The Japanese yen is tanking

Investing.com

The Japanese yen is tanking following some buzz that prime minister Shinzo Abe might be thinking about going for helicopter money.

Bloomberg reported earlier on Thursday that former Fed Chair Ben Bernanke, who met with several Japanese leaders in Tokyo earlier this week, "floated the idea of perpetual bonds during earlier discussions in Washington with one of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's key advisers."

From Bloomberg:

"Etsuro Honda, who has emerged as a matchmaker for Abe in corralling foreign economic experts to offer policy guidance, said that during an hour-long discussion with Bernanke in April the former Federal Reserve chief warned there was a risk Japan at any time could return to deflation. He noted that helicopter money - in which the government issues non-marketable perpetual bonds with no maturity date and the Bank of Japan directly buys them - could work as the strongest tool to overcome deflation, according to Honda. Bernanke noted it was an option, he said."

However, Koichi Hamada, another economic advisor, said that helicopter money was not mentioned with Bernanke on Tuesday when he met wiht officials in Japan, and the central bank did not announce what the head Haruhiko Kuroda and Benanke discussed. Plus, Yoshihide Suga, Japan's top government spokesman, denied earlier reports that officials were considering helicopter money as an option.

The yen is weaker by 1.0% at 105.56 per dollar as of 7:34 a.m. ET.

For what it's worth, Reuters' Chief Markets Correspondent Jamie McGeever tweeted earlier today that,"USD/JPY +5% this week, on track for biggest weekly rise since 1999, 6th biggest since Bretton Woods end in early 70s."

As for the rest of the world, here's the scoreboard this morning:

• The British pound is on fire after the Bank of England held rates at 0.5% for the 88th straight month. Most analysts were expecting the BOE to cut rates down to 0.25% in light of the June 23 Brexit vote. The pound is stronger by 1.8% at 1.3377 against the dollar.
• The Australian dollar is up 0.5% at .7646 against the dollar after the Australian jobs report. The country's economy added 7,900 jobs in June, which, although it missed the expected 10,000 figure, is still notable given that full-time employed surged by 38,400 while part-time employment fell by 30,500.
• The US dollar index is little changed at 96.06 ahead of initial jobless claims and PPI, which will cross the wires at 8:30 a.m. ET.
• The euro is stronger by 0.6% at 1.1157 against the dollar.

Check out the full report from Bloomberg for more details on Japan.