In England this morning we heard
From Vlieghe, the BOE’s third
Incumbent to say
That given his way
He’d cut rates so growth can be spurred

The pound is under pressure this morning after Gertjan Vlieghe became the third MPC member in the past week, after Carney and Tenreyo, to explain that a rate cut may be just the ticket at this point in time. Adding these three to the two members who had previously voted to cut rates, Haskel and Saunders, brings the number of doves to five, a majority on the committee. It can be no surprise that the pound has suffered, nor that interest rate markets have increased the probability of a 25bp rate cut at the January 30 meeting from below 25% last week to 50% now. Adding to the story was the release of worse than expected November IP (-1.2%) and GDP (-0.3%) data, essentially emphasizing the concerns that the UK economy has a long way to go to recover from the Brexit uncertainty.

However, before you turn too negative on the UK economy, remember that this is backward-looking data, as November was more than 6 weeks ago, and in the interim we have had the benefit of the resounding electoral victory by Boris Johnson. This is not to say that the UK economy cannot deteriorate further, just that there has been a palpable change in the tone of commentary in the UK as Brexit uncertainty has receded. Granted, the question of the trade deal with the EU, which is allegedly supposed to be signed by the end of 2020, remains open. But it is very difficult for market participants to look that far ahead and try to anticipate the outcome. And if anything, Boris has the fact that he was able to renegotiate the original Brexit deal in just six weeks’ time working in his favor. While previous assumptions had been that trade deals take years and years to negotiate, it is clear that Boris doesn’t subscribe to that theory. Personally, I wouldn’t bet against him getting it done.

But for now, the pound is the worst performer of the session, and given today’s news, that should be no surprise. However, I maintain my view that current levels represent an excellent opportunity for payables hedgers to add to hedges.

The other mover of note in the G10 space is the yen, which has fallen 0.4% after traders were able to take advantage of a Japanese holiday last night (Coming-of-age Day) and the associated reduced liquidity to push the dollar above a key technical resistance point at 109.72. Stop-loss orders at that level led to a quick jump at 4:00 this morning, and given the broad risk-on attitude in markets (equity markets worldwide continue to rebound from concerns over further Middle East flare ups), it certainly feels like traders are going to push the dollar up to 110, a level not seen since May. However, the other eight currencies in the G10 have been unable to generate any excitement whatsoever and are very close to unchanged this morning.

In the EMG space, Indonesia’s rupiah is once again the leader in the clubhouse, rising a further 0.7% after the central bank reiterated it would allow the currency to appreciate and following an announcement by the UAE that it would make a large investment in the nation’s (Indonesia’s) sovereign wealth fund. The resultant rally, to the rupiah’s strongest level in almost a year, has been impressive, but there is no reason to believe that it cannot continue for another 5% before finding a new home. This is especially true if we continue to hear good things regarding the US-China trade situation. Trade has also underpinned the second-best performer of the day in this space, KRW, which has rallied 0.5%, on the trade story.

While those are the key stories thus far this session, we do have a full week’s worth of data to anticipate, led by CPI, Retail Sales and Housing data.

Source: Bloomberg

So clearly there is plenty on the docket with an opportunity to move markets, and we also hear from another six Fed speakers. While you and I may be concerned about rising prices, it has become abundantly clear that the Fed is desperate to see them rise further, so the only possible reaction to a CPI miss would be on the weak side, which would likely see an equity rally on the assumption that even more stimulus is coming. Otherwise, I think Retail Sales will be the data point of choice for the market, with weakness here also leading to further equity strength on the assumption that the Fed will add to their current policy.

And it is hard to come up with a good reason for any Fed speaker to waver from the current mantra of no rate cuts, but ongoing support for the repo market and a growing balance sheet. And of course, that underlies my thesis that the dollar will eventually fall. Just not today it seems!

Good luck
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