From Germany data suggested
The slowdown in growth’s been arrested
If true, that’s good news
But still there are views
The hypothesis, null’s, not been tested

There seems to be an inordinate amount of positivity surrounding a single data point this morning, German Factory Orders, which printed at +1.3% in September versus expectations of a 0.1% rise. And while this is certainly good news, two things to keep in mind are that the Y/Y rate of growth is -5.4%, (that’s right a significant decline) and that the other German data out this morning showed that October PMI’s printed at 48.9 on a composite level. In other words, all signs still point to a German recession on the basis of negative GDP growth in both Q3 and Q4. This will be confirmed next week when the official data is released. And remember, a negative print will be the third subzero outcome there in the past five quarters. My point is that Germany continues to drag on the Eurozone as a whole, and until the global trade situation improves, it is likely to continue to do so.

Yet, despite a spate of positive sounding articles about the nadir in Eurozone growth having been reached, the markets have taken a much less enthusiastic approach to things this morning. Yes, the euro is higher as I type, alas, by just 0.1%, and that is after a 0.6% decline yesterday. In other words, it is difficult to describe the FX market as jumping on board this narrative. What about equities you may ask? Well, the DAX is up by 0.15%, but again, this doesn’t seem to warrant much hype. In fact, looking at the Eurozone as a whole, we see a mixture of small gains (Germany, France, and Italy) and losses (Spain, Portugal and Austria) and a net of not much movement. In other words, it appears the press is far more excited than the investment community.

Perhaps a more interesting story has been the indication that Germany may be ready to allow more Eurozone banking integration by finally embracing allowing joint European deposit insurance. Recall that northern European nations, those that run surpluses, are loathe to bail out Italian and Spanish (and Greek and Cypriot, etc.) banks when they eventually go bust. However, it seems that Chancellor Merkel, whose power has been slipping away by the day, has decided that in order to maintain her grip she needed to do something to encourage her Social Democrat partners, and this is the latest wheeze. That said, if Germany and the rest of the north do sign off on this, it will be an unmitigated positive for the continent and, likely, for the euro. As is often the case with issues like this, there is a long way to go before an agreement is reached, but this is the first positive movement on the subject since the euro’s creation twenty years ago. In fact, success here is likely to permanently improve the euro’s value going forward.

Elsewhere in markets things have been pretty quiet. The rest of the G10 has seen modest movement with only Sweden’s krona rallying smartly, +0.45%, after the Minutes of the latest Riksbank meeting confirmed that they are working feverishly to figure out a way to exit the negative interest rate trap. At this point the market is pricing in a better than 60% probability of a rate hike at the December meeting, taking the base rate back to 0.00%. But away from that, the G10 is completely uninteresting.

In the EMG space, India’s rupee was the worst performer, falling 0.45% after weaker than expected PMI data (Services 49.2, Composite 49.6) indicated that the growth impulse in India remains absent and that further policy ease is likely from the RBI. Elsewhere, the Bank of Thailand, which has been trying to slow the baht’s steady appreciation, +8.5% in the past twelve months, cut its base rate by 25bps and relaxed some currency controls in an effort to release some pressure on the currency. However, given the economy’s ongoing relative strength, this seems unlikely to have a long term impact. In the end, the baht has declined 0.4% overnight, but hardly seems like it is getting ready to tumble.

And in truth, that’s really all that has been going on overnight. Yesterday we heard from a few more Fed speakers, Barkin, Kaplan and Kashkari, and the message remains consistent; i.e. the US economy is strong and monetary policy is appropriate, although the balance of risks still seem tilted toward the downside. In the end, Chairman Powell and his minions have done an excellent job of getting the markets to accept that there will be no further rate movement for the foreseeable future barring some catastrophic data.

Speaking of data, yesterday showed the Trade Balance shrunk to -$52.5B as imports fell sharply, and that the services sector in the US remains robust with ISM Non-manufacturing rising to 54.7. This morning we await Nonfarm Productivity (exp 0.9%) and Unit Labor Costs (2.2%), neither of which is likely to move the needle, and we hear from three more Fed speakers; Evans, Williams and Harker, none of whom are likely to deviate from the current mantra.

Overall, it has been a mixed session so far with no real direction and at this point, there is nothing obvious that is likely to change that mood. Look for a quiet one as the market seeks out its next big thing, maybe confirmation that the trade deal is going to be signed, but until then, hedgers should take advantage of the quiet market to execute.

Good luck
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