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Gold Races Past $5,000 As Yen Intervention Fears Drive Dollar Rout
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With the dollar plumbing its lowest levels against a basket of major currencies in four months and volatility picking up, gold drew in a fresh wave of capital.
AI-generated image used for representation
Gold charged past $5,000 an ounce for the first time on Monday as an array of geopolitical tensions pounded the dollar, while investors remained on tenterhooks about possible official buying of the yen after a series of surges in the Japanese currency.
The yen rose as much as 1.5% in Europe, leaving the dollar at its lowest since mid-November at 153.405 yen, after sharp spikes in the Japanese currency on Friday sparked speculation over potential intervention. The New York Federal Reserve conducted rate checks on Friday, sources told Reuters, raising the chance of joint U.S.-Japan intervention – the first in 15 years – to halt the Japanese currency’s slide.
“The market’s inclination is to short the yen but the possibility of coordination means it no longer is a one-way bet,” said Prashant Newnaha, senior rates strategist at TD Securities in Singapore.
JAPANESE CAMPAIGN PROMISES
The yen has been under relentless pressure since Sanae Takaichi took over as Japan’s prime minister in October.
Her campaign promises to ramp up spending and cut taxes ahead of a snap election on February 8 have added to concern that Japan’s already stretched finances could become even less manageable, which has pushed government bond yields to record highs, just as the Bank of Japan is slowly raising interest rates to tackle inflation.
As the yen strengthened, Japan’s Nikkei dropped 1.75%.
Other equity markets were more stable. Europe’s STOXX 600 was steady, while S&P 500 futures fell 0.1%, as traders counted down to a slew of earnings from big tech companies and a Federal Reserve policy meeting later this week.
U.S. President Donald Trump provided temporary relief to markets last week when he appeared to back down from threats to slap tariffs on European allies unless they let him take over Greenland.
However, with the prospect of more sanctions targeting Iran in the offing, there has been no let-up in investor anxiety over geopolitics and the dollar is bearing the brunt of that.
With the dollar plumbing its lowest levels against a basket of major currencies in four months and volatility picking up, gold drew in a fresh wave of capital, hitting yet another record high in what has been a blistering rally over the last six months.
“Gold clearly has a quite compelling story, in terms of central bank reserve diversification, which you would have thought gets reinforced by all of this intervention talk and events in the U.S. more generally,” Daiwa Capital Markets economist Chris Scicluna said.
Possible U.S. involvement in the currency market was “very significant”, he said, adding: “If the U.S. authorities really are keen to weaken their currency, then that’s not just against the yen, but against other Asian currencies as well, whilst you have the broader portfolio diversification theme away from the U.S. also likely to play a role.”
Gold was last up 2.1% at $5,089 an ounce, taking its gains in January to more than 17%, while silver rose almost 7% to $110 an ounce, up over 50% this month.
INTERVENTION CHATTER KEEPS YEN ALOFT
Top Japanese authorities said on Monday they have been in close coordination with the United States on foreign exchange, leaving traders on edge at the prospect of an intervention that could come any time.
Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo, said the warning from the rate check could help reset positioning and remind the market there’s a line near 159–160.
BOJ money market data released on Monday suggested there had been no intervention on Friday.
The yen rallied across the board on Monday, lifting off record lows against the euro and Swiss franc and multi-decade lows against sterling. [FRX/]
The euro was up 0.2% at $1.185, just a whisker away from September’s 4-1/2-year highs.
Investors’ focus this week will also be on the Federal Reserve, which is expected to hold rates steady at the first meeting since the Trump administration’s criminal investigation of Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May.
Oil prices, meanwhile, edged up on Monday, having risen about 3% on Friday, as traders worried about the impact on global supply from possible U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil shipments, while a cold front in the United States hit production in the key shale basin.
Brent crude futures were up 0.15% at $65.98 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 0.1% at $61.12 per barrel.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – Reuters)
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January 26, 2026, 19:11 IST
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“As previously warned, if the fuel, energy, gas, and economic infrastructures of our country are attacked by the American-Zionist enemy, in addition to a powerful counterattack against the enemy, we will severely strike the origin of that aggression as well,” the military said in a statement published by Tasnim.
Larissa Manoela and Josh D’Amaro, Chairperson of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, wave to the audience after Panel Disney Experiences during Day 2 of the D23 Brazil: A Disney Experience at Transamerica Expo Center on November 09, 2024 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Ricardo Moreira | Getty Images
Disney is turning the page on a new chapter as Josh D’Amaro steps in as CEO of the media and theme park powerhouse.
D’Amaro most recently served as chairman of Disney Experiences, which includes the company’s theme parks, cruise line, resorts and consumer products. He will officially succeed Bob Iger as chief executive during the company’s annual shareholder meeting Wednesday.
The longtime Disney executive takes over after a period of uncertainty for the century-old company — including a closely watched succession race and a recent reorganization and turnaround — that has left it with a mixed reception from Wall Street.
Disney’s stock is down more than 10% year to date as of Tuesday’s close.
D’Amaro’s most immediate task will be sustaining momentum in Disney’s core growth areas. The company’s most recent quarterly earnings were lifted by its theme parks and streaming, the two areas that remain in focus for investors, industry peers and consumers alike.
The company has recently embarked on a major investment in its theme parks, including an expansion with a theme park and resort in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and has seen its streaming business reach consecutive quarters of profitability.
Disney also returned to the top of the box office with hits like “Lilo & Stitch,” “Zootopia” and “Avatar” in 2025.
Welcome wagon
In this handout image provided by Disneyland Resort, Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro and The Walt Disney Company Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger speak during the 70th anniversary celebrations of Disneyland Resort on July 17, 2025 in Anaheim, California.
Handout | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
This is the second time Iger handed over the reins to a successor in roughly six years. He will remain as a Disney senior advisor and board member until he retires from the company on Dec. 31.
The storied CEO led Disney for roughly 20 years over the course of two stints at the top. In his first 15 years Iger was responsible for some of its biggest acquisitions like Marvel’s and Fox’s entertainment assets, as well as the launch of Disney+.
He stepped down in 2020, but his time away from the company was capped at two years following a handoff to Bob Chapek that was rife with drama.
In Disney’s February announcement of D’Amaro’s appointment, Iger called D’Amaro an “exceptional leader and the right person to become our next CEO.”
D’Amaro, 55, has been at Disney since 1998 and has held a variety of roles at the company. Under his leadership, Disney’s theme parks division has blossomed into a driving force and an earnings driver.
The Tories are set to force a vote in the Commons on scrapping a planned fuel duty increase amid soaring oil prices following the US-Israel attacks on Iran.
Shadow transport secretary Ricard Holden branded the increase “another egregious tax” as he opened an Opposition Day motion on Wednesday in an effort to block the proposed September rise.
Oil and gas prices have been driven up as Iran has throttled key shipping routes through the Strait of Hormuz, with commercial vessels coming under attack in the region.
The Conservatives’ motion is unlikely to pass due to Labour’s large Commons majority.
Mr Holden branded the increase the “wrong thing to do” and accused the Government of “choosing to balance the books on the back of working Britain”.
He said: “This House has come together to hear of yet another egregious tax on transport pushed out by this Labour Government at a time when people across the country are worried about the cost of getting around.
“On this occasion, the Government, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that this is a moment, the opportune time, to cancel the fuel duty freeze the last Conservative government kept for 13 years, protecting hard-working people from paying extra to get to work, to have appointments, to visit friends and families.”
Fuel duty has been frozen since 2011, and was temporarily cut by 5p in 2022 in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In her budget last year, Ms Reeves said the 5p cut would be gradually unwound from September.
Mr Holden continued: “Under this Government, on top of the countless tax rises that they‘ve already shafted us with, we cannot even get through two years before they decide that the British people need yet another tax rise, and it’s a tax rise in a sneaky and stealthy way.”
Under current plans, fuel duty will rise by 1 pence per litre in September. The current levels are the same as the freeze introduced in March 2022.
He said: “The British people deserve better than underhand taxes swindling them out of the pounds in their pockets, and to pay for that? To pay for more welfare, a tax on every car, every van, every motorbike and every bus.”
Treasury minister Torsten Bell responded that the Government recognises that “fuel costs matter enormously to people right across the country” and insisted they have “already taken action to ensure that fuel remains affordable”.
“In November’s budget, we extended the temporary 5p per litre cut to fuel duty for a further five months,” he said.
“Additionally, we cancelled the inflation-linked increase plan for 26/27.
“Our fuel duty changes will save the average motorist over £90.”
He added: “This Government will take the necessary decisions to help protect both household finances and public finances.”
“For all the froth from the shadow secretary of state, the truth is the last government didn’t budget for any extension of the 5p cut.
“They said explicitly it was temporary, and on the level of fuel duty, here is the truth: through the entire 14 years in office, it was never lower than it is today. In fact, it was higher than it is today for 80% of the time they were in office.”
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