Author Archives: fxpoet

It’s Now or Never

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Like Elvis said, it’s now or never
For Boris’s Brexit endeavor
The Irish are chuffed
As Coveney huffed
He’s not, but he thinks he’s so clever

Around 7:00 this morning, PM Boris Johnson will be addressing the Tory party at their annual convention and the key focus will be on his plan to ensure a smooth Brexit. The early details call for customs checks several miles away from the border on both sides with a time limit of about four years to allow for technology to do the job more effectively. However, he maintains that the whole of the UK will be out of the EU and that there will be no special deal for Northern Ireland. His supporters in Northern Ireland, the DUP, appear to have his back. In addition, he is reportedly going to demand that an agreement be reached by October 11 so that it can be agreed in Parliament as well as throughout the EU.

Interestingly, the Irish are still playing tough, at least according to Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, who said that the leaked details formed “no basis for an agreement.” Of course, as in everything to do with this process, there are other views in Ireland with Irish PM Varadkar seemingly far more willing to use this as a basis for discussion. His problem is the Fianna Fail party, a key coalition member, is unhappy with the terms. I say this is interesting because in the event of a no-deal Brexit, Ireland’s economy will be the one most severely impacted, with estimates of 4%-5% declines in GDP in 2020.

With respect to the market, it is difficult to untangle the effect of the latest Brexit news from the dreadful economic data that continues to be released. This morning’s UK Construction PMI fell to 43.3, within ticks of the lows seen during the financial crisis in 2009. The pound has suffered, down 0.4% as I type, although it was even softer earlier in the session. The FTSE 100 is also weak, -1.8%, although that is very much in line with the rest of the European equity markets (CAC -1.6%, DAX -1.3%) and is in synch with the sharp declines seen yesterday in the US and overnight in Asia.

Speaking of yesterday’s price action, it was pretty clear what drove activity; the remarkably weak ISM Manufacturing print at 47.8. This was far worse than forecast and the lowest print since June 2009. It seems pretty clear at this point that there is a global manufacturing recession ongoing and the question that remains is, will it be isolated to manufacturing, or will it spill over into the broader economy. Remember, manufacturing in the US represents only about 11.6% of GDP, so if unemployment remains contained and services can hold up, there is no need for the US economy to slip into recession. But it certainly doesn’t help the situation. However, elsewhere in the world, manufacturing represents a much larger piece of the pie (e.g. Germany 21%, China 40%, UK 18%) and so the impact of weak manufacturing is much larger on those economies as a whole.

It is this ongoing uncertainty that keeps weighing on sentiment, if not actually driving investors to sell their holdings. And perhaps of most interest is that despite the sharp equity market declines yesterday, it was not, by any means, a classic risk-off session. I say this because the yen barely budged, the dollar actually fell and Treasuries, while responding to the ISM print at 10:00am by rallying more than half a point (yields -7bps), could find no further support and have not moved overnight. If I had to describe market consensus right now, it would be that everyone is unsure of what is coming next. Will there be positive or negative trade news? Will the impeachment process truly move forward and will it be seen as a threat to the Administration’s plans? Will Brexit be soft, hard or non-existent? As you well know, it is extremely difficult to plan with so many potential pitfalls and so little clarity on how both consumers and markets will react to any of this news. I would contend that in situations like this, owning options make a great deal of sense as a hedge. This is especially so given the relatively low implied volatilities that continue to trade in the market.

Turning to the rest of the session, a big surprise has been the weakness in the Swiss franc, which has fallen 0.6% this morning despite risk concerns. However, the Swiss released CPI data and it was softer than expected at -0.1% (+0.1% Y/Y) which has encouraged traders to look for further policy ease by the SNB, or at least intervention to weaken the currency. But just as the dollar was broadly weaker yesterday, it has largely recouped those losses today vs. its G10 counterparts. Only the yen, which is up a scant 0.15%, has managed to show strength vs. the greenback. In the EMG space, KRW has been the biggest mover, falling 0.55% overnight after North Korea fired another missile into the sea last night, heightening tensions on the peninsula there. Of course, given the negative data (negative CPI and sharply declining exports) there is also a strong case being made for the BOK to ease policy further, thus weakening the won. Beyond that, however, the EMG currency movement has been mixed and modest, with no other currency moving more than 25bps.

This morning after Boris’s speech, all eyes will turn to the ADP employment data (exp 140K) and then we have three more Fed speakers this morning, Barkin, Harker and Williams. Yesterday, we heard from Chicago Fed president Charles Evans, who explained that he felt the economy was still growing nicely and that the two rate cuts so far this year were appropriate. He did not, however, give much of a hint as to whether he thought the Fed needed to do more. Reading what I could of the text, it did not really seem to be the case. My impression is that his ‘dot’ was one of the five looking for one more cut before the September meeting.

And that’s what we have for today. Barring something remarkable from Boris, it appears that if ADP is in line with expectations, the dollar is likely to consolidate this morning’s gains. A strong print will help boost the buck, while a weak print, something on the order of 50K, could well see the dollar cede everything it has gained today and then some.

Good luck
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A Lack of Well-Being

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Down Under the RBA eased
And Aussie bulls have gotten squeezed
In Europe they’re seeing
A lack of well-being
Which has politicians displeased

The RBA cut rates by 25bps last night, as fully expected by the interest rate markets, and they indicated that despite the fact that their base rate was now at a record low of 0.75%, they were considering further easing in the future. The Aussie dollar suffered on the news and is the worst performer in the G10 today, down 0.80%. In fact, Aussie is now at its lowest level since the financial crisis and, in truth, the trend certainly looks like it has further to fall. Australia continues to suffer from the combination of China’s slowing growth as well as the fall-out from the US-China trade war. Alas for the Australians, there is precious little they can do to insulate themselves from those things given they have literally built their economy over the past twenty-five years on the back of Chinese growth. Given the US dollar’s overall trend higher, I see nothing that would change this in the near term. Receivables hedgers beware.

Adding to the global gloom was the release of the Eurozone Manufacturing PMI data which continues to point to a manufacturing recession there. Germany’s was actually slightly better than forecast, but at 41.7 remains far and away the worst of the bunch. The overall Eurozone reading was at 45.7, essentially unchanged from last month and showing no signs of improvement whatsoever. In fact, the sub-indices showed that both new orders and prices paid are falling even faster. Given this news it can be no surprise that Eurozone CPI was released at a weaker than forecast 0.9% this morning as well. It is easy to see why Signor Draghi has been keen to add stimulus to the Eurozone economy, but it will take some time for the most recent activities to work their way into the data, which implies that things are going to get worse before they get better. Interestingly, after an early dip on the data, the euro has clawed back those losses and is now essentially unchanged on the day. Of course, the euro remains in a very clear downtrend and is lower by 1.9% since the ECB’s last policy meeting where they cut rates and restarted QE. Looking back a bit further into the summer, since last June, the single currency has fallen more than 4.6%. This trend, too, has legs.

As a harbinger of the narrative, the WTO released updated forecasts for growth in global trade this morning and the reading was not pretty. The new forecast is for global trade to grow just 1.2% in 2019 and 2.7% in 2020. This compares to growth of 3.0% in 2018, and its last forecasts of 2.6% and 3.0% for this year and next. At this point, the market is sharpening its focus on the upcoming trade negotiations due to begin in Washington on October 10th. Everybody is hoping for a positive outcome, but from everything that has been reported so far, it appears the two sides remain far apart on a number of issues, and though a deal will be beneficial for both, it remains a distant prospect I fear.

Turning our attention to Japan, last night the government auctioned a new tranche of 10-year JGB’s with pretty disastrous results. A day after explaining they will be reducing the amount of purchases in the back end in order to steepen the yield curve, they were true to their word. Yields there climbed 5bps with the bid-to-cover ratio a very weak 3.42, the lowest since 2016. This price action had a knock-on effect everywhere in the world as Treasury prices fell (yields +6bps) with a similar story in Germany (+4.5bps) and the UK (+7bps). For our purposes, the impact was in USDJPY, which is higher by 0.25% this morning, extending its bounce of the last month. Once again, the current market does not appear to be risk sensitive per se, this is simply dollar outperformance.

A quick look at the rest of the FX world shows SEK a key underperformer this morning, falling 0.55% as the market continues to focus on the change in tone from the Riksbank. They had been working hard to ‘normalize’ interest rates over the past year, but the data there continues to undermine their case with this morning’s PMI release of 46.3 dramatically lower than forecasts and the weakest reading since 2012. Instead, they are far more likely going to need to cut rates again, hence the krone’s weakness.

In the EMG sphere, ZAR is the biggest loser today, falling 1.0% on the back of two related stories; first Fitch cut the credit rating of Eskom, the troubled government-owned utility, to CCC-, essentially dead. This situation has been weighing on economic growth there for quite a while, and the bigger concern is that it forces a countrywide credit downgrade. South Africa is currently under review by Moody’s, and another cut would put them in junk territory forcing a significant amount of ZAR bond sales by international investors (with some estimates as high as $15 billion worth), and correspondingly, driving the rand even lower. But if you look across the board, while ZAR is the worst performer, the dollar is higher against virtually the entire space.

Turning to the upcoming session, we are looking forward to ISM Manufacturing data (exp 50.0) after a very weak Chicago PMI number yesterday (47.1). We also get to hear from three Fed speakers, Evans, Clarida and Bowman, although the last of these, Governor Bowman, rarely speaks of monetary policy with her focus on community banking. Beyond this, the bigger trend remains a higher dollar and there is nothing to indicate that trend is changing.

Good luck
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The Hard Way

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The quarter has come to an end
And Brexit’s now just round the bend
Meanwhile Chairman Jay
Has learned the hard way
Experience is his best friend

It has been more than a week and the market continues to talk about the liquidity crunch that drove repo rates to 10.0% briefly. The Fed did respond, albeit somewhat slowly, and have seemingly been able to get things under control at this point. But in the WSJ this weekend there was a very interesting article asking, how could this have happened? After all, the Fed’s primary responsibility is to ensure that there is sufficient funding in the system. And I think for all market participants, this is a critical question. Since the Fed is essentially the world’s central bank, if they are losing control of the plumbing of the US money markets, what does that say about their ability to implement monetary policy effectively.

The back story revolves around actions that occurred shortly after John Williams was named NY Fed President, despite a complete lack of markets experience (he is a PhD Economist and Fed lifer, never having held a job in the private sector). In one of his first acts, he dismissed two key lieutenants, the head of the Markets Desk and the head of Financial Services, both of whom had been with the Fed for more than twenty years, and both of whom had intimate familiarity with market crises. After all, they were both in their roles during the Financial crisis, when Williams was one of a hundred economists working for the Fed’s Board of Governors. In other words, he has zero real world or market experience, and he fired the two most experienced market hands in his organization. While there has never been an explanation as to why he made that move, it clearly came back to haunt him, and the Fed at large, last week.

The issue for markets is now one of confidence. It doesn’t matter that things seem to be under control at this point, and all the talk of a standing repo facility being implemented to insure there is always sufficient liquidity are addressing the symptoms, not the cause. In addition, there is almost no question that the Fed is going to start rebuilding its balance sheet, as apparently, watching that paint dry was a bit more exciting than anticipated. But in the end, if market participants lose faith that the Fed can effectively manage its processes, then it will significantly change the overall atmosphere in markets. Remember, we have spent the last ten plus years being taught that central banks, and the Fed in particular, have one job, to protect financial markets. Two weeks ago, we realized that the ECB has basically run out of ammunition in its efforts to continue to address Europe’s problems. If the Fed has lost the knowhow regarding what is needed to manage the US financial system, that is a MUCH larger problem. I’m not saying they have, just that the repo market gyrations are an indication that they will have to work very hard to convince markets they are still in charge.

Turning to the market situation overnight, there has been very little of interest overall. In fact, the best way to describe things would be mixed. For example, the dollar is slightly firmer vs. the euro (+0.15%) but slightly weaker vs the pound (-0.15%). And the truth is, as I look across the board, that is a pretty good description of the entire FX market, modest gains and losses without any trend to note. European equity markets are little changed, US futures are the same and Asian markets were mixed (Nikkei -0.5%, Hang Seng +0.5%). Finally, bond markets have shown almost no movement with 10-year yields in the major bonds within 1 basis point of Friday’s levels.

As today is quarter end, it feels like most market participants have already straightened up their positions and are waiting for tomorrow to start anew. Meanwhile, we have seen a bunch of data, with the most noteworthy so far being the very slightly better than expected Chinese PMI data, with Manufacturing PMI printing at 49.8 vs. expectations at 49.6. So, while that is better than a further decline, it still points to contraction and slowing growth in China.

Looking ahead to today’s session and the week upcoming, though, there is a lot of new information on the way, including the payroll report on Friday.

Today Chicago PMI 50.0
Tuesday ISM Manufacturing 51.0
  ISM Prices Paid 50.5
Wednesday ADP Employment 140K
Thursday Initial Claims 215K
  Factory Orders -0.3%
  ISM Non-Manufacturing 55.1
Friday Nonfarm Payrolls 146K
  Private Payrolls 130K
  Manufacturing Payrolls 3K
  Unemployment Rate 3.7%
  Average Hourly Earnings 0.3% (3.2% Y/Y)
  Average Weekly Hours 34.4
  Participation Rate 63.2%
  Trade Balance -$54.5B

In addition to the payroll report, we have fourteen Fed speakers, essentially the entire FOMC, this week. My conclusion from this excessive schedule is that the Fed is very concerned that their message is not getting across effectively and that they feel compelled to clarify and repeat the message. However, given the wide disparity of opinions on the Board, my sense is this onslaught of speeches will simply add to the confusion. Chairman Powell has a tough road ahead to get his views accepted given what seem to be hardening positions on both sides of the argument. In fact, the only way the doves can win out, in my view, is if the economic data here starts to deteriorate significantly, but of course, that is not an outcome they seek either!

As to the dollar, there is nothing that has occurred anywhere to dissuade me from my ongoing bullish view. Until we see some more significant changes in the data, the dollar will remain top dog.

Good luck
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Hawks Must Beware

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The BOE finally sees
That Brexit may not be a breeze
So hawks must beware
As rates they may pare
For doves, though, this act’s sure to please

Two stories from the UK are driving the narrative forward this morning, at least the narrative about the dollar continuing to strengthen. The first, and most impactful, were comments from BOE member, Michael Saunders, who prior to this morning’s speech was seen as one of the more hawkish members of the MPC. However, he explained that regardless of the Brexit outcome, the continuing slowdown in the UK, may require the BOE to cut rates soon. The UK economy has been under considerable pressure for some time and the data shows no signs of reversing. The market has been pricing in a rate cut for a while, although BOE rhetoric, especially from Governor Carney, worked hard to keep the idea of the next move being a rate hike. But no more. If Saunders is in the cutting camp, you can bet that we will see action at the November meeting, even if there is another Brexit postponement.

And speaking of Brexit postponements, Boris won a court victory in Northern Ireland where a lawsuit had been filed claiming a no-deal Brexit was a breach of the Good Friday accords that brought peace to the country. However, the court ruled it was no such thing, rather it was simply a political act. The upshot is this was seen as a further potential step toward a no-deal outcome, adding to the pound’s woes. In the meantime, Johnson’s government is still at odds with Parliament, and is in the midst of another round of talks with the EU to try to get a deal. It seems the odds of that deal are shrinking, although I continue to believe that the EU will blink. The next five weeks will be extremely interesting.

At any rate, once Saunders’ comments hit the tape, the pound quickly fell 0.5%, although it has since regained a bit of that ground. However, it is now trading below 1.23, its weakest level in two weeks, and as more and more investors and traders reintegrate a hard Brexit into their views, you can look for this decline to continue.

Of course, the other big story is the ongoing impeachment exercise in Congress which has caused further uncertainty in markets. As always, it is extremely difficult to trade a political event, especially one without a specific date attached like a vote. As such, it is difficult to even offer an opinion here. Broadly, in the event President Trump was actually removed from office, I expect the initial move would be risk-off but based on the only other impeachment exercise in recent memory, that of President Clinton in 1998, it took an awful long time to get through the process.

Turning to the data, growth in the Eurozone continues to go missing as evidenced by this morning’s confidence data. Economic Confidence fell to its lowest level in four years while the Business Climate and Industrial Confidence both fell more sharply than expected as well. We continue to see a lack of inflationary impulse in France (CPI 1.1%) and weakness remains the predominant theme. While the euro traded lower earlier in the session, it is actually 0.1% higher as I type. However, remember that the single currency has fallen more than 4.4% since the end of June and nearly 2.0% in the past two weeks alone. With the weekend upon us, it is no surprise that short term positions are being pared.

Overall, the dollar is having a mixed session. The yen and pound are vying for worst G10 performers, but the movement remains fairly muted. It seems the yen is benefitting from today’s risk-on feeling, which was just boosted by news that a cease-fire in Yemen is now backed by the Saudis. It is no surprise that oil is lower on the news, with WTI down 1.1%, and equity market have also embraced the news, extending early gains. On the other side of the coin, the mild risk-on flavor has helped the rest of the bunch.

In the EMG space it is also a mixed picture with ZAR suffering the most, -0.35%, as concerns grow over the government’s plans to increase growth. Meanwhile, overnight we saw strength in both PHP and INR (0.45% each) after the Philippine central bank cut rates and followed with a reserve ratio cut to help support the economy. Meanwhile, in India, as the central bank removes restrictions on foreign bond investment, the rupee has benefitted.

But overall, movement has not been large anywhere. US equity futures are pointing higher as we await this morning’s rash of data including: Personal Income (exp 0.4%); Personal Spending (0.3%); Core PCE (1.8%); Durable Goods (-1.0%, 0.2% ex transport); and Michigan Sentiment (92.1). We also hear from two more Fed speakers, Quarles and Harker. Speaking of Fed speakers (sorry), yesterday vice-Chairman Richard Clarida gave a strong indication that the Fed may change their inflation analysis to an average rate over time. This means that they will be comfortable allowing inflation to run hot for a time to offset any period of lower than targeted inflation. Given that inflation has been lower than targeted essentially since they set the target in 2012, if this becomes official policy, you can expect prices to continue to gain more steadily, and you can rule out higher rates anytime soon. In fact, this is quite dovish overall, and something that would work to change my view on the dollar. Essentially, given the history, it means rates may not go up for years! And that is not currently priced into any market, especially not the FX market.

The mixed picture this morning offers no clues for the rest of the day, but my sense is that the dollar is likely to come under further pressure overall, especially if risk is embraced more fully.

Good luck and good weekend
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Quite Frankly Floored

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Most pundits were, quite frankly, floored
That leaving the ECB Board
Was one of the hawks
Who tired of talks
‘bout QE the Germans abhorred

The dollar is stronger than where I left it Tuesday evening after a rally in yesterday’s NY session. Determining the catalyst for that rally has been difficult given the only economic data of note was New Home Sales (713K), which while quite strong are generally not seen as market moving, and the limited commentary overheard. However, there are three things that conspired, I believe, to drive the dollar higher.

First was the surprise resignation of Sabine Lautenschlaeger from the ECB Executive Board. Ms. Lautenschlaeger was one of the most ardent hawks on the ECB and was quite vocal that there was no need to resume QE at the current time. In fact, she had been proffering that message since the last meeting when Mario first hinted that QE2 was on the table. In the end, though, she was not able to garner enough support to dissuade Signor Draghi from going ahead with it, and it appears she decided that her voice was no longer taken into consideration. Whomever is chosen as her replacement is almost certain to have less hawkish views, and so the market recognized that the tone of the ECB has turned more dovish. A dovish ECB is likely to result in easier policies and correspondingly a weaker euro.

We also heard from Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, a known dove, who indicated that he saw no reason for further rate cuts this year. It appears that he was one of the dots in the middle, comfortable with last week’s cut but calling it quits then. He highlighted that if the economy deteriorated for some reason, he would not be against further cuts, but at the present time, they were not necessary. So, a Fed dove was mildly hawkish, helping cement the idea that the Fed was less likely to cut rates again this year. This can only be seen as dollar bullish.

Finally, we have the calendar as we approach quarter-end and the financing requirements necessary for banks and other financial firms when they report positions. The stricter regulatory environment that has been in place since the financial crisis means that there is an increased demand for dollars on virtually every institution’s balance sheet. That is one reason we have seen issues within the Fed Funds market with all the discussion about the Fed’s repo facility and recent activities. However, there are many institutions that simply buy dollars in order to put their balance sheet in order.

Add them all up, and you have the makings of a dollar rally, which has seen the euro decline 0.85% since yesterday morning, the pound fall 1.2% and the yen fall 0.5%. Granted, the pound has its own issues relating to Boris’s return to Parliament and the inflamed rhetoric on both sides of the aisle there leading to an increase in belief that a hard Brexit is still possible. But the tell that this is simply a dollar rally and not a risk off event is the fact that the yen fell sharply, alongside a rally in equities and decline in the bond market.

The question at this time is whether the rally continues, or if it was merely a one-day event. At this point, the evidence seems to indicate that a slow continuation of the dollar rally is the most likely outcome. Certainly, there will be nothing hawkish coming from ECB policymakers as the hawks seem more willing to quit than continue to lose their battle. Eurozone data continues to implode and another key German institute, the DIW Institute, announced its expectation that when German GDP for Q3 is released on November 14, it will show growth at -0.2%, the second consecutive decline and put Germany in a technical recession. As an aside, it is interesting to see just how crucial the idea of monetary discipline is to Germans, in general, and German bankers in particular. Despite the fact that Germany probably has the weakest growth in the Eurozone, its ECB members are amongst the most hawkish. If that ever changes, you can be sure the euro will fall far more rapidly!

As to the Fed, it seems to me that there is a clear level of comfort developing on the FOMC that two cuts were sufficient in the current circumstances to stanch any bleeding in the economy, and barring an escalation in the trade war, they seem ready to stand pat. If that is the case, then dollars will retain their relative attractiveness. And of course, the calendar is beyond all our reach, but we will need to see if Friday, when the spot value date turns to October 1, whether or not there is reduced demand for the greenback. My sense is that pressure will dissipate quickly, and possibly reverse as those dollars are seen as short-term needs. But for the rest of the day, I think the dollar has room to run a little further.

Turning to today’s session, we do get the final reading of Q2 GDP (exp 2.0%) as well as the ancillary data that comes with that report. I always look at the Personal Consumption component (4.7%) as the best measure of demand, so keep an eye there. And of course, we get Initial Claims (212K), but that series’ stability has been extraordinary and largely taken it out of the conversation. If we do start to see that rise, however, beware of weakening nonfarm numbers and a lot more dovish rhetoric from the Fed.

As to the Fed, we have six, count ‘em, speakers today with nary a hawk in sight. As such, amongst Kaplan, Bullard, Clarida, Daly, Kashkari and Barkin, I expect rationales as to why another rate cut or two makes sense, or at the very least highlights of weakening global growth and impending problems like Brexit which require easier Fed policy as a response. However, given they are all known on the dovish side, I don’t think it matters that much. For now, I don’t see anything derailing the dollar and look for a modest further increase throughout the session.

Good luck
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What He’s Wrought

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The High Court within the UK
Explained in a ruling today
That Boris cannot
Complete what he’s wrought
A win for those who want to stay

As I wrote last Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruling in the UK cannot be a surprise to anyone. The issue was that twelve justices who were appointed to their seats from lives of privilege and wealth, and who almost certainly each voted to Remain two years ago, were going to decide whether Boris Johnson, a rebel in every conceivable way, would be allowed to lead the UK out of the EU against their personal views. These are folks who have greatly benefitted from the UK being within the EU, and they were not about to derail that gravy train. Thus, this morning’s ruling should have been the default case in everyone’s mind.

Interestingly, the ruling went far beyond simply the legality of the prorogation, but included a call for Parliament to reconvene immediately. Naturally, John Bercow, the speaker of the House of Commons, and an alleged non-partisan player, called on both sides of the aisle to get back to work post haste. Given that prorogation was nothing new in Parliament, having occurred on a fairly regular basis since 1628 when King Charles I first did so, and since there is no written constitution in the UK by which to compare laws to a basic canon, it will be interesting in the future when another PM seeks prorogation at a time less fraught than the current Brexit induced mania, whether or not they have the ability to do so.

Nonetheless, we can expect Parliament to reconvene shortly and try to do more things to insure that Boris cannot unilaterally ignore the current law requiring the PM to ask for an extension if there is no deal agreed at the deadline. In other words, there is still plenty of action left in this process, with just 37 days left until the current deadline.

And what of Sterling you ask? When the announcement hit the tape at 5:30 this morning, it jumped a quick 0.4% to just below 1.2500. That move had all the hallmarks of short covering by day traders, and we have since removed half of that gain. Interestingly, Boris is currently at the UN session in NY meeting with his EU counterparts and trying to get a deal in place. In the end, I still believe that the EU is ready to relent on some issues to pave the way for a deal of some sort. As European economic data continues to melt down (German IFO Expectations fell to 90.8, well below forecasts and the lowest in more than a decade), there is a growing sense of urgency that the EU leadership cannot afford to allow a hard Brexit. Combining that view with the fact that everybody over there is simply tired of the process and wants it to end means that a deal remains far more likely than not. As such, I remain pretty confident that we will see a deal before the deadline, or at least agreement on the key Irish backstop issue, and that the pound will rebound sharply.

Away from that story, however, things are far less exciting and impactful. On the trade front, news that China has allowed exemptions from soybean tariffs for a number of Chinese importers has been met with jubilation in the farm belt, and has imparted a positive spin to the equity market. Last week’s trepidations over the canceling of the Chinese delegation’s trip to Montana and Nebraska is ancient history. The narrative is back to progress is being made and a deal will happen sooner or later. Equity markets have stabilized over the past two days, although in order to see real gains based on the trade situation we will need to see more definitive progress.

Bond prices continue to focus on the global industrial malaise that is essentially made evident every day by a new data release. Yesterday it was PMI, today IFO and later this week, on Thursday, we will see Eurozone confidence indicators for Industry, Services and Consumers. All three of these have been trending lower since the winter of 2017 and there is no reason to expect that trend to have changed. As such, it is no surprise that we continue to see government bond yields slide with Treasuries down a further 3bps this morning as are JGB’s. Bunds, however, have seen less buying interest and have seen yields fall just 1bp. The story with Bunds is more about the increasing calls for fiscal stimulus in the Eurozone. Signor Draghi has tried his best but the Teutons remain stoic in the face of all his pressure. But Draghi is an economist. Incoming ECB President Christine Lagarde is a politician and may well be the best choice for the role after all. If she has the political nous to change Merkel’s views, that will be enough to open the taps, arguably support growth in the EU and reduce the need for further monetary ease. However, that is a BIG if.

One other story out of China describes comments from PBOC Governor Yi Gang that essentially said there was no reason for them to ease policy aggressively at this time, although they have plenty of tools available if they need to do so in the future. It is clear they are still quite concerned over inflating a housing bubble and will do all they can to prevent any further excess leverage in the real estate sector. It should not be surprising that the renminbi benefitted from these comments as it is 0.25% stronger than yesterday. The combination of a slightly more hawkish PBOC and the positive trade news was all it took.

Turning to this morning’s session, things are pretty quiet at this time. There are only two minor pieces of data, Case Shiller House Prices (exp 2.90%) and Consumer Confidence (133.0). On the speaker front, nobody is scheduled today although yesterday we heard from a number of doves, Bullard, Daly and Williams, all of whom agreed with the recent rate cut. With the day’s big news out of the way, I anticipate a relatively uneventful session. Overall the dollar is slightly softer on the day, and it seems reasonable to believe that trend will stay in place so look for a modest decline as the day progresses.

Good luck
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Not a Chance

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From Germany and, too, from France
We saw the economy’s stance
Their prospects are dire
And though they aspire
To growth, it seems they’ve not a chance

Surveying the markets this morning, the theme seems to be that the growth scare continues to be real. PMI data from Europe was MUCH worse than expected across the board, with Services suffering as well as the manufacturing data which has been weak for quite a while already. This is how things stacked up:

Event Expectations Release
German Manufacturing PMI 44.0 41.4
Services PMI 54.3 52.5
Composite PMI 51.5 49.1
French Manufacturing PMI 51.2 50.3
Services PMI 53.2 51.6
Composite PMI 52.6 51.3

Source: Bloomberg

Anybody that claims Germany is not in recession is just not paying attention. Friday evening, the Bundestag agreed to a new €54 billion bill to address climate change, which some are looking at as an economic stimulus as well. However, a stimulus bill would need to create short term government spending, and the nature of this bill is decidedly longer term in nature. And a bigger problem is the German unwillingness to run a budget deficit means that if they put this in place, it will restrict their ability to add any stimulus on a more timely basis. It also appears that the ECB and IMF will continue to call them out for their austere views, but thus far, the German people are completely backing the government on this issue. Perhaps when the recession is in fuller flower, der mann on der strasse will be more willing for the government to borrow money to spend.

It ought not be that surprising that European equity markets suffered after the release with the DAX down a solid 1.2% and CAC -1.0% with the bulk of the move coming in the wake of the releases. This paring of risk also resulted in a rally in Bunds (-6bps), OATS (-3bps) and Treasuries (-3bps) while the dollar rallied (EUR -0.4%, GBP -0.3%).

But I think this begs the question of whether or not a recession is going to be solely a European phenomenon or if the US is going to crash that party. What we have learned in the past two weeks is that the ECB is basically spent, and that the market’s review of their newest policy mix was two thumbs down. Ironically, Draghi’s clear attempts to weaken the euro are now being helped by the significantly weaker than expected Eurozone data that he’s trying to fix. Apparently, you can’t have it both ways. Much to his chagrin, however, I believe that there is plenty more downside for the euro as the Eurozone economy continues its slow descent into stagnation. When Madame Lagarde takes over on November 1st, she will have an empty cupboard of tools to address the economy and will be forced to rely on verbal suasion. I expect that we will hear from the Mandame quite frequently as she tries to change the narrative. I also expect that her efforts will do very little, especially if China continues to falter.

Away from the weak European data, there was not that much else of interest. Friday, if you recall, the US equity markets suffered after the low-level Chinese trade delegation canceled a trip to Montana and Nebraska as the perception was the talks broke down. It turns out, however, that the request came from the US for other reasons, and that the talks, by all accounts, went quite well. At this point, the market is now looking forward to Chinese Vice-Premier, Liu He, coming to Washington on October 10, so barring any further tweets on the subject that topic may well slip to the back burner.

Brexit was also in the news as Boris makes his way to NY for the UN session this week He has scheduled meetings with all the key players from Europe including Chancellor Merkel, President Macron and Taoiseach Varadkar. At the same time, the Labour party’s conference is in disarray as leader Jeremy Corbyn wants to campaign on a second referendum but will not definitively back Remain. In other words, it’s not just the Tories who are split over Brexit, it is both parties. And don’t forget, we are awaiting the UK Supreme Court’s decision on the legality of Boris’ move to prorogue parliament for five weeks, which could come any day this week. In the end, the pound is still completely beholden to Brexit, so look for a Supreme Court ruling against the government to result in a rally in the pound as it will be perceived as lowering the probability of a no-deal Brexit. Again, my view remains that at the EU summit in the middle of next month, there will be an announcement of a breakthrough of some sort to fudge the Irish backstop and that the pound will rally sharply on the news.

Looking ahead to this week, we have a fair amount of new information as well as a host of Fed speakers:

Tuesday Case-Shiller House Prices 2.90%
  Consumer Confidence 133.3
Wednesday New Home Sales 656K
Thursday Q2 GDP (2ndrevision) 2.0%
  Initial Claims 211K
Friday Personal Income 0.4%
  Personal Spending 0.3%
  Durable Goods -1.1%
  -ex transportation 0.2%
  Core PCE Deflator 0.2% (1.8% Y/Y)
  Michigan Sentiment 92.0

Source: Bloomberg

We also hear from 11 different Fed speakers this week, two of them twice! At this point I expect they will be working hard to get their individual viewpoints across which should actually help us better understand the mix of views on the board. So far we have a pretty good understanding of where Bullard, George and Rosengren stand, but none of them are speaking this week. This means we will get eleven entirely new viewpoints. And my take is that the general viewpoint is going to be unless the data really turns lower; there is no more cause to ease at this point. I don’t think the equity market will like that, nor the bond market, but the dollar is going to be a big beneficiary. The euro is back below 1.10 this morning. Look for it to continue lower as the week progresses.

Good luck
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Past Its Shelf Life

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The narrative most of this year
Described central banks full of fear
So rates they would cut
Which might help somewhat
But so far that hasn’t been clear

Instead every meeting’s been rife
With conflict, dissension and strife
For NIRP, the doves pine
While hawks like to whine
That policy’s past its shelf life

At the end of a week filled with numerous central bank meetings, it’s time to consider what we’ve learned. Arguably, the first thing is that groupthink in the central banking community is not quite as widespread as we previously believed. This was made evident by the three dissenting votes at the FOMC on Wednesday as well as last week’s ECB meeting, where at least five members of the council argued vociferously for no further stimulus. The funny thing is that while I understand the European monetary hawks’ zeitgeist, (German hyperinflation of the 1920’s) the fact remains that Europe is slipping into recession and arguably the ECB is correct in trying to address that. With that said, I would argue they would have been far better off extending the TLTRO’s to an even longer maturity and cut rates there, allowing banks to earn from the ECB while they lend to clients at a positive rate. Simply cutting the deposit rate to -0.50% is very unlikely to spur growth further, at least based on the fact that it has not helped yet.

At the same time, the FOMC also has a wide range of opinions on display. Not only were there two hawkish dissents, there was a dovish one as well. And based on the dot plot, after this cut, there are now ten of the seventeen members who see no further rate action in 2019. Meanwhile, the market is still pricing in a 69% probability of a cut by the December meeting. There was a comment by a famous hedge fund trader that Chairman Powell is the weakest chairman in decades, based on these dissents, but it was just three years ago, in the September 2016 meeting when Janet Yellen chaired the Fed, that there were also three dissents at a meeting, with all three seeking a rate hike, while the Fed stood pat. The point is, it is probably a bit unfair to be claiming Powell is weak because some members have different views. And in the big picture, shouldn’t we want a diversity of ideas at the Fed? I think that would make for a healthier debate.

Two other meetings stand out, the BOJ and the PBOC, or at least actions by those banks stand out. While the BOJ left policy on hold officially, they not only promised a re-evaluation of the current monetary policy framework, but last night, they significantly reduced the amount of JGB’s that they purchased in the longer maturities. The absent ¥50 billion surprised market players and helped drive the yields on the back end higher by between 3-4bps. The BOJ have made it clear that they are interested in a steeper yield curve, and that’s just what they got. Their problem is that despite decades of ZIRP and then NIRP, as well as a massive QE program, their inflation target remains as far away as ever. Last night, for example, CPI was released at 0.5% Y/Y ex fresh food, the lowest level since mid-2017. It seems pretty clear that their actions have been a failure for decades and show no sign of changing. Perhaps they could use a little dissent!

Finally, the PBOC cut its 1-year Loan Prime Rate (its new monetary benchmark) by 5bps last night, the second consecutive cut and an indication that they are trying to add stimulus without inflating any financial bubbles. While this move was widely anticipated, they did not change the level of the 5-year Rate, which was also anticipated. The overall difference here, though, is that the PBOC is clearly far less concerned with what happens to investors than most Western central banks. After all, they explicitly take their marching orders from President Xi, so the overall scope of policy is out of their hands.

When looking at the impact of these moves, though, at least in the currency markets, the thrust was against the grain of what was desired by the central banks. If you recall last week, the euro initially declined, but then rallied sharply by the end of the day after the ECB meeting and has largely maintained those gains. Then yesterday we saw JPY strength, with no reprieve overnight after their change of stance, while the renminbi has actually strengthened 0.2% overnight in the wake of the rate cut. As I have been writing, central banks are slowly losing their grip on the markets, a situation which I believe to be healthy, but also one that will see increased volatility over time.

Looking at the market activity overnight, the screen shows that one of the best performers was INR, with the rupee gaining 0.5%. This comes on the back of the government’s announced $20 billion stimulus plan of corporate tax cuts. While equity markets there responded joyfully, Sensex +5.3%, government bonds fell sharply, with 10-year yields rising 15bps as bond investors questioned the ability of the government to run larger deficits. But away from that, the FX market was quite dull. EMG currencies saw both gainers and losers, with INR the biggest mover. G10 currencies were pretty much the same story with NZD the biggest mover, falling 0.4% after S&P explained that New Zealand banks still had funding problems.

The other two big stories have had mixed impact, with positive trade vibes being felt as low-level talks between the US and China have been ongoing this week, while the UK Supreme Court is now done with its hearings and we all simply await the decision. At the same time, EC President Juncker sounded positive that a Brexit deal could be done although Ireland continues to claim that nothing is close. The pound rallied on Juncker’s comments, but fell back below 1.25 after Ireland weighed in. Ask yourself if you think the rest of the EU will tolerate a solo Irish dissent on getting to a deal. It ain’t gonna happen.

As to today’s session, there is no data to be released but we will hear from three Fed speakers, Williams first thing, then Rosengren and Kaplan. It will be interesting to see how they try to spin things as to the Fed’s future activities. With that in mind, the biggest surprise seems like it can come from the UK , if we hear from the Supreme Court later today. While there is no clarity when they will rule, it is not out of the question. As to the dollar, it has no overall momentum and I see no reason for it to develop any without a catalyst.

Good luck and good weekend
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Not the Nadir

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The Chairman explained to us all
Preventing the ‘conomy’s stall
Required a cut
Of twenty-five but
Don’t look for, rates, further to fall

However, it’s not the nadir
For all rates, that’s certainly clear
Brazil cut a half
While BOJ staff
Will check if they’re now too austere

As I mentioned on Monday, the Fed was merely the first in a long list of major central banks meeting this week. By now we all know the FOMC cut rates by 25 bps and released a statement that was certainly more hawkish than many had hoped for expected. The vote was largely as expected, with the July dissenters, George and Rosengren, continuing to vote for no change, while this month, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard also dissented, voting for a 50bp cut. Of more interest was the dot plot, which showed five members forecasting no further cuts this year, five looking for one more cut and seven looking for two cuts. That is actually quite a bit more hawkish than expected going into the meeting. In the end, equity markets sold off initially, but rallied late in the day to close essentially unchanged. Treasuries rallied all day leading up to the meeting, but ceded those gains in the wake of the announcement and press conference while the dollar rallied against most currencies, although it has given back those gains overnight.

Powell’s explanation for cutting was that the committee was still concerned over issues like global growth, trade policy and Brexit, and so felt a cut was merited to help insure steady growth. My impression is Powell is not anxious to cut again, but arguably it will depend on how the data evolves between now and the October meeting.

Meanwhile, late yesterday afternoon the Central Bank do Brazil cut their SELIC rate by 50bps to 5.50%, a new record low for the rate, but also a widely expected move by the market. Inflation in Brazil continues to slow, and with growth extremely sluggish, President Roberto Campos Neto made clear that they expect inflation to remain quiescent and will do what they can to help bolster the economy there. Look for another 50bps this year and potentially more next year as well. It should be no surprise that the real weakened yesterday, falling 0.8%, and I expect it has further to fall as Neto was clear that a weaker currency would not deter him.

Then overnight we heard from a number of central banks with Bank Indonesia cutting the expected 25bps top 5.25%, while the HKMA also cut in order to keep step with the US. Both currencies, IDR and HKD, were virtually unchanged overnight as the market had fully priced in the moves. Arguably of more importance was the BOJ meeting, where they left policy unchanged, but where Kuroda-san explained that the BOJ would undertake a full review of policy by the October meeting to insure they were doing everything they could to support the economy. There were a number of analysts who were expecting a rate cut, or at least further QE, and so the disappointment led to a 0.5% rally in the yen.

When Europe walked in, there were three central bank meetings scheduled with the Swiss maintaining policy rates but adjusting the amount of reserves exempt from the deposit rate of -0.75%. While Swiss banks have been complaining about this, given there was already a tiered system it was not anticipated that things would change. The upshot is that the franc is firmer by 0.6% in the wake of the announcement, although traders are a bit on edge given the SNB was clear that intervention remained on the table.

The biggest surprise came from Norway, which hiked rates 25 bps to 1.50%. While several of the Norwegian banks were calling for the hike, the market at large did not believe the Norgesbank would raise rates while the rest of the world was cutting. But there you go, the situation there is that the economy is doing fine, inflation is perking up and because of the government’s ability to tap the oil investment fund, they are actually utilizing fiscal policy as well as monetary policy in their economic management. With all that in mind, however, they were pretty clear this is the last hike for the foreseeable future. NOK rallied 0.5% on the news, but it has given all those gains back and now sits unchanged on the day.

Finally, in what is no surprise at all, the BOE just announced that policy remains unchanged for the time being as all eyes turn toward Brexit and what will happen there. The UK also released Retail Sales data which was bang on expectations and so the pound remains beholden entirely to the Brexit situation.

Speaking of Brexit, today is the third day of hearings at the UK Supreme Court regarding the two lawsuits against the Johnson government’s decision to prorogue parliament for five weeks. If you recall, late Tuesday when word got out that the justices seemed to be very hard on the government, the pound rallied. Interestingly, this morning there are stories all over the press about how the likelihood of a no-deal Brexit seems to be growing quickly. Everybody is tired of the process and thus far, neither side has blinked. I maintain the EU will blink as the economic damage to Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland adding to the entire EU’s economic malaise will be too much to tolerate. But we shall see. As I have been typing, the pound has been edging lower and is now down 0.2% on the day, but in the big picture, that is the same as unchanged.

Turning to this morning’s US data, we start with Philly Fed (exp 10.5) and Initial Claims (213K) and then at 10:00 see Existing Home Sales (5.38M). Yesterday’s housing data, starts and permits, were much better than expected, which given the sharp decline in mortgage rates and still robust employment situation, should not be that surprising. As to Fed speakers, there is no one on tap for today, but three (Williams, Rosengren and Kaplan) due to speak tomorrow. Equity futures are pointing slightly lower right now and if I had to guess, the dollar is more likely to rally slightly than not as the day progresses although large moves are not on the cards.

Good luck
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The Question at Hand

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There is an old banker named Jay
Who’ll cut Fed Funds later today
The question at hand
Is, are more cuts planned?
Or is this the last one he’ll weigh?

Well, no one can describe the current market situation as dull, that’s for sure! The front burner is full of stories but let’s start with the biggest, the FOMC announcement and Chairman Powell’s press conference this afternoon. As of now, futures markets are fully pricing in a 25bp cut this afternoon, with a small probability (~18%) of a 50bp cut. They are also pricing in a 50% chance of a cut at the October meeting, so despite the hawkish rhetoric and relatively strong data we have seen lately, the doves are keeping the faith. In fact, it would be shocking if they don’t cut by 25bps, although I also expect the two regional Fed presidents (George and Rosengren) who dissented last time to do so again. What has become clear is that there is no overriding view on the committee. The dot plot can be interesting as well, as given there are only two meetings left this year, it will give a much better view of policy preferences. My guess is it will be split pretty evenly between one more cut and no more cuts.

Then it’s all on Chairman Jay to explain the policy thinking of the FOMC in such a way that the market accepts the outcome as reasonable, which translates into no large moves in equity or bond markets during or after the press conference. While, when he was appointed I had great hopes for his plain spoken comments, I am far less confident he will deliver the goods on this issue. Of course, I have no idea which way he will lean, so cannot even guess how the market will react.

But there’s another issue at the Fed, one that is being described as technical in nature and not policy driven. Yesterday saw a surge in the price of overnight money in the repo market which forced the Fed to execute $53 billion of repurchase agreements to inject cash into the system. It turns out that the combination of corporate tax payments in September (removing excess funds from the banking system and sending them to the Treasury) and the significant net new Treasury issuance last week that settles this week, also in excess of $50 billion, removed all the excess cash reserves from the banking system. As banks sought to continue to manage their ordinary business and transactions, they were forced to pay up significantly (the repo rate touched 10% at one point) for those funds. This forced the Fed to execute those repos, although it did not go off smoothly as their first attempt resulted in a broken system. However, they fixed things and injected the funds, and then promised to inject up to another $75 billion this morning through a second repo transaction.

It seems that the Fed’s attempt at normalizing their balance sheet (you remember the run-off) resulted in a significant drawdown in bank excess reserves, which are estimated to have fallen from $2.8 trillion at their peak, to ‘just’ $1.0 trillion now. There are a number of economists who are now expecting the Fed to begin growing the balance sheet again, as a way to prevent something like this happening again in the future. Of course, the question is, will this be considered a restarting of QE, regardless of how the Fed tries to spin the decision? Certainly I expect the market doves and equity bulls to try to spin it that way!

Ultimately, I think this just shows that the Fed and, truly, all central banks are losing control of a process they once felt they owned. As I have written before, at some point the market is going to start ignoring their actions, or even moving against them. Last week the market showed that the ECB has run out of ammunition. Can the same be said about Powell and friends?

Moving on to other key stories, oil prices tumbled ~6% yesterday as Saudi Arabia announced that 41% of their production was back on line and they expected full recovery by the end of the month. While oil is still higher than before the attacks, I anticipate it will drift lower as traders there turn their collective focus back toward shrinking growth and the potential for a global recession. Chinese data continues to look awful, Eurozone data remains ‘meh’ and last night Tokyo informed us that their trade statistics continued to deteriorate as well, with exports falling 8.2%, extending a nearly year-long trend of shrinking exports. The point is, if the global economy continues to slow, demand for oil will slow as well, reducing price pressures quite handily. In a direct response to the declining oil price we have seen NOK fall 0.5% this morning, although other traditional petrocurrencies (MXN, RUB) have shown much less movement.

On the Brexit story, Boris met with European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday, and while he spun the meeting as positive, Juncker was a little less optimistic. His quote was the risk of a no-deal Brexit was now “palpable” while the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said, “nobody should underestimate the damage of a no-deal Brexit.” It should be no surprise the pound fell after these comments, but that is a very different tone to yesterday’s NY session. Yesterday, we saw the pound rally more than a penny after word got out that the UK Supreme Court justices were ostensibly very skeptical toward the government’s argument and sympathetic to the plaintiffs. The market perception seems to be that a ruling against the government will essentially take a no-deal Brexit off the table, hence the rally, but that is certainly not this morning’s tale. In the end, the pound remains binary, with a deal of any sort resulting in a sharp rally, and a hard Brexit on Halloween, causing just the opposite. The UK hearings continue through tomorrow, and there is no official timeline as to when an opinion will be released. I expect the market will continue to follow these tidbits until the announcement is made. (And for what it’s worth, my sense is the Supremes will rule against the government as based on their biographies, they all voted remain!)

Finally, a look at the overnight data shows that UK inflation fell to its lowest level, 1.7%, since December 2016. With the BOE on tap for tomorrow, it beggars belief they will do anything, especially with Brexit uncertainty so high. At the same time, Eurozone inflation was confirmed at 1.0% (0.9% core), another blow to Signor Draghi’s attempts to boost that pesky number. As such, the euro, too, is under some pressure this morning, falling 0.25% after yesterday’s broad dollar sell-off. In fact, vs. the G10, the dollar is higher across the board, although vs. its EMG counterparts it is a much more mixed picture.

Ahead of the FOMC at 2:00 we see Housing Starts (exp 1250K) and Building Permits (1300K), but they will not excite with the Fed on tap. Equity markets are modestly higher in Europe though US futures are pointing slightly lower. Overall, barring something from the UK ahead of the Fed, I expect limited activity and then…

Good luck
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