Finance

The U.S. dollar weakened sharply against the Japanese yen following a rare coordinated market intervention by the U.S. Treasury and Japan's Finance Ministry. This joint effort marks the first coordinated currency intervention between the two nations since 2011 and aims to counter recent disorderly exchange rate movements.

More than half of the S&P 500 companies have reported spring results, with corporate profits tracking toward an aggregate year-over-year growth rate of over 47%. This strong fundamental performance has comforted Wall Street even after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady amid divided, hawkish internal consensus.

Economic data released today showed that U.S. manufacturing growth accelerated to its highest level in over four years, with the ISM purchasing managers' index climbing to 55.6%. The expansionary reading signals that underlying private sector demand remains firm, though input prices remain somewhat elevated.