For years, the Japanese yen has been considered a safe haven currency. The Japanese economy has been relatively stable, and the fiscal fundamentals sound. However, like many other developed countries, Japan has been wracking up debt in recent years.

Issues could be arising that could threaten the yen's safe haven status on the spot forex market. Spread bets and CFDs on spot forex trading should consider this report in FX360 from GFT's Boris Schlossberg:

Japanese Prime Minster Yukio Hatoyama faces one of the lowest political approval ratings in years with less than 20% of the voters believing that he is doing a good job. The extent of voter discontent suggests that  the ruling DJP party may lose its control of Parliament which could create further turmoil in the financial markets as Japan’s tries to reign in its massive debt burden and curtail social spending. If  financial markets begin to question the quality of Japanese credit, yen will quickly lose its status as a safe harbor instrument leaving the dollar as the only choice left for investors.