Our policy’s “well calibrated”
Though some of us are still frustrated
It’s time to resort
To fiscal support
Since our balance sheet’s so inflated

While market activity has been relatively benign this morning, there are two stories that have consistently been part of the conversation; the FOMC Minutes and the latest trade information. Regarding the former, it seems there was a bit more dissent than expected regarding the Fed’s last rate cut, as while there were only two actual dissenters, others were reluctant rate cutters. With that said, the term “well calibrated” has been bandied about by more than one Fed member as a description of where they see policy right now. And this aligns perfectly with the idea that the Fed is done for a while which is what Powell signaled at the press conference and what essentially every Fed speaker since has confirmed. Regarding the balance of risks, despite what has been a clear uptick in investor sentiment over the past month, the Fed continues to point to asymmetry with the downside risks being of more concern. Recall, the futures markets are not looking for any policy adjustments at the December meeting, and in fact, are pricing just a 50% chance of a cut by next June. One final thing, the feeling was unanimous on the committee that there was no place for negative interest rates in the US. If (when) the economic situation deteriorates that much, they were far more likely to utilize policies like yield curve control (we know how well that worked for Japan) and forward guidance rather than taking the leap to negative rates.

Ultimately, the market read the Minutes and decided that while the Fed is on hold, the next move is far likelier to be a rate cut than a rate hike and thus yesterday’s early risk-off attitude was largely moderated by the end of the day. In fact, this morning, we are seeing a nascent risk-on view, although given how modest movement has been in any market; I am hesitant to describe it in that manner.

The other story that reinserted itself was the US-China trade negotiations, where Chinese vice –premier Liu He, the chief negotiator, explained that he was “cautiously optimistic” about progress and that he invited Messr’s Mnuchin and Lighthizer to Beijing next week to continue the dialog. While he admitted that he was confused about US demands, it does appear that the Chinese are pretty keen to get a deal done.

One other wrinkle is the fact that the Hong Kong support bill in Congress has been approved virtually unanimously, and all indications are that President Trump is going to sign it. While it is clear the Chinese are not happy about that, it seems a bit of an overreaction. After all, the bill simply says that Hong Kong’s special economic status will be reviewed annually, and that any direct military intervention would be met with sanctions. I have to believe that if the PLA did intervene directly to quell the unrest, even without this law in place, the US would respond in some manner that would make the Chinese unhappy. As to an annual review, the onus is actually on the US, although it could certainly add a new pressure point on China in the event they decide to convert from ‘one country, two systems’, to ‘one country, one system’. My take on the entire process is the Chinese are feeling more and more pressure on the economy because of the current tariff situation, and realize that they need to change that situation, hence the new invitation to continue the talks.

With that as our backdrop, a look at markets this morning shows the dollar is very modestly softer pretty much across the board. The largest gainer overnight has been the South African rand, which has rallied 0.5% ahead of the SARB meeting. While markets are generally expecting no policy changes, yesterday’s surprisingly low CPI data (3.7%, exp 3.9%) has some thinking the SARB may cut rates from their current 6.5% level and help foster further investment. On the flip side, South Korea’s won has been the big loser, falling 0.7% overnight after export data showed a twelfth consecutive month of declines and implied prospects for a pickup are limited. Arguably South Korea has been the nation most impacted by the US-China trade war. And one last thing, the Chilean peso, which has been under significant pressure for the past two weeks, is once again opening weaker, down 0.4% to start the day. In the past two weeks the peso has tumbled nearly 7%, and this despite the fact that the Chilean government has been extremely responsive to the protest movement, agreeing to rewrite the constitution to address many of the concerns that have come to light.

As to the G10, there is nothing to discuss. Movement has been extremely modest and data has been limited. Perhaps the one interesting item is that Jeremy Corbyn has released the Labour manifesto for the election and it focuses on raising taxes in numerous different ways and on numerous different parties. Certainly in the US that is typically not the path that wins elections, but perhaps in the UK it is different. At any rate, the market seems to think that this will hurt Corbyn’s chances, something it really likes, and the pound has edged up 0.25% this morning.

On the data front, this morning brings Initial Claims (exp 218K), Philly Fed (6.0), Leading Indicators (-0.1%) and finally Existing Home Sales (5.49M). Of this group, I expect that Philly Fed is the most likely to have an impact, but keep an eye on the claims data. Remember, last week it jumped to 225K, its highest since June, and another high print may start to indicate that the labor market, one of the key pillars of economic support, is starting to strain a little. We also hear from two Fed speakers, the hawkish Loretta Mester and the dovish Neal Kashkari, but again, it feels like the Fed is pretty comfortably on hold at this point.

Lacking a catalyst, it seems to me that the dollar is likely to have a rather dull session. Equity futures are pointing ever so slightly lower, but are arguably unchanged at this point. My sense is that this afternoon, markets will be almost exactly where they are now…unchanged.

Good luck
Adf