The yen hit a four-decade low overnight and then kept going as the market opened Tuesday in Tokyo. Key thresholds were crossed with ease after being tested for days by a market sure that the currency should be weaker.
In New York on Monday, the yen touched ¥161.97 to the dollar, a level not seen since December 1986.
The currency then breezed through ¥162 at about 9:55 a.m. in Japan and spent the rest of the day just above that mark, as skepticism about the effectiveness of intervention was balanced by a sense that intervention could happen anyway, and suddenly and in a big way.
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