The yen weakened and currency markets were thrown into confusion by a report that Bank of Japan Governor Masaru Hayami said at a business conference that a policy option to help the Japanese economy was a "massive depreciation" of the yen. The BOJ later said Hayami did not suggest the central bank was planning to take quantitative easing steps by pushing down the yen. Hayami reportedly told business leaders that the BOJ had been presented with an option to induce a massive depreciation of then but he described it as "drastic and unconventional," according to other reports of his comments. He also said the Ministry of Finance has the authority for fx intervention and that it was uncertain how effective official intervention can be in affecting exchange rates.