Fanuc said orders in the June quarter jumped 37% year on year and it lifted its full-year operating profit forecast by about 3% to ¥218 billion ($1.4 billion), implying 19% growth. The guidance still fell short of the average analyst estimate for a 23% rise. Fanuc’s ADR (FANUY) dropped 19% during Tokyo trading, marking its biggest intraday decline since 1986, and the stock is down about 3% year to date.

Vietnamese police have uncovered the country’s largest diamond smuggling case, involving more than 30,000 diamonds valued at about $57 million. Investigators say the network sourced stones in India, routed them through Hong Kong, and brought them into Vietnam using concealed methods. The diamonds were then altered in local labs by changing GIA codes and issuing forged high-grade certificates to sell them at inflated prices. The scandal has shaken confidence in Ho Chi Minh City’s jewelry district, triggering a rush by consumers to sell certified diamonds and prompting dozens of shops to suspend operations.

Japan’s finance ministry and the U.S. Treasury have confirmed coordinated intervention to support the yen, with Japan suspected of deploying $58.97 billion in a single day to buy the currency. U.S. officials also signaled they could enter the market, and a photo showed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent with a handwritten note reading, “Buy Japanese Yen (JPY) $5–10 bil.” Combined with the Bank of Japan’s June rate increase to a 31-year high of 1%, the steps provide tangible support for the yen. The move directly targets FX markets, with the yen and the dollar/yen pair at the center of the impact.

A handwritten note seen during the Camp David U.S.-Japan-South Korea summit indicated U.S. Treasury officials were considering buying $5 billion to $10 billion worth of Japanese yen. The photo was made public at 11:33 ET, and the dollar fell about 0.8% versus the yen over the next roughly 45 minutes, sliding from 158.9 to 157.6. The disclosure was described as the first U.S. signal of potential unilateral yen intervention since the 2011 G7 coordinated action, stoking expectations for a stronger yen.

Japan Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the government will temporarily cut the consumption tax on food and beverages from 8% to 1% for two years starting next April. The move would reduce annual revenue by about ¥5 trillion ($30.6 billion). To keep its pledge of a net-zero overall consumption tax reduction, the government plans a benefits program that would provide ¥600 billion a year to families in need.

A Japanese labor ministry advisory panel recommended raising the nationwide average minimum hourly wage by 4.9% in fiscal 2024 to ¥1,176, the second-largest increase on record. The higher wage floor is expected to be rolled out in stages from October once regional authorities set their own rates. Separately, major unions secured annual pay hikes above 5% for a third straight year. The combination has reinforced market expectations for persistent domestic inflation and a path toward further Bank of Japan rate increases, lending fundamental support to the yen and the Nikkei index.

Germany’s draft budget plans to reduce munitions spending to €9.6 billion in 2027 from €11 billion in 2026, shifting funding toward other defense applications. The change could weigh on Rheinmetall, whose core business is centered on tanks, artillery and ammunition. The company’s shares are down more than 30% this year, reflecting investor concerns about a potential policy-driven pullback and technological substitution.

Japan said medium and heavy rare earth elements accounted for about 54% of the total rare earth content in mud lifted from the deep seabed near Minamitorishima island. Around 50 metric tons of mud were recovered, and the analysis identified elements including yttrium, gadolinium and dysprosium, according to the Cabinet Office’s national platform for innovative ocean development. The effort comes as Japan looks to diversify supplies amid China’s export controls on some heavy rare earths and related magnets introduced in April 2025 and later tightened for Japan. Japan plans a month-long large-scale mining trial starting in February 2027, targeting 350 tons of mud a day, with an industrialization assessment due by March 2028.

The yen fell through ¥163 against the dollar, marking its lowest level since 1986. Markets are focusing on signs that Japanese authorities may be less inclined to intervene, while expectations of fiscal stimulus and a wide Japan-U.S. rate gap—U.S. 3.5–3.75% versus Japan 1%—add to carry-trade pressure. Japan’s $73.6 billion intervention in April and May failed to reverse the slide, and many investors now see ¥165 as the next line for action, though no substantive intervention has appeared.