Expert: Gina Boykin - 1/24/2008

Question
Hello:

I have a currency trading question. My question is as follows: If the yen is up against the dollar, is the yen getting stronger even though the rate is falling?

For example, if the USD/YEN rate is at 111.42 and drops to 111.25 it is correct to say the yen is up or getting stronger against the U.S. dollar even though the rate is falling?

I thank you for your reply.

Answer
It would be correct to say that the YEN is getting stronger (or the USD is getting weaker) against the other.  You could not just say the YEN went up.  The rate could drop for many reasons:
The YEN and USD went up, but the YEN is up more
The YEN went up and the USD went down
The YEN and USD went down, but the YEN went down less