FOREX-Buoyant dollar threatens 150 yen as benchmark Treasury yield climbs

The dollar was within a hair's breadth of the closely watched 150 yen level on Friday, buoyed by a surge in the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield which briefly reached 5% overnight for the first time since 2007. The benchmark 10-year yield, which was last at 4.9456%, has climbed more than 30 basis points (bps) this week, driven by rising expectations that the Federal Reserve is likely to keep interest rates higher for longer and by mounting U.S. fiscal concerns. That kept pressure on the yen, which last bought 149.85 per dollar, not far from the psychological threshold of 150 per dollar which some traders bet could trigger an intervention from Japanese authorities, as happened last year.