No matter what skeptics might say
The Old Lady didn’t delay
They boosted QE
So, Sunak, Rishi
Can spend more each night and each day

But here, when the FOMC
Meets later, most pundits agree
They will not arrange
A policy change
Instead, for more fiscal they’ll plea

As markets are wont to do, they have effectively moved beyond the uncertainty of the US election outcome to the next big thing, in this case central bank activity.  You may recall that on Tuesday morning we learned the RBA cut interest rates again, down to 0.10% and installed a QE program of A$100 billion.  And while these days, A$100 billion may not seem like much, it does represent more than 5% of the Australian economy.  Of course, that action was mostly lost in the election fever that gripped markets at that time.  However, that fever has broken, and the market has come to terms with the fact there is no blue wave.  This has forced participants to collectively create a new narrative which seems to go as follows: gridlock in the US is good for markets because the Fed will be required to do even more, and thus monetary policy will remain easy for an even longer time.  This, as well as the expected lack of a massive stimulus package, is the driver behind the Treasury rally, which is continuing this morning as 10-year yields have fallen a further 3 basis points (30-year yields have fallen even more as the curve continues to flatten.)

Helping along the new narrative, and right on cue, the Bank of England stepped in and increased their QE program by a more than expected £150 billion this morning, allowing Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, the leeway to expand fiscal support for the economy as the government there imposes a month long lockdown to try to arrest the spread of Covid-19.  Thus, in the UK, the monetary and fiscal policies are aligned in their efforts to prevent an economic collapse while fighting the effects of Covid.  Naturally, markets have voted in favor of further central bank largesse, and as expectations grow for even more support to come, equity investors are buying as quickly as they can.

Which leads us to the FOMC meeting today.  Cagily, they arranged for this meeting to be two days after the election, as they clearly don’t want to become the big story.  Rather, I’m certain that despite each members’ penchant to speak constantly, this is one time they will be as quiet as possible.  Part of this is due to the fact that there is exactly zero expectation that there will be any change in policy.  Rates are already at the effective lower bound, and thus far the Fed has not been willing to countenance the idea of negative rates.  Not only that, their forward guidance has been clear that rates will not be ‘normalized’ until at least 2023, and then, only if it makes sense to do so.  As to QE, they are already engaged in an unbounded program, purchasing $80 billion of Treasuries and $40 billion of Mortgage-backed securities each month.  Certainly, they could increase those numbers, but given the US Treasury has just significantly revised their expected issuance lower, (given the lack of a stimulus bill to fund), the Fed is already scooping up a huge percentage of the paper that exists.  With all that in place, what more can they do?  After all, if they say they won’t raise rates until 2024, will that actually matter?  I think not.  Instead, the one thing on which we can count is that the Statement, and Chairman Powell in the press conference, will repeat the point that more fiscal stimulus is what is needed.

The upshot is that, the most important par of the election outcome, is with regards to the Senate, which while it seems clear the Republicans have held their majority, could possibly turn blue.  But unless that happens, at this stage, the market has clearly turned its attention beyond the election and is voting favorably for more central bank support.  So, let’s see how things are behaving this morning.

After a strong US rally yesterday, especially in the NASDAQ, Asia took the baton and sprinted ahead as well with the Nikkei (+1.7%), Hang Seng (+3.25%) and Shanghai (+1.3%) all having strong sessions.  In fact, as I look through every APAC market, only Vietnam and Laos had negative days, otherwise every Asian nation rallied across every one of their indices.  Europe is no different, with every market in the green (DAX +1.7%, CAC +1.25%, FTSE 100 +0.5%, as well as all the sundry others), and US futures (DOW +1.4%, SPX +1.9%, NASDAQ +2.6%) are pointing to another big day here.

Bonds, as mentioned above, are also still feeling the love as only the UK appears to be adding to the fiscal mix and so central bank support will continue to drive activity until that changes.  This means that while Bunds, OATS and Gilts are all only marginally changed, the PIGS are seeing substantial demand with yields falling 3 basis points for all of them

Gold is doing well, up $15/oz on what seems to be the idea that fiat currencies will continuously be devalued and so something else will serve as a better store of value.  (Bitcoin, by the way, is also rallying sharply, +5% this morning, as many continue to see it as an alternative to gold.)  Oil, on the other hand, is a bit lower this morning, -1.0%, although that is after having rallied nearly 16% so far this week, so a modest correction doesn’t seem out of order.

Finally, the big loser today has been the dollar, which is weaker vs. essentially every other currency.  In the G10, NOK (+1.1%) is the leader, despite the fact that oil is correcting.  More interestingly, EUR (+0.7%) is rallying despite the fact that there is no expectation for Fed activity, and the relative stances of the Fed and ECB remains unchanged.  Now if there is not going to be a blue wave, and therefore no massive fiscal expansion in the US, I’m at a loss as to why the dollar should be sold.  Today, however, selling dollars is the story.

The same is true in the EMG bloc, with RUB (+2.2%) the runaway leader, but 1% or greater gains seen throughout EMEA and LATAM currencies.  Even IDR (+1.3%) which last night posted worse than expected GDP growth, has seen strength.  As long as the narrative continues to be that election uncertainty is a dollar negative, it appears the dollar has further to fall.  That said, I see no cause for a collapse of any type.

Aside from the FOMC today, we see some data as follows: Initial Claims (exp 735K), Continuing Claims (7.2M), Nonfarm Productivity (5.6%) and Unit Labor Costs (-11.0%).  Yesterday, amidst the election discussion, we missed the fact that ADP Employment rose a much less than expected 365K, and the ISM Services number printed at a worse than expected 56.6.  Perhaps, belatedly, that negative news has been impacting the dollar.  But my sense is this is narrative driven and unless the Fed truly shocks one and all, I expect the dollar can drift lower still for the rest of the session.

Good luck and stay safe
Adf