Japanese Yen Rises After Upper House Election
The Japanese yen rose toward 148 per dollar on Monday, recovering some of last week's losses after the ruling coalition lost its majority in the weekend's upper house election, bringing a new wave of political uncertainty. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba now faces the challenge of working with the opposition, marking the first time since 1955 that the governing party has failed to hold a majority in at least one chamber of the legislature.
The opposition is expected to advocate for increased government spending and tax cuts, moves that could pressure the yen and push Japanese government bond yields to multi-year highs. The yen also drew support from trade developments after US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reaffirmed that August 1 is a "hard deadline" for countries to begin paying tariffs, although negotiations are expected to continue until then.
Source: Trading Economics
