Yen

The stock market rebounded sharply yesterday after the Treasury Department suddenly reversed course and began intervening in international currency markets to stabilize shaky Asian economies.Yesterday, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Treasury's agent in the world currency market, sold dollars and bought yen, which slid to an eight-year low against the U.S. currency on Monday.The U.S. move was prompted by fears that the yen might continue to fall, burying the country deeper in recession and damaging the economies of China and other Asian countries as well.

The dollar traded near a five-year low against the yen yesterday as some traders declined to bet on an advance in the U.S. currency before a Treasury Department report today on foreign purchases of American assets in November. Speculation that the U.S. economy won't attract enough foreign investment to compensate for the deficit in its current account has helped push the dollar down 5 percent against the euro and 6.7 percent against the yen in the past three months. "The dollar will remain on the defensive over the next 24 hours," said Kamal Sharma, a currency strategist in London at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.

NEW YORK -- The dollar rose to a 5 1/2 -year high against the yen yesterday and gained against the mark amid expectations the Japanese and German economies will continue to sputter in the new year.Traders sold yen on concern that Japan isn't moving swiftly enough to spur consumer spending or keep more of its financial institutions from going bankrupt. Moreover, many of Japan's closest trading partners are being battered by slowing economies and plunging currencies."The yen is really suffering a confidence problem," said Stephen Flanagan, chief currency trader at Erste Bank in New York.

The Allfirst Financial Inc. foreign currency trader who is believed to have lost a staggering $750 million likely placed abnormally large bets for the size of the bank at which he worked, experts said yesterday. At a minimum, they added, he was poorly supervised and might not have acted alone. Experts said the Allfirst currency trader, John Michael Rusnak, 37, of Mount Washington, probably had multiple investments in Japanese yen, paid large sums of money so he had the right to buy more yen and made bets that simply proved wrong.

If the yen gets any stronger against the dollar, the Japanese will all be buying little American cars.

TOKYO -- Some major Japanese private universities are taking in more than 4 billion yen ($31.3 million) a year from the fees they charge prospective students for entrance examinations.It is not unusual for a student to take entrance examinations at more than 10 universities at a cost of 30,000 yen ($234) each. Most universities hold their entrance examinations in February for the school year that begins in April.According to the Ministry of Education, the average entrance examination fee charged by private universities last year was 28,166 yen ($220)

The yen is falling, run for cover, the yen is falling.Lucky old Sauerbrey, won't have to do negative campaigning. Democrats will have done it all for her.Serbia slaughtered Croatian civilians. Serbia slaughtered Bosnian Muslims. Serbia slaughters Kosovo Albanians. Everyone picks on Serbia.Starr will subpoena priests next. Deceased parishioners confessed a great deal.Pub Date: 6/15/98

TOKYO -- Nissan Motor Co. said yesterday that it lost 32.55 billion yen ($266 million) in the first half because of slumping sales and extensive stock losses, forcing Japan's second-largest automaker to predict its sixth full-year loss in seven years.The maker of midsized sedans and pickup trucks projected that the company and its subsidiaries will lose 30 billion yen for the fiscal year that ended March 31, jettisoning an earlier forecast of breaking even.Without the stock loss, a 76 billion-yen charge on its plunging investments in banks and other securities, Nissan would have remained in the black, analysts said.

SO you're worried about the continuing slide of the dollar against other strong currencies, especially the yen. Take heart.Paul W. Boltz, chief economist for Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price had some reassuring words on the subject, which he expressed in the company's most recent newsletter to its investors:"Whenever the dollar is falling against the yen, the absurd notion that the Japanese are 'richer' than Americans resurfaces. The logic runs like this. The dollar's value in yen falls to, say, 85, and the figure 85 is divided into Japanese per capita consumption in yen. The resulting number is then compared with the U.S. equivalent, and the dismal conclusion is reached that the Japanese have passed us. The arithmetic and the conclusion are wrong."

NEW YORK -- The dollar tumbled against most currencies yesterday, hitting a record low against the yen, as traders expressed concern about the strength of the U.S. economic recovery."