounted with Japan’s government on July 31. While the yen initially jumped, gains ebbed in subsequent sessions, in part as traders highlighted the Treasury’s limited firepower to deploy in foreign-exchange purchases.
“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 said. “And you can bet against me if you want.”
The BOJ is leaning toward raising its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point on Sept. 18, Bloomberg reported last week — a move that may help the Japanese currency.