With apologies to Ernest Lawrence Thayer

The outlook isn’t brilliant for the dollar late this year
As Powell’s pushed his printing press into a higher gear
Just like we’ve seen each time the Fed has started up QE
The consequence is weakness in the greenback you will see

Despite the fact that growth at home is better than elsewhere
It seems Jay feels the need to do some more so just beware
The idea that with stocks at highs the Fed will further ease
Is crazy, but, this President, he feels he must appease

So with this as a start let’s take a look around our orb
And see which things we should ignore and which we need absorb
Our first stop is in Europe where the continent’s a mess
With interest rates still negative and banks under duress

The ECB’s new president, the elegant Lagarde
Will quickly find omnipotence was simply a canard
The toolkit there is empty, while unrest proceeds to build
And likely it is that her goals there cannot be fulfilled

So GDP most surely will remain near one percent
And prices, as they’re measured, will not make a real ascent
As to the euro which has slowly ebbed the past two years
Its time has come to rebound somewhat as QE appears

So come December next if you should gaze upon your screen
Don’t be surprised if what you see is One point Seventeen
North of the Channel is the Kingdom near a century old
Where Boris is Prime Minister and Brexit will unfold

The question now at hand is how that nation will perform
Will growth see sunny days or will there be a thunderstorm?
The Old Lady of Threadneedle now has a brand new boss
Who’ll quickly find his toolkit, too, is mostly filled with dross

And don’t forget that Boris promised by December next
A new trade deal with Europe will be written into text
But what if talks on trade devolve into a great morass?
A not unlikely outcome that could clearly come to pass

Then once again the pound will suffer greatly, like ‘Nineteen
When everybody feared the worst would come on Halloween
While that crisis was dodged, come New Year’s Eve some twelve month’s hence
The pound could once again be subject to some real suspense

But in the end QE is what will drive the dollar’s price
As Boris will not risk collapse of his new paradise
So Christmas next when thinking if, to London, you should go
Look for the pound to trade somewhere near One and point Four-Oh

In Asia two great nations vie to lead the world in trade
Both China and Japan, though, know the sting of Trump’s blockade
In China growth keeps slowing as their exports further sink
As well, the People’s Bank has seen supply of money shrink

And China finds itself with debt exploding nationwide
While bankruptcies are multiplying cross their countryside
The Phase One trade deal’s likely not enough to make a dent
And Xi will surely look for ways, the deal, to circumvent

While tariffs may not rise, much further cutting’s not the call
And even though the Chinese really need the Yuan to fall
The Fed’s QE will dominate the market dialogue
So look for Six point Sixty as investors, dollars, flog

Meanwhile the archipelago where Abe rules supreme
Is desperate to develop an inflationary scheme
QE on steroids hasn’t been enough to change the rate
Nor how people behave there while price levels won’t inflate

The population there is not just aging but reduced
And Abenomics hasn’t been enough, it for to boost
As well Japan continues, C/A surpluses, to run
Which history has shown leads yen to mime a rising sun

Combining this with Powell’s move, the balance sheet to build
A wish for weaker yen this year will just not be fulfilled
A year from now expect to see the yen climb to a peak
Of Ninety-five (or stronger) by the end of Christmas week.

North of our border, nervousness has much increased of late
As GDP is slowing and employment feels the weight
Of interest rates now higher even than in the US
While housing debt keeps growing, an old sign of new distress

The central bank has paused its modest path toward tighter rates
But not yet seen the light that everybody advocates
By late this year you can be sure the BOC will cut
Alas the Loonie will already have increased somewhat

Twixt QE here and tightness there the thing that I contrive
Is that come Boxing Day CAD will trade One point Twenty-Five
Next turn your gaze south of the border, to old Mexico
Where growth is nearly stagnant but inflation, too, is low

The central bank’s been cutting rates, though they remain quite high
And I would look for four more cuts ere we wave ‘Twenty bye
As well the prospects for investment there have just improved
As USMCA, in all its glory’s, been approved

Thus higher rates, investment flows and QE will all mix
To drive the peso higher, think Eighteen point Twenty-Six
Two other nations further south, Australia and Brazil
Bear watching, too, as many of you hedges need fulfill

Down Under growth continues, on the Chinese, to rely
As well as on the prices of the metals they supply
The RBA has only two more rate cuts to support
Their growth, which means that QE might just be their last resort

But they will wait till rates are nought ere buying Aussie debt
While Jay is wasting no time growing balance sheet assets
Despite their slowing growth, you ought not be too thunderstruck
When Aussie finishes the year Three Quarters of a buck

The largest nation in LATAM, Brazil, is working hard
To pass reforms in order, Socialism, to discard
Their growth has suffered lately and employment’s been a drag
Encouraging the central bank to cut rates, with a lag

But pundits everywhere believe with rates at record lows
No further cuts are coming lest a black swan moment shows
This leads me to believe that like most currencies around
The Real will get stronger as the dollar still heads down

So, Summer Solstice in Sao Paolo, next, don’t be dismayed
When Three point Six real you get for each greenback you trade
While that completes the currencies, I’d like to spend some time
On equities and bonds and gold, in this new paradigm

The Dow Jones, S&P and Nasdaq all seem overpriced
With stock buybacks supporting EPS and the zeitgeist
And with the Fed still adding cash to help expand reserves
Most pundits see a market rally and steeper yield curves

And while this seems quite reasoned for the first part of the year
Inflation moving higher will have consequence, I fear
As summer wanes, election nears, and chill invades the air
Don’t be surprised if equities have turned from bull to bear

The Dow begins the decade nearly, thousand, Twenty-nine
But I fear it is set for a nine thousand point decline
As well, the 10-year trades right now at One point Nine percent
But when inflation rises look for quite a sharp ascent

The Fed has shown they’ve lost control of money market rates
With repo volatility a cause of great debates
So as QE evolves to coupons from its T-bill start
Beware a steeper curve as bullish bets all fall apart

At Christmas do not be surprised if 10-year Treasuries
Are yielding Two point nine percent completing a short squeeze
And finally there’s gold which will see growth in its demand
As dollars are debased and stocks sink into a quicksand

Though modernists and technophiles all will say pooh-pooh
Our history has shown that even central banks accrue
The barbarous relic as part of assets that they hold
So at year end Two Thousand ought to be the price of gold

And so complete my current thoughts on how, will, markets trend
A weaker dollar, weaker stocks, is how I fear we’ll end
Regardless, though I want to say I do appreciate
Your readership throughout the year, to me, you all are great!

Good luck and have a very happy, healthy and successful 2020!
Adf