Japan's Yen Weakens, Stocks Jump as Takaichi Eyes Snap Election -- WSJ

Dow Jones01-13

By Caitlin McCabe

Japanese stocks surged, while the yen and government bonds slid on Tuesday, on rising expectations for a snap election next month.

-- Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 3.1% to a record close. That marked the stock index's largest one-day percentage gain since October.

-- The yen fell against the dollar to trade as low as 158.94, its weakest level since July 2024.

-- Government bonds tumbled, pushing the 10-year yield to 2.167%.

A general election could solidify Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's political standing, enabling her to take bolder steps to boost the economy. Takaichi was elected in October, with a promise of "responsible and proactive fiscal policy." But her ruling coalition only has a razor-thin majority in the lower house.

By dissolving the lower house and holding a general election-as Japan's Yomiuri newspaper reported she is considering-Takaichi may be able to solidify power for her Liberal Democratic Party and further pursue her pro-stimulus policies.

Takaichi's economic approach has sparked concerns over the country's public finances, driving bond yields higher and the yen lower.

The yen is nearing levels that prompted the government in 2024 to intervene to shore it up. In a Tuesday note, Barclays strategists led by Shinichiro Kadota said that if yen weakness accelerates beyond 160 per dollar, "the risk of actual intervention would likely increase."

This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage).

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 13, 2026 06:06 ET (11:06 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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That marked the stock index's largest one-day percentage gain since October. \n\n\n     -- The yen fell against the dollar to trade as low as 158.94, its weakest level since July 2024. \n\n\n     -- Government bonds tumbled, pushing the 10-year yield to 2.167%. \n\n\n     A general election could solidify Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's political standing, enabling her to take bolder steps to boost the economy. Takaichi was elected in October, with a promise of \"responsible and proactive fiscal policy.\" But her ruling coalition only has a razor-thin majority in the lower house. \n\n\n     By dissolving the lower house and holding a general election-as Japan's Yomiuri newspaper reported she is considering-Takaichi may be able to solidify power for her Liberal Democratic Party and further pursue her pro-stimulus policies. \n\n\n     Takaichi's economic approach has sparked concerns over the country's public finances, driving bond yields higher and the yen lower. \n\n\n     The yen is nearing levels that prompted the government in 2024 to intervene to shore it up. In a Tuesday note, Barclays strategists led by Shinichiro Kadota said that if yen weakness accelerates beyond 160 per dollar, \"the risk of actual intervention would likely increase.\" \n\n\n       This item is part of a Wall Street Journal live coverage event. The full stream can be found by searching P/WSJL (WSJ Live Coverage). \n\n\n  (END) Dow Jones Newswires\n\n\n  January 13, 2026 06:06 ET (11:06 GMT)\n\n\n  Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.","kind":"highlight","is_publish_news":true,"is_publish_highlight":false,"is_publish_live":false,"is_publish_wemedia":null,"editions":null,"column":"","sentiment":"1","news_tag":"","news_rank":0,"symbols":[],"gpt_button":0,"need_auth":true,"code":"91000000","status":"200"},"commentList":[],"isCommentEnd":true,"newsSizeData":{"likeSize":0,"commentSize":0,"repostSize":0,"favoriteSize":0,"likeStatus":false,"favoriteStatus":false},"APP":{"userAgent":"Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)","isDev":false,"isTTM":true,"tenantId":"TBGLOBAL","deviceId":"web-server-community-laohu8-v3","version":"4.36.0","shortVersion":"4.36.0","platform":"web","vendor":"web","appName":"ttm","isIOS":false,"isAndroid":false,"isTiger":false,"isTHS":false,"isWeiXin":false,"isWeiXinMini":false,"isWeiBo":false,"isQQ":false,"isBaiduSwan":false,"isBaiduBox":false,"isDingTalk":false,"isToutiao":false,"isOnePlus":false,"isHuaWei":false,"isXiaomi":false,"isXiaomiWebView":false,"isOppo":false,"isVivo":false,"isSamsung":false,"isMobile":false},"href":"/m/news/2603688063","isCrawlerRequest":true}