For Jay and his friends at the Fed
Inflation seems just about dead
So all the debate
‘bout rate hikes can wait
With focus on Brexit instead!

Thus turning to England, we learned
The deal, once again, has been spurned
Now fears of no deal
Are palpably real
Though markets seem quite unconcerned

While the headline news is arguably the second defeat of PM May’s Brexit deal in Parliament, I am going to touch on a different theme to start; namely the Fed.

Yesterday’s CPI data printed on the soft side (Headline 1.5%, Core 2.1%) with both coming in 0.1% below expectations. And while the Fed does not target this reading, it is still an important part of the discussion. That discussion continues to turn toward the idea that the Fed has already overtightened policy and that the next move will be a rate cut. Given the overall slowing in US data and highlighting that the Fed has been completely unable to achieve their inflation target of 2.0%, I expect that the next series of Fed comments, once they are past their meeting next week, will focus on greater efforts to achieve their mandate (the self-imposed 2.0% inflation target) and what needs to be done accordingly. I would look for the end of the balance sheet roll-off quite soon, perhaps in April, but in any case, by June, and I would look for futures markets to start pricing in a full rate cut by the middle of next year. I guess the only question is will the equity market continue to rally despite the weakening underlying fundamentals. Certainly, based on the past ten years of experience, the answer is yes. But can markets defy fundamentals forever? I guess we shall see.

PS. If the Fed is starting to turn more actively dovish, rather than its current passive stance, that will immediately undermine the dollar’s value. While for now I continue to see further upside potential for the buck, that is subject to change if the policies underlying that stance change as well.

Now to Brexit. Poor PM May. She really did work hard to try to find a solution as to how to avoid a hard Brexit, but the EU has literally zero interest in seeing the UK leave their bloc and thrive. If that were the case, the temptation for other unhappy countries (Italy anyone?) to also exit would be too great. As such, it was always in the EU’s long-term interest to play hardball like they did. It can also be no surprise that the widely touted adjustment to the codicil to the agreement was an attempt to bamboozle with flowery words, rather than an effort to put something legally binding in place. As such, once Attorney General Cox declared that the new language was no better than the old, which occurred just as I was getting prepared to publish my note yesterday, it was clear that there was no chance of passage. The fact that the vote lost by a smaller amount, only 149 votes vs. 230 votes the first time, is small consolation.

However, now Parliament has taken over and will have to come up with some plans on their own. It is generally much easier to howl from the peanut gallery than to take responsibility so we shall watch this with great interest. It seems that a majority in Parliament want to vote on a bill that will prevent a no-deal Brexit but given there is only one deal on the table and they handily rejected it, that implies they need a postponement from the EU. It is not enough for the UK to say they want to postpone. In fact, the other 27 members of the EU must all vote unanimously to agree. At this point, there has been no clarity on how long a delay they would like, nor what they plan to do with the time. And the EU has made it clear that those are important aspects of agreeing to a delay. For now, the debate in Parliament rages on, and I assume we will learn their answers in the next day or two, and certainly by the end of the week.

Funnily enough, the FX market has weighed the evidence and decided that there will categorically not be a hard Brexit and the odds of no Brexit are increasing. The pound, after yesterday’s wild ride, is back on an upswing and higher by 0.65% as I type. The one thing of which we can be sure is that the pound will continue to react to headline news until a definitive outcome exists. For my money, it appears as though the market is underpricing the probability of a hard Brexit. While I am pretty sure that nobody really wants one, the fact remains that it continues to be a real possibility even if only by legislative accident. One never knows who is looking at the situation there and sees a chance for personal political gain by allowing a hard Brexit. And in the end, given each MP is a politician first and foremost, that cannot be ignored!

Otherwise, the trade talks are ongoing with a positive spin put forth by the US top negotiator, Robert Lighthizer, although no deal is agreed as yet. Overnight data from Down Under showed weakening Consumer Confidence as the housing market there continues to implode, thus it is no surprise to see AUD having fallen by 0.25% and hugging recent lows. And in truth, little else of note is happening in these markets.

This morning we see Durable Goods (exp -0.5%, +0.1% ex Transport) as well as PPI (1.9%, 2.6% core) although nobody really cares about PPI with CPI just having been released. The Fed is now in their quiet period as they meet next week, so we will not get comments there. This leaves the Brexit debate as the primary focus for the FX market today. Based on all that I have read, I actually expect that the debate there will take more than one day, and that we won’t really get much new information today. Hence, I expect limited market activity for now.

Good luck
Adf