Japan's finance minister Katayama is expected to be retained in an upcoming
cabinet reshuffle, local media report. Reappointment would signal policy
continuity on economic management, exchange-rate oversight and budget-process
reform and preserve close coordination with U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent, who
has both pressed Japan to raise rates and assisted yen stabilization. Keeping
Katayama should limit reshuffle-driven market volatility; replacing her could
disrupt U.S.-Japan FX cooperation, add upward pressure to government bond yields
and weigh on the yen amid tighter market conditions from government spending
plans.
