????繼上周五日本遭遇8.9級(jí)地震和毀滅性的海嘯襲擊后,，本周一投資者紛紛逃離日本股市,，當(dāng)?shù)毓芍钢卮?%。這次日本歷史上損失最慘重的大地震重創(chuàng)當(dāng)?shù)仉娏A(chǔ)設(shè)施,，未來(lái)龐大的重建支出將使早已捉襟見(jiàn)肘的政府預(yù)算雪上加霜,。

????過(guò)去一年，美元兌日元跌幅達(dá)10%,，你或許以為此次（日本大地震后）美元會(huì)出現(xiàn)反彈,，畢竟日本的財(cái)政狀況看上去可能會(huì)比美國(guó)還要糟。

????但美元未現(xiàn)振作,。周一交易時(shí)段,，美元走勢(shì)平平，美元/日元僅比1995年創(chuàng)下的歷史低點(diǎn)高出約2日元,。1995年美元/日元?jiǎng)?chuàng)下歷史低點(diǎn),，正是發(fā)生在歷史上同樣慘烈的自然災(zāi)難——阪神或稱(chēng)神戶(hù)大地震震后3個(gè)月。

????究竟什么才能讓美元上漲,？鑒于美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)復(fù)蘇跡象喜憂(yōu)參半,，而美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)承諾將長(zhǎng)期維持接近零利率水平，美元要上漲看來(lái)很難,。

????“僅僅由于日本遭受了重大自然災(zāi)害,，并不意味著日元會(huì)貶值，”野村證券（Nomura Securities ）分析師上周日在發(fā)送給客戶(hù)的報(bào)告中指出,。

????日元匯率能保持高位的一個(gè)原因是保險(xiǎn)公司為支付索賠,，將資金匯回日本。野村證券估計(jì)未來(lái)幾個(gè)月此類(lèi)資金匯回將達(dá)到80-110億美元——數(shù)額龐大,，但外匯策略師珍斯?諾德韋格 認(rèn)為,，這樣的數(shù)額并不“足以左右日元整體資金流格局”。

????諾德韋格和野村證券的其他分析師還指出,，未來(lái)幾個(gè)月對(duì)日元資金流影響更大的一個(gè)因素可能是避險(xiǎn)意識(shí)抬頭,，投資者在經(jīng)歷了兩年的股市反彈后已變得更加謹(jǐn)慎。

????如果日元匯率上升至1995年創(chuàng)下的歷史高點(diǎn),，日本央行很可能會(huì)在外匯市場(chǎng)賣(mài)出日元,、買(mǎi)入美元，以便將匯率維持在不會(huì)過(guò)度抑制國(guó)內(nèi)經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)的水平,。這種干預(yù)通常會(huì)使其他央行不快,，但迫于形勢(shì)，他們也只能苦笑了之,。

????"短期內(nèi),，日元的強(qiáng)勢(shì)走勢(shì)可能得到強(qiáng)化，但我們認(rèn)為現(xiàn)如今當(dāng)局干預(yù)的可能性比震前更高了,，”野村證券的泰庫(kù)克?塔納卡寫(xiě)道,，“假如出現(xiàn)負(fù)面的連鎖反應(yīng)，即地震損害導(dǎo)致日元進(jìn)一步走強(qiáng),，日本當(dāng)局出手阻止日元升值可能情有可原,。”

????當(dāng)然,，美元/日元的積弱走勢(shì)并非孤立現(xiàn)象,。過(guò)去十年，貿(mào)易加權(quán)的美元指數(shù)跌幅超過(guò)1/3,。此外,，雖然葡萄牙是否需要救助仍是個(gè)問(wèn)題，但歐元/美元仍徘徊于52周高點(diǎn)附近,。

????美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)增速將快于歐洲和日本的預(yù)期,，目前看來(lái)對(duì)美元似乎毫無(wú)助益。

????不過(guò),，Tanaka和其他分析師們預(yù)計(jì),，隨著全球復(fù)蘇力度增強(qiáng)，以及美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)逐步取消對(duì)經(jīng)濟(jì)的支持性舉措,，未來(lái)幾年日元/美元有望從80附近的高點(diǎn)降回至90附近,。但正如過(guò)去幾天所示，如今哪怕是最基本的預(yù)測(cè)也面臨很大風(fēng)險(xiǎn),。

????Investors fled Japanese stocks Monday, sending market indexes down 6%, in the wake of Friday's 8.9-magnitude earthquake and a devastating tsunami. Japan's costliest quake ever left power infrastructure in tatters, promising that an already stretched government budget will be strained further by massive rebuilding costs.

????You'd think that might be a recipe for a snapback rally in the dollar, which has lost 10% against the yen over the past year -- at a time when Japan's fiscal picture has if anything come to look even more desolate than ours.

????Yet the dollar failed to snap out of its torpor. The U.S. currency was flat in trading Monday, leaving it just 2 yen or so from its all-time low against the yen – a record that was set in 1995, three months after a comparably costly disaster, the Great Hanshin or Kobe earthquake.

????Just what has to happen to get the dollar to rise? With the U.S. recovery sending mixed signals and the Federal Reserve pledging to hold interest rates near zero for a long time, the bar seems to be set pretty high.

????"Just because Japan has suffered substantial damages does not mean that the yen will weaken," analysts at Nomura Securities wrote in a note to clients Sunday.

????Part of what's keeping the yen high is the flow of funds back into Japan for the payment of insurance claims. Nomura estimates these at $8 billion to $11 billion over coming months – a substantial sum but one that foreign exchange strategist Jens Nordvig says is not "sufficient to dominate the overall yen flow picture."

????He and others at Nomura say a bigger factor driving fund flows into the yen in coming months could be a rise in risk aversion, as investors take a more cautious stance following a two-year-long stock market rally.

????If the yen rises to challenge the 1995 high, the Bank of Japan might well start selling yen and buying dollars in foreign exchange markets, in a bid to keep the exchange rate at a level that doesn't choke off too much domestic growth. This is not usually a move that's apt to make other central bankers happy, but they will grin and bear it given the circumstances.

????"Over the short term, the strong yen bias could increase, but we think authorities are more likely now than before the earthquake to intervene," Nomura's Taisuke Tanaka writes. "If a negative chain reaction were to occur in which the damages from the earthquake lead to a further strengthening of the yen, Japanese authorities would likely be justified in taking action to stem the yen's appreciation."

????The dollar's weakness against the yen is anything but isolated, of course. The trade-weighted dollar index is down by more than a third over the past decade, and the euro continues to trade near a 52-week high in spite of questions about whether Portugal will need a bailout.

????The notion that the U.S. economy will outgrow Europe and Japan doesn't seem to count for much at the moment.

????That said, Tanaka and others expect to see the yen pull back from its highs near 80 to the dollar to trader nearer 90 over coming years, as the global recovery gains strength and the Fed slowly removes its support for the economy. But as the past few days have shown, there are an awful lot of risks looming over even the most basic forecast nowadays.