Bessent Tells Japan Officials Rate Hikes Are Needed, NHK Says

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda that Japan’s next step should be to raise interest rates, per NHK. The communication is a policy signal but, absent concrete timing or magnitude, is likely to be a modest driver of rate expectations and yen sentiment rather than an immediate market-wide shock.