The yuan traded in China hit a low of 6.4510 per U.S. dollar, its lowest since August 2011, and the currency fared worse in international trade, touching 6.59 to the dollar. The I.M.F., in particular, wants to see more evidence that the renminbi is being used outside China, notably for central bank reserves or bonds. Rajeev De Mello, head of Asian fixed income at Schroders in Singapore, said: “While it is too early to say whether this is the beginning of a sustained devaluation of the yuan, other central banks may be forced to follow suit and that may trigger a fresh round of currency weakening around the emerging world.” 
 
 Chinese yuan: everything depends on what happens next Read more 
 
 The two devaluations come after a run of poor economic data and have raised suspicions that China is embarking on a longer-term slide in the exchange rate. "Volatility is picking up and it’s causing turmoil, it’s pushing bond yields lower and it’s casting more doubt on the Fed," said Axel Merk, president and chief investment officer of Palo Alto, California-based Merk Investments. PLAYING TO THE IMF? Read more 
 
 The International Monetary Fund said China’s move to make the yuan more responsive to market forces appeared to be a welcome step and that Beijing should aim to achieve an effectively floating exchange rate within two to three years. The IMF said the latest change would have no effect on the decision about whether to add the yuan to the dollar, the euro, the yen and the British pound in the basket of currencies used to set the value of the Fund's in-house currency, called Special Drawing Rights. Albert Edwards, analyst at Societe Generale, said the yuan had become overvalued against the dollar in recent years and was unsustainably high relative to other major currencies.
– In a move that some analysts fear could be the start of a "global currency war," China's yuan dropped again today, dragging other Asian currencies down with it. Today's drop against the dollar was the second biggest since 1994, exceeded only by yesterday's, and the rapid fall has led some to believe that the country is trying to boost exports and create jobs at the expense of rivals like South Korea, Reuters notes. It's not clear how long the drop will continue: China has described the devaluation as a "one-off," and the New York Times notes that with $3.5 trillion in foreign currency reserves, China certainly has the ability to prevent any unwanted falls in the yuan. A change in the tightly controlled exchange-rate mechanism means the yuan could continue to drop 2% a day, the AP reports. The IMF has welcomed the move as a way to give market forces more control of a currency that China wants to play a bigger role globally, but US lawmakers are skeptical. "For years, China has rigged the rules and played games with its currency," says Sen. Chuck Schumer, per the AP. "Rather than changing their ways, the Chinese government seems to be doubling down." Today's drop in the yuan led to sharp falls in world markets, which analysts believe were caused by fears that China's economy is in worse shape than previously thought, the Guardian reports.