[Institution: Sudden Sharp Decline in USD/JPY, Suspected Japanese Intervention Again] Reported by Golden Finance, on May 6, according to the U.S. financial website InvestingLive, the USD/JPY pair experienced a short-term drop of over 100 points, falling more than 1% intraday, retreating below the 157.00 level. Judging by the timing, it seems plausible—today is a holiday in the Japanese market, and the previous two intervention attempts also occurred during the time window between the Asian trading session and the opening of the European session. That said, the timing of the previous two interventions was closer to the moment when USD/JPY had just broken through the 157.00 level. This time, however, USD/JPY surged all the way to near 158.00 before the suspected intervention occurred. Despite multiple attempts by Japan's Ministry of Finance, the effectiveness of intervention actions has been weakening since last week, especially as fundamental factors continue to overwhelmingly disadvantage the yen. The question then becomes: how much money are Japanese authorities willing to spend to make the intervention truly effective? Considering the current broader economic backdrop, this is indeed a very tricky problem. At present, the greatest hope of Japanese officials lies in the resolution of the U.S.-Iran conflict, which could alleviate the economic pressures Japan is facing. Otherwise, they will continue to fight against massive tides, attempting to persuade traders not to keep selling off the yen. (Jin10)