The US Treasury Department added Japan to its “monitoring list” for foreign-exchange practices, but stopped short of labeling it or any other trade partner as a currency manipulator. While noting that Japan intervened to support the yen earlier this year, Treasury took aim instead at Tokyo’s large bilateral trade and current account surpluses. “Treasury’s expectation is that in large, freely traded exchange markets, intervention should be reserved only for very exceptional circumstances with appropriate prior consultations,” Treasury said Thursday in its semiannual foreign-exchanges report. “Japan is transparent with ... (full story)