Last week it was how Covid spread
That filled most investors with dread
This weekend we learned
The Russians had spurned
The Saudis, now all screens are red

Wow!! It has been more than a decade since we have seen market activity like this across the entire spectrum of asset classes, dating back to the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in September 2008 and the ensuing six months of activity. And just like then, the only thing that is going to change the current investor dynamic is a series of policy responses that are broadly seen as being effective. Unfortunately for most policymakers in the G10, they don’t have nearly enough tools available to be instantly effective. In other words, my sense is that while we will certainly get a series of announcements in the next several days, even coordinated announcements, investors and traders are going to need to actually see that deeds follow the words, and that the deeds have a chance to be effective. After all, as we have already discussed, cutting the Fed funds rate will not slow the spread of the coronavirus, nor will it patch things up between OPEC and Russia. Oftentimes, passage of time is a critical feature of any solution, but that just means that we will live with the current volatility that much longer.

A brief recap shows that markets, which were already fragile due to the unknown ultimate impact of the spread of the coronavirus, received one negative catalyst too many this weekend when the, always suspect, alliance of OPEC and Russia broke down regarding production cuts to shore up the price of oil. The Russians walked out of the negotiations and the Saudis responded by cutting their prices dramatically and opening the taps fully on production thus driving WTI lower by more than 34% at one point earlier this morning, although as I type at 6:35am it is “only” down by 29% to $32.50/bbl.

The financial market response was exactly as one would expect with fear rising exponentially and risk assets sold at any price. Meanwhile, haven assets are bid through the roof. So, stock markets around the world are all lower by at least 3.0% with the worst performers (Australia -7.3%, Thailand -7.9%, Italy -9.4%) down far more. US futures hit their 5.0% circuit breakers immediately upon opening and have been quiet all evening pinned at limit down. Cash market circuit breakers in the US are 7.0% for 15 minutes, 13.0% for 15 minutes and then if we should decline by 20%, trading is halted for the rest of the day. It certainly appears that we will trigger at least the first one around the opening, but after that I hesitate to speculate.

The other thing that is almost certainly going to happen is we are going to get a policy statement, at least from the Fed, if not a joint statement from G7 central bankers, or the Fed and the Treasury or all of the above, as they make every effort to try to assuage investor confidence. But in this environment, it is hard to come up with a statement that will do that. As I said, passage of time will be required to calm things down.

Regarding the bond market, by now you are all aware of the historic nature of the movement with the entire US yield curve now below 1.0%. The futures market is pricing in a 75bp cut next week by the Fed and another 25bps by June. Thursday, we hear from the ECB with the market anticipating a 10bp cut and analysts looking for additional stimulus measures, perhaps widening further the assets they are willing to purchase. And next week, the BOJ meets as well as the Fed, with the market looking for a 10bp cut there as well.

All this leads us to the FX markets, where the dollar is having a mixed day. Mixed but violent! It should be no surprise that the yen is dramatically higher this morning, currently by 3.0% although at its peak it was nearly 4.0% stronger. As we flirt with the idea of par on the yen, we need to go back to 2013 to see a time when the currency was stronger, which was driven by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. The Swiss franc and euro are also firmer this morning, both by about 1.25% as the former sees haven flows while the latter, in my estimation, is seeing the last of the benefits of the Fed’s ability to ease policy more aggressively than the ECB.

On the flip side, NOK has been devastated, down 2.8%, with CAD falling 1.5%, both on the back of oil’s sharp decline. Aussie, Kiwi and the pound are all trading within 0.4% of Friday’s close, although Aussie did see a 5.0% decline early in the session as lack of liquidity combined with algorithmic stop-loss orders to lead to a significant bout of unruliness.

In the EMG space, the champion is MXN, which has fallen 8.5%! This is a new historic low in the currency which is getting decimated by the coming economic slowdown and now the collapse in oil prices. Let’s just say that all those investors who took comfort in the higher interest rate as a cushion are feeling a lot less sanguine this morning. But we have also seen a sharp decline in ZAR (-2.4%) and a number of Asian currencies fell around 1.0% (MYR, IDR and KRW). And we are awaiting the opening in Sao Paolo as my sense is BRL, which has been falling sharply for the past week, down nearly 5.0%, seems likely to weaken much further.

My advice for those with cash flow programs is to pick a level and leave an order as bid-ask spreads will be much wider today and liquidity will be greatly impaired.

Looking ahead to the week, the ECB meeting on Thursday is clearly the highlight. At home, we only get a bit of data, and given what’s going on it doesn’t seem likely to be very impactful. But here it is:

Source: Bloomberg

The thing about this week’s data is that it mostly predates both the onset of the spread of Covid as well as this weekend’s OPEC fiasco. In other words, it is unlikely to be very informative of the current world. We already know that going into these problems, the US economy was in pretty decent shape. The $6.4 trillion question is: How will it look in eight months’ time when the nation heads to the polls?

Remember, orders are likely to be the best execution methodology on a day like today.

Good luck
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