U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent joined Japan’s Ministry of Finance to intervene in currency markets to boost the yen, calling the Japanese currency « very undervalued. » The intervention caused the yen to strengthen, but the article warns that this type of manipulation creates more volatility, not less. The article draws a parallel between Bessent and the « Big Player » Ivan Vyshnegradsky, Imperial Russia’s finance minister whose interventions on the ruble in 1887 also increased market volatility. The authors predict that this era of the « Big Player » will shift traders’ focus away from economic fundamentals toward tracking the dominant player’s moves and moods.
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