Bessent's yen bet, cold Argentine data centers set, and the summer box office net
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What is the weekly Indicator intro and who are the hosts?
N P R
This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Wayland Wong.
I'm Ricky Mulvey. And I'm just excited to be here. And my name is also Cooper Cats McKib, sometimes host, often producer.
We are excited to have you too, Cooper, because it is time for indicators of the week. Our weekly look at the numbers from the news that made us curious about the economy. This week we have the US Treasury Department mucking around in financial markets again.
I'll tell you about one of the prettiest places in the world to potentially build some data centers.
And we break down the box office take for summer movies.
Awesome, another excuse for me to talk about the Odyssey, which I'm seeing for a third time this month. After the break.
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pushing the door so he can get in. Listen to Where is Austin Tice from NPR's Embedded and BBC Radio 4 on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
This fall, there are a lot of movies and TV shows on tap for you to see. And we're as excited for all of it to arrive as you are. On Pop Culture Happy Hour, we've got a guide to what's worth keeping on your radar. Listen via the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Power is up for grabs in Wisconsin. Ahead of the November election, Swing State of the Union explores top issues in the state and how they're motivating voters nationwide. Listen to the Swing State of the Union podcast from WUWM, part of the NPR Network, on the NPR app, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes drop Wednesdays.
This is Indicators of the Week. First up, Waylon Wong.
Hello. My indicator is one US dollar to a hundred and fifty three point six three yen. That is the current exchange rate between the dollar and the Japanese yen as of this recording.
Okay, you make it a plan, you go on vacation?
No, but I am here to talk about international currency markets just as exciting. The US government has been buying up a lot of Japanese yen, and this week Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant gave some remarks where he basically challenged the market to stop him.
I am the house now, so
Bessant was speaking at Southern Methodist University in Texas.
You can bet against me if you want.
So we Isn Scott Bessent known for making some big moves in foreign currency when he was in his hedge fund era?
Yeah, he helped pull off this ten billion dollar bet against the British pound in the nineties.
So why does he care so much about the Japanese yen?
Well, the yen has been pretty weak vis-a-vis the dollar for years now. Japanese authorities have spent record amounts to support their currency by purchasing yen in foreign exchange markets. And this is a source of worry for the US Treasury and Scott Bessent because Japan's finance ministry may sell some of its US Treasury bonds to fund these purchases.
Ooh, and Bessend doesn't want this.
No, because Japan is a major foreign holder of these US government bonds. And if the Japanese finance ministry sold off a big chunk of treasuries, that would make prices on treasuries go down. That in turn would make yields on US treasuries go up. And that means borrowing costs for the US go up.
Yeah, we just did an episode on how Bessin is buying back treasury bonds to try to make yields come down. So this seems related.
Yeah, Besson's keeping a very close eye on the treasury market, and he's shown a willingness to step into financial markets. The US Treasury and the Japanese Finance Ministry carried out a joint intervention to buy yen over the summer, and they hadn't done that kind of coordinated action since twenty eleven. And now Bessend is all but daring financial markets to defy him.
Stay tuned. Thank you so much, Waylon. Next up, Cooper Katz McKinn.
My indicator is $25 billion. That's how much an open AI data center could cost to be located in Argentina. The company signed a letter of intent to explore the project last year. Their partner says they're looking for a site within Patagonia.
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