The Minutes explained that the Fed
Was actively looking ahead
Twixt yield curve control
And guidance, their goal
Might not be achieved, so they said

This morning, though, payrolls are due
And traders, expressing a view
Continue to buy
Risk assets on high
Here’s hoping their dreams all come true!

In the end, it can be no surprise that the Fed spent the bulk of their time in June discussing what to do next. After all, they had to be exhausted from implementing the nine programs already in place and it is certainly reasonable for them to see just how effective these programs have been before taking the next step. Arguably, the best news from the Minutes was that there was virtually no discussion about negative interest rates. NIRP continues to be a remarkable drag on the economies of those countries currently caught in its grasp. We can only hope it never appears on our shores.

Instead, the two policies that got all the attention were forward guidance and yield curve control (YCC). Of course, the former is already part of the active toolkit, but the discussion focused on whether to add an outcome-based aspect to their statements, rather than the more vague, ‘as long as is necessary to achieve our goals of stable prices and full employment.’ The discussion centered on adding a contingency, such as; until inflation reaches a certain level, or Unemployment falls to a certain level; or a time-based contingency such as; rates will remain low until 2023. Some would argue they already have that time-based contingency in place, (through 2022), but perhaps they were leading up to the idea it will be longer than that.

The YCC discussion focused on research done by their staff on the three most well-known instances in recent history; the Fed itself from 1942-1951, where they capped all rates, the BOJ, which has maintained 10-year JGB yields at 0.0% +/- 0.20%, and the RBA, which starting this past March has maintained 3-year Australian yields at 0.25%. As I mentioned last week in “A New Paradigm” however, the Fed is essentially already controlling the yield curve, at least the front end, where movement out to the 5-year maturities has been de minimis for months. Arguably, if they are going to do something here, it will need to be in the 10-year or longer space, and the tone of the Minutes demonstrated some discomfort with that idea.

In the end, my read of the Minutes is that when the FOMC meets next, on July 29, we are going to get a more formalized forward guidance with a contingency added. My guess is it will be an Unemployment rate contingency, not a time contingency, but I expect that we will learn more from the next set of Fed speakers.

Turning to today, as the market awaits the latest payroll report, risk assets continue to be on fire. The destruction in so many areas of the economy, both in the US and around the world, is essentially being completely ignored by investors as they continue to add risk to their portfolios amid abundant central bank provided liquidity. Here are the latest median forecasts as compiled by Bloomberg for today’s data:

Because of the Federal (although not bank) holiday tomorrow, the report is being released this morning. It will be interesting to see if the market responds to the more timely Initial Claims data rather than the NFP report if they offer different messages. Remember, too, that last month’s Unemployment rate has been under much scrutiny because of the misclassification of a large subset of workers which ultimately painted a better picture than it might otherwise have done. Will the BLS be able to correct for this, and more importantly, if they do, how will the market interpret any changes. This is one reason why the Initial and Continuing Claims data may be more important anyway.

But leading up to the release, it is full speed ahead to buy equities as yesterday’s mixed US session was followed by strength throughout Asia (Nikkei +0.1%, Hang Seng +2.85%, Shanghai +2.1%) and in Europe (DAX +1.6%, CAC +1.3%, FTSE 100 +0.6%). US futures are also higher, between 0.4%-0.8%, to complete the virtuous circle. Interestingly, once again bond yields are not trading true to form on this risk-on day, as yields in the US are flat while throughout Europe, bond yields are declining.

But bonds are the outlier here as the commodity space is seeing strength in oil and metals markets and the dollar is under almost universal pressure. For example, in the G10, NZD is the leading gainer, up 0.6%, as its status as a high beta currency has fostered buying interest from the speculative crowd betting on the recovery. But we are also seeing NOK and SEK (both +0.5%) performing well while the euro (+0.3%) and the pound (+0.3%) are just behind them. The UK story seems to be about the great reopening that is due to occur starting Saturday, when pubs and restaurants as well as hotels are to be allowed to reopen their doors to customers. The fear, of course, is that this will foster a second wave of infections. But there is no doubt there is a significant amount of pent up demand for a drink at the local pub.

In the EMG bloc, the ruble is today’s winner, rising 1.2% on the back of oil’s continued rebound. It is interesting, though, as there is a story that Saudi Arabia is having a fight with some other OPEC members, and is close to relaunching a full-scale price war again. It has been the Saudis who have done the lion’s share of production cutting, so if they turn on the taps, oil has a long way to fall. Elsewhere in the space, INR (+0.8%) and ZAR (+0.75%) are having solid days on the back of that commodity strength and recovery hopes. While the bulk of the space is higher, IDR has had a rough session, in fact a rough week, as it has fallen another 0.65% overnight which takes its loss in the past week near 2.0%. Infection rates continue to climb in the country and investors are becoming uncomfortable as equity sales are growing as well.

So, this morning will be a tale of the tape. All eyes will be on the data at 8:30 with the odds stacked for a strong risk session regardless of the outcome. If the data shows the recovery is clearly strengthening, then buying stocks makes sense. On the other hand, if the data is disappointing, and points to a reversal of the early recovery, the working assumption is the Fed will come to the rescue quite quickly, so buying stocks makes sense. In this worldview, the dollar is not seen as critical, so further dollar weakness could well be in our future.

Good luck and stay safe
Adf