News In Brief

US Treasury chief hails US-Japanese money pact

A new Japanese-US agreement commits Japan to open its financial markets to outsiders and should eventually strengthen that nation's currency, help US exporters, and improve world trade in general, Treasury Secretary Donald Regan said Tuesday.

The agreement, following long negotiations, ''matches everything that we had wanted to do,'' Mr. Regan said. ''We're quite happy with it.''

American officials have long seen the relatively weak Japanese yen as a stumbling block to improved trade, making Japanese goods cheaper in the United States and making US exporters' products more expensive in Japan.