US and Japan flirt with joint currency intervention
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 27 January 2026
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Trump administration has linked security guarantees for Ukraine to Kyiv ceding the Donbas region to Russia, and there’s speculation that the US and Japan could be working together to support the yen. Plus, Israel’s military announced it had retrieved the remains of the last hostage from the Gaza Strip, and Big Tech companies are on track to dominate borrowing in the US bond market.
Mentioned in this podcast:
US links security guarantees for Ukraine to peace deal ceding territory
Dollar sinks to 4-month low and gold soars past $5,000 as yen leaps
Israel retrieves remains of last hostage in Gaza
Big Tech’s borrowing spree raises US bond market fears
Send your voice memos to: marc.filippino@ft.com
Note: The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts
Today’s FT News Briefing was hosted by Sonja Hutson, and produced by Clare Williamson and Marc Filippino. Our show was mixed by Kelly Garry. Additional help from Gavin Kallmann and Michael Lello. Our executive producer is Topher Forhecz. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s Global Head of Audio. The show’s theme music is by Metaphor Music.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Good morning from the Financial Times. |
| 0:03.5 | Today is Tuesday, January 27th, and this is your FT News Briefing. |
| 0:09.7 | The U.S. has controversial conditions for Ukrainian security guarantees, and the yen took a leap yesterday. |
| 0:17.8 | Plus, big tech is going on a massive borrowing spree. I'm Sonia Hudson, and here's the |
| 0:24.6 | news you need to start your day. The U.S. is linking security guarantees for Ukraine to giving up territory to Russia. |
| 0:41.1 | The Trump administration has indicated to Keev that it would need to agree to a peace deal that involves seeding the eastern Donbass region. |
| 0:49.8 | That's according to eight people familiar with the talks. |
| 0:53.1 | The White House said, quote, this is totally |
| 0:55.5 | false. Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky's office did not reply to a request for comment. |
| 1:02.2 | Ukrainian and European officials described the U.S. stance as an attempt to strongarm Keeve into |
| 1:08.0 | making painful territorial concessions. |
| 1:16.7 | Giving up the Donbass has been a red line for Zelensky and for a majority of Ukrainians, |
| 1:18.5 | according to polling earlier this month. |
| 1:31.4 | The dollar sank to a four-month low yesterday, but the Japanese yen kept climbing and climbing. |
| 1:34.3 | It leaped up 1% to the dollar. |
| 1:39.8 | There's speculation that the U.S. and Japan could be working together to support the yen. |
| 1:45.2 | I'm joined now by the FTs senior markets correspondent Ian Smith to tell us more. Hi Ian. |
| 1:46.1 | Hey, Sonia. |
| 1:51.4 | So what signs do we have that there could be a joint currency intervention? |
| 1:59.4 | So as you've said, we've seen a dramatic appreciation in the Japanese yen against the US dollar on Monday following a big jump. |
| 2:02.9 | On Friday, as speculation swells that the US and Japanese authorities are working together to strengthen the yen, which had fallen to an 18-month |
| 2:08.6 | low against the dollar earlier this month. And on Friday, traders reported that the US authorities |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Forhecz Topher, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Forhecz Topher and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.