US-Japan Team Up to Save the Yen & The Hugo Spritz, the New Drink of the Summer?

**SPEAKER_1** (0:01)
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**Neal Freyman** (0:27)
Good Morning Brew Daily Show. I'm Neal Freyman.

**Toby Howell** (0:30)
And I'm Toby Howell.

**Neal Freyman** (0:31)
Today, why the US made the shocking decision to defend the yen.

**Toby Howell** (0:36)
Then move over, Aperol Spritzes. A new drink of the summer has emerged. It's Tuesday, August 4th. Let's ride.

**Neal Freyman** (0:52)
Anyone solve the password yet? Yesterday, we rolled out a puzzle that asked you to guess a word from a series of clues. Each day this week, we'll share one new clue to get you closer to the password, and you can submit an answer once you have that aha moment. The earlier you submit in the week, the more raffle tickets you get to win the prize of MBD swag, and you can only submit an answer once. The first clue yesterday was this password has to do with one of the five senses.
Probably not enough to go off of, though that didn't stop some of you from yoloing some guesses. Maybe today's clue will help you get on the right track. The password begins with a chemical symbol. So, so far the password has to do with one of the five senses, and it begins with a chemical symbol. Toby, I see the gears turning in your brain.

**Toby Howell** (1:40)
Okay, so we got taste, touch, smell, hearing, and seeing. Those are the five senses. And how many chemical symbols do I know? Helium, hydrogen. Hearing starts with H-E, which is the chemical symbol for helium, that seems to on the nose.
Feeling starts with F-E, which is the chemical symbol for iron. Again, hard to know. And as I'm saying this, I just remembered oxygen and carbon exists. So that narrows it down to anything that starts with O or C.
O factory seems like a good guess. All right, the gears are turning too fast right now. Maybe I did just nail it there, but I think I'm going to wait until I get more clues before I lock in my answer. So final answer, Neal, I'm holding out for more hints.

**Neal Freyman** (2:23)
All right, so how can people submit their answer?

**Toby Howell** (2:26)
Go to the link in the show description. Remember, you only get one guess, but I do admire brave souls who guess early, so go for it if you're feeling confident.

**Neal Freyman** (2:34)
I think we got a couple of answers yesterday that were, smells like team spirit, team spirit, multiple ones like that, which I appreciate. But just to emphasize, this is just one word, not a phrase.

**SPEAKER_4** (2:47)
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**Neal Freyman** (3:12)
Okay, the US and Japan just made it more expensive for you to travel to Tokyo.
The two countries linked up to buy Japanese Yen and stabilize the flagging currency in what Bloomberg called one of the most dramatic interventions in global currency markets in decades. President Trump framed the surprise move as supporting a key ally that's going through some market turbulence, telling reporters Japan's been very good to us, with the exception, of course, of Pearl Harbor. The yen has been in a deep slump over the past year, falling at 1.2164 against the dollar, its lowest level in four decades. A number of forces have contributed to the decline, including Japan's super low interest rates, heavy government spending and high debt levels. It's alarmed Japanese policy makers because a falling currency makes imports more expensive and boosts inflation, lowering people's living standards, especially now that energy has gotten so expensive from the war in Iran.
Still seems like a Japan problem, right? Why is America stepping in? Because just to put a point on it, this type of thing is extremely rare. Typically, the US only gets involved in other countries' currencies if things get to impending crisis levels, which they aren't here. And the answer is we don't actually know the motivations. Wall Street is full of gossip as to why the US deemed it necessary to scoop up yen. Toby, what's the tea?