As gold rips through record highs above $3,500 an ounce, another classic safe haven is quietly staging one of its strongest comebacks in over a decade: the Japanese yen.
With global investors gripped by tariff fears, central bank politicization, and a deteriorating U.S. economic backdrop, Japan’s currency has emerged as a stealth winner, rallying 12% year-to-date through April 22—its strongest surge since 2010.
On Tuesday, the USD/JPY pair fell to 140.45, marking its lowest level since September 2024.
A risk-off trade that long seemed forgotten—long yen, short U.S. equities—has returned to form with force.
A strategy betting on the Invesco CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust (NYSE:FXY) while shorting the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) would have delivered a 24% gain since the start of the year.
Political Uncertainty Fuels The Flight To Yen
The deepening standoff between President Donald Trump and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has rattled global confidence in the U.S. financial assets while boosting flows towards traditional safe havens.
What began as Trump’s critique of Powell’s monetary policy has escalated into a full-blown …