The dollar dropped 0.77% against the yen on September 25, 2026, pushing USDJPY to 157.61 and through key technical support after Japan's finance minister said Trump raised concerns about yen weakness with Prime Minister Takaichi. The move stands out because it comes even as separate U.S. data and a shift in Morgan Stanley's dollar forecast point to broader dollar strength elsewhere.
USDJPY fell to 157.61, a 0.77% drop for the dollar against the yen, making the Japanese currency the strongest mover against the greenback this morning. The dollar was mixed elsewhere, down against the euro, pound, Australian dollar and New Zealand dollar while gaining against the Swiss franc and Canadian dollar.
Katayama cites Trump's yen concerns
Japan's Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said President Trump raised concerns about yen weakness during his meeting with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Katayama said Takaichi replied that an undervalued yen was problematic as a general principle.
The pair has also fallen back below its 200-hour moving average and the 50% retracement level near 158.45, followed by the swing area around 158.00. Sellers keep the upper hand while price stays below those levels; buyers would need to reclaim 158.00 first, then 158.45, to repair the short-term technical picture.
Dollar strength builds elsewhere
The yen's advance runs against a broader backdrop of dollar-supportive signals. US durable goods orders were flat in August against expectations for a 0.4% decline, following July's 1.1% rise. Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft rose 1.6% versus the 0.5% expected, up from a 0.2% prior gain.
Separately, Morgan Stanley said it was wrong on the dollar and changed its forecast, citing rising bond yields and expected Fed rate hikes that wrecked the bank's earlier call for a weaker buck. The dollar index hit an eight-week high near 101.40 this week as surging Treasury yields fed through to the currency market.
Against that backdrop, the yen's move stands out as the exception rather than the rule.
Sources: investingLive, investingLive, MarketWatch (snippet-based)
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