It’s Mario’s turn to explain
Why rates should start rising again
His problem, of course
Is he can’t endorse
A rise if it leads to more pain

Markets have been quiet overnight as traders and investors await the ECB’s policy statement, and then perhaps more importantly, Signor Draghi’s press conference to be held at 8:30 this morning. The word filtering out from the ECB is that the TLTRO discussion has moved beyond the stage of IF they need to be rolled over to the stage of HOW exactly they should construct the process. Yesterday’s OECD downgrade of Eurozone growth is likely the last straw for the more hawkish ECB members, notably Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. This is especially so given the OECD slashed their forecasts for German growth by 0.8%! As it happens, Eurozone GDP data was released this morning, and it did nothing to help the monetary hawks’ cause with Q4’s estimate revised lower to 1.1% Y/Y. While the FX market has shown little overall movement ahead of the ECB meeting, European government bonds have been rallying with Italy, the country likely to take up the largest share of the new TLTRO’s, seeing the biggest gains (yield declines) of all.

Once again, the juxtaposition of the strength of the US economy and the ongoing weakness in the Eurozone continues to argue for further gradual strength in the dollar. That US strength was reaffirmed yesterday by the much higher than expected trade deficit (lots more imports due to strong demand) as well as the ADP Employment report, which not only saw its monthly number meet expectations, but showed a massive revision to the previous month, up to 300K from the initial 213K reported. So, for all the dollar bears out there, please explain the drivers for a weaker dollar. While the Fed has definitely turned far less hawkish, so has every other central bank. FX continues to be a two-sided game with relative changes the key drivers. A more dovish ECB, and that is almost certainly what we are going to see this morning, is more than sufficient to undermine any long-term strength in the euro.

Beyond the ECB meeting, however, the storylines remain largely the same, and there has been little movement in any of the major ones. For example, the Brexit deadline is drawing ever closer without any indication that a solution is at hand. Word from the EU is that they are reluctant to compromise because they don’t believe it will be sufficient to get a deal over the line. As to PM May, she is becoming more explicit with her internal threats that if the euroskeptics don’t support her deal, they will be much less pleased with the ultimate outcome as she presupposes another referendum that will vote to Remain. The pound continues to struggle in the wake of this uncertainty, falling another 0.25% overnight which simply indicates that despite all the talk of the horror of a no-deal Brexit, there is a growing probability it may just turn out that way.

Looking at the US-China trade talks, there has been no word since Sunday night’s WSJ story that said the two sides were moving closer to a deal. The trade data released yesterday morning was certainly significant but is really a reflection of the current global macroeconomic situation, namely that the US economy continues to be the strongest in the world and continues to absorb a significant amount of imports. At the same time, weakness elsewhere has manifested itself in reduced demand for US exports. In addition, there was probably some impact from US importers stuffing the channel ahead of worries over increased tariffs. With that concern now dismissed after the US officially stated there would be no further tariff increases for now, channel stuffing is likely to end, or at least slow significantly. Given the lack of information regarding the status of the trade talks, there is no way to evaluate their progress. The political imperatives on both sides remain strong, but there are some very difficult issues that have yet to be addressed adequately. In the meantime, the reniminbi has been biding its time having stabilized over the past two weeks after a 3.0% rally during the previous three months. That stability was evident overnight as it is essentially unchanged on the day.

Beyond those stories there is precious little to discuss today. There is a bit of US data with Initial Claims (exp 225K) along with Nonfarm Productivity (+1.6%) and Unit Labor Costs (+1.6%) all released this morning. In addition, we hear from Fed governor Brainerd (a known dove) early this afternoon. But those things don’t seem likely to be FX drivers today. Rather, it is all about Signor Draghi and his comments. The one other thing to note is that risk appetite in markets, in general, has been ebbing of late. US Equities have fallen in six of the past eight sessions and futures are pointing lower again. The same has largely been true throughout Europe, where markets are lower this morning by roughly 0.4%. fear is a growing factor in markets overall, and as we all know by now, both the dollar and the yen are the main FX beneficiaries in that scenario. It feels like the dollar has room to edge higher today, unless Draghi is quite hawkish. And that is a low probability outcome!

Good luck
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