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Ready To Burn

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The chances last week of a deal
On Brexit quite clearly seemed real
But Saturday showed
T’is still a long road
Ere both sides, their bad feelings, heal

Meanwhile there’s another concern
In Europe, while Italians spurn
Demands to be sparing
And start in repairing
A fiscal house ready to burn

Thus far today, the evidence is mixed as to whether the equity market rout cum risk-off scenario is truly over, or simply took a breather on Friday. The rebound in stock markets around the world on Friday was met with a collective sigh of relief, but the overnight session saw APAC markets give up almost all of that ground with most closing down between 1.5%-2.0%. Europe opened lower as well although has since traded back to flat as traders everywhere wait for the US session to begin. Currently, futures are pointing lower by 0.4%, but there is a long time between now and the open, so sentiment may shift yet again before then. The key question is will investors, who have not seen a substantial correction in US equity markets in more than nine years, see this as the beginning of the end? Or as a chance to buy the dip? At this point, we can only wait and watch.

In the meantime, there are several stories that are important, but whose market impact has been diluted by the broad risk theme that has exerted itself in the past week. The first is about Brexit, where last week it seemed that a deal would be announced at the EU Summit to be held this Wednesday in Brussels. Alas, over the weekend, intense negotiations broke down and no further ones are slated ahead of that meeting. It seems that the Irish border issue remains intractable for now, as Ireland’s demand of no hard customs border with Northern Ireland cannot fit within the EU framework unless Northern Ireland is essentially separated from England. And neither side has been willing to cave on the issue, which, after all, is entirely about national sovereignty where fudging is far more difficult. Surprisingly, despite this setback, the pound is actually slightly higher on the day, having rallied 0.15%, although the euro has rallied double that. So EURGBP is stronger as the market continues to believe that the UK will be impacted more negatively than the EU in the event of a no-deal outcome.

Keep in mind, though, that both the Germans and Dutch have lately figured out that the UK is one of their top export markets for autos, chemicals and agriculture, and that the direct impact to those two nations is likely to be significantly greater than to most of the rest of the bloc. The point is that if there is no deal, the euro, which has gained some 12% vs. the pound since the initial Brexit vote in 2016, may find itself under more pressure than currently anticipated. In any event, it is hard to get excited about either currency in the short term.

Adding to the euro’s woes is the Italian budget situation, where the government in Rome will submit its budget proposals today. There has been no change to their recent estimates of a 2.4% deficit for next year, and that is based on what are seen as overly optimistic GDP growth forecasts, which means the actual number is likely to be much higher. There is also no indication that either 5-Star or the League are about to sacrifice their hard earned political capital and cave in to the EU’s demands.

You may recall that in Greece, when this situation played out, newly elected PM Alexis Tsipris sounded full of fury when telling his people they would never give in. You may also recall that he caved within a week of the first meeting. The difference this time is that, as the third largest economy in the EU, Italy actually matters to the entire structure there. With that in mind, my forecast is for some mollifying words on both sides but for the Italians to get their way, or at least most of it. While this may be a short-term euro positive, I think it actually undermines the long-term prospects for the currency.

Beyond these two headline stories we continue to hear about the US-China trade situation, which has not improved one iota since last week. Much concern was expressed at the IMF meetings over the weekend, but this is entirely being controlled by President Trump, and will almost certainly continue until at least the mid-term elections are past. At that point, it would not be surprising to see a softening of rhetoric and a deal finally agreed. But while that may make sense, it is by no means certain. In the meantime, the renminbi continues to trade toward the lower end of its recent range although there has been no indication that the PBOC is going to let it slide much further.

And those are the main stories for the session, which quite frankly remains far more focused on the equity markets than the dollar. Data this week brings the latest reading of Retail Sales and a few other things as well:

Today Empire Manufacturing 19
  Retail Sales 0.6%
  -ex autos 0.4%
  Monthly Budget $71.0B
Tuesday IP 0.2%
  Capacity Utilization 78.2%
  JOLT’s Job Openings 6.945M
  TIC Flows $47.7B
Wednesday Housing Starts 1.22M
  Building Permits 1.276M
  FOMC Minutes  
Thursday Initial Claims 212K
  Philly Fed 20
  Leading Indicators 0.5%
Friday Existing Home Sales 5.30M

Interestingly, I don’t think the Minutes will matter that much as we have heard extensively from so many Fed members explaining their views. Rather, today’s Retail Sales is likely to be the most important number of the week, as it could be the first sign the tariffs are having an impact.

In the end, all eyes remain focused on the equity and bond markets (which have been little changed overnight with 10-year yields up just 1bp to 3.15%), and I think the dollar remains secondary for now. But right now it seems risk-off is a dollar negative, so if equities fall, don’t be surprised to see the dollar fall too.

Good luck
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Not Quite Yet Elated

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The sell-off in stocks has abated
Though bulls are not quite yet elated
Most bonds, which had jumped
This morning were dumped
While dollar bears still are frustrated

Two days of substantial equity weakness has halted this morning, with Asian markets rebounding nicely and Europe also on the rise. As usual, it is not clear exactly what caused this reaction, but there are several reasonable candidates. The first was a softer than expected US inflation print yesterday morning. If, in fact, inflation in the US continues to remain just north of 2.0%, then the Fed may feel much less urgency to raise rates aggressively, and markets around the world will appreciate that change of stance. Remember, one of the reasons that we have seen such disruption elsewhere in the world, most notably throughout emerging market economies and markets, is that during the eight year long period of US ZIRP, companies and governments around the world gorged themselves on cheap USD debt. Eight rate hikes later, that debt is no longer so cheap, especially when it comes time for those borrowers to refinance. So any hint that the Fed will have a lower terminal rate is going to be perceived as a market positive.

The other news was a surprise increase in the Chinese trade surplus, which rose to $31.7B, far above the expected $19.4B. Exports, to everyone’s surprise, rose 14.5% despite the tariff situation. While some of this may be due to timing issues of when these shipments were recognized, the news was positive nonetheless. I expect that as we go forward, Chinese export data is likely to suffer, but for now, the news is better than expected. Beyond those two stories, it is difficult to make a case for any real change anywhere.

One of the interesting things about the past two sessions is that while risk was clearly being jettisoned, the dollar was not a beneficiary like it had been in the past during these events. Traditionally, dollar strength accompanies weak equity and commodity markets, but not this time. Of course, one of the big issues in the market right now is the structural deficit in the US. Expansionary fiscal policy here has resulted in the highest non-wartime budget deficits on record, now approaching $1 trillion for this year and certain to be more than that next year, which means that the Treasury is going to need to issue a lot more debt to pay for things. At the same time, the Fed continues to reduce its bid for Treasury bonds as it shrinks its balance sheet steadily. This combination of events is almost certainly going to lead to higher US interest rates out the curve, as more price sensitive investors become the marginal buyer.

For the past six months, higher US rates have been an unalloyed USD positive, driving the dollar back to its levels of late last year and scotching all the talk of a significant dollar decline. But if you recall, I wrote about the opposing structural and cyclical issues facing the dollar several months ago, where the cyclical highlighted the faster growth in the US economy and higher interest rates as a dollar support, while the structural issues of growing twin deficits (budget and current account) pointed to a weaker currency going forward. It is entirely possible that the market’s recent behavior, where despite a risk-off situation the dollar is falling, is an indication that the structural issues are starting to lead the conversation. If that is the case, the dollar is likely to have seen its peak. While it is too early to know for sure, this is something that we will monitor closely going forward.

With regard to specifics in today’s session, most currencies have halted their rally but not really declined much. Other than the Chinese trade data, there has not been much of interest released today, and in the US all we get is Michigan Sentiment (exp 100.4). What we do know is that it is a Friday at the end of a stressful week for markets, which typically results in less active markets. Equity futures in the US are pointing higher, and as long as the US markets follow suit with Asia and Europe and rebound, I expect the dollar will do very little on the day. However, if we see this early strength turn around and US equity markets wind up closing lower on the day, look for much more global anxiety over the weekend and the risk-off sentiment to resume in earnest next week. That includes, at this time, further dollar weakness. So unusually, a modest equity market rally should result in modest USD strength, while a sell-off will likely see the dollar suffer as well.

Good luck and good weekend
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Change Can Come Fast

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There once was a market that soared
With tech stocks quite widely adored
The Fed, for eight years
Suppressed any fears
And made sure that rates were kept floored

But nothing, forever, can last
Now ZIRP and QE’s time has passed
Investors are frightened
‘Cause Powell has tightened
Beware because change can come fast!

Many of you will have noticed that equity markets sold off sharply in the past twenty-four hours, and that as of now, it appears there is more room to run in this correction. The question in situations like these is always, what was the catalyst? And while sometimes it is very clear (think Brexit or the Lehman bankruptcy) at other times movements of this nature are simply natural manifestations of a very complex system. In other words, sometimes, and this appears to be one of them, markets simply move because a confluence of seemingly minor events all occur at the same time. Trying to ascribe the movement to yesterday’s PPI reading, or comments from the IMF meetings, or any other specific piece of information is unlikely to be satisfying and so all I will say is that sometimes, markets move further than you expect.

Consider, though, that by many measures equity prices, especially in the US, are extremely richly valued. Things like the Shiller CAPE, or the Buffet idea of total market cap/GDP both show recent equity market levels at or near historic highs. And while the tax cuts passed into law for 2018 have clearly helped profitability this year, 2019 comparisons will simply be that much tougher to meet. There are other situations regarding the market that are also likely having an impact, like the increase in algorithmic trading, the dramatic increase in passive indexing and the advent of risk parity strategies. All of these tended to lead to buying interest in the same group of equities, notably the tech sector, which has been the leading driver of the stock market’s performance. If these strategies are forced to sell due to investor withdrawals, they will do so with abandon (after all, they tend to be managed by computer programs not people, and there is no emotion involved at all) and we could see a substantial further decline. Something to keep in mind.

But how, you may ask, is this impacting the FX markets? Interestingly, the dollar is not showing any of its risk-off tendencies through this move. In fact, it has fallen against almost all counterpart currencies. And while in some cases, there is a valid story that has nothing to do with the dollar per se, in many cases, it appears that this is simply dollar weakness. For example, the euro has rallied 0.5% this morning, after a 0.25% gain yesterday. Part of this has been driven by modestly higher than expected inflation data from several Eurozone countries (Spain and Ireland) while there is likely also a benefit from the story that the Brexit negotiations seem to be moving to a conclusion. However, despite the positive Brexit vibe, the pound has only managed a 0.15% rise this morning. The big winner in the G10 space has been Sweden, where the krone has rallied 1.5% after it also released higher than expected CPI data (2.5%) and the market has priced in further tightening by the Riksbank.

Looking at the EMG space, the dollar has fallen very consistently here, albeit not universally. We haven’t paid much attention to TRY lately, but it has rallied 1.4% today, and 5.5% in the past month. While yesterday they did claim to create some measures to help address the rising inflation there, they appear fairly toothless and I suspect the lira’s recent strength has more to do with the market correcting a massive decline than investor appetite for the currency. But all of the CE4 are rallying today, albeit in line with the euro’s 0.5% move, and there have been no stories of note from the region.

Looking to APAC, the movement has actually been far less pronounced with THB the best performer, rising 0.7% but the rest of the space largely trading within 0.2% of yesterday’s close. In other words, there is no evidence that, despite a significant decline in equity markets throughout the region, that risk-off sentiment has reached dramatic proportions. Now, if equity markets continue their sharp decline today, my best guess is that we will see a bit more activity in the currency markets, likely with the dollar the beneficiary.

Finally, LATAM currencies have had a mixed performance, with MXN rising 0.5% this morning, but BRL having fallen more than 1% on news that the mooted finance minister for Jair Bolsonaro (assuming he wins the second round election) is being investigated for corruption.

Turning to this morning’s session, the key data point of the week is released, with CPI expected to have declined to 2.4% in September (from 2.7%) and the core rate to have risen to 2.3%, up from August’s reading of 2.2%. With every comment from a Fed speaker focused on the idea of continuing to increase Fed Funds until they reach neutral, this data has the opportunity to have a real impact. If the release is firmer than expected, look for bonds to suffer, equities to suffer more and the dollar to find support. However, if this data is weak, then I would expect that the dollar could fall further, maybe back toward the bottom of its recent range, while the equity market finds some support as fears of an overly tight Fed dissipate.

So there is every opportunity for some more market fireworks today. As I believe that inflation remains likely to continue rising, especially based on the anecdotal evidence of rises in wages, I continue to see the dollar finding support. Of course, that doesn’t speak well of how the equity market is likely to perform if I am correct.

Good luck
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The Next Year Or So

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Said Williams, “the next year or so”
Should see rates reach neutral, you know
At that point we’ll see
If our GDP
Is humming or soon set to slow

The dollar is under very modest pressure this morning, although in reality it is simply continuing to consolidate its recent gains. While there have been individual currency stories, the big picture continues apace.

As I write, the IMF is holding its annual meeting in Indonesia and so we are hearing much commentary from key financial officials around the world. Yesterday, IMF Managing Director Lagarde told us that the ongoing trade tensions were set to slow global growth. Overnight, we heard from NY Fed President John Williams, who said that the US economy continued to be strong and that while there is no preset course, it seemed likely that the Fed would continue to adjust policy until rates reached ‘neutral’. Of course, as nobody knows exactly where neutral is, there was no way to determine just how high rates might go. However, there was no indication that the Fed was going to pause anytime soon. Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan, who said that he foresaw three more rate hikes before any pause, corroborated this idea. According to the dot plot, 3.00% seems to be the current thinking of where the neutral rate lies as long as inflation doesn’t push significantly higher than currently expected. All this points to the idea that the Fed remains on course to continued policy tightening, with the risks seemingly that if inflation rises more than expected, they will respond accordingly.

The other truly noteworthy news was from the UK, where it appears that a compromise is in sight for the Brexit negotiations. As expected, there is some fudge involved, with semantic definitions of the difference between customs and regulatory checks, but in the end, this cannot be a great surprise. The impetus for change came from Germany, who has lately become more concerned that a no-deal Brexit would severely impact their export industries, and by extension their economy. The currency impact was just as would be expected with the pound jumping one penny on the report and having continued to drift higher from there. This seems an appropriate response as no deal is yet signed, but at least it appears things are moving in the right direction. In the meantime, UK data showed that Q3 GDP growth is on track for a slightly better than expected outcome of 0.7% for the quarter (not an annualized figure).

As to the other ongoing story, there has been no change in the tone of rhetoric from the Italian government regarding its budget, but there are still five days before they have to actually submit it to their EU masters. It remains to be seen how this plays out. As I type, the euro has edged up 0.15% from yesterday’s close, but taking a step back, it is essentially unchanged for the past week. If you recall, back in August there was a great deal of discussion about how the dollar had peaked and that its decline at that time portended a more significant fall going forward. At this point, after the dollar recouped all those losses, that line of discussion has been moved to the back pages.

Turning to the emerging markets, Brazil remains a hot topic with investors piling into the real in expectations (hopes?) of a Bolsonaro win in the runoff election. That reflected itself in yet another 1.5% rise in the currency, which is now higher by more than 10% over the past month. The China story remains one where the renminbi seems to be on the cusp of a dangerous level, but has not yet fallen below. Equity markets there took a breather from recent sharp declines, ending the session essentially flat, but there is still great concern that further weakness in the CNY could lead to a sharp rise in capital outflows, or correspondingly, more draconian measures by the PBOC to prevent capital movement.

But after those two stories, it is harder to find something that has had a significant impact on markets. While Pakistan just reached out to the IMF for a $12 billion loan, the Pakistani rupee is not a relevant currency unless you live there. However, this issue is emblematic of the problems faced by many emerging economies as the Fed continues to tighten policy. Excessive dollar borrowing when rates were low has come back to haunt many of these countries, and there is no reason to think this process will end soon. Continue to look for the dollar to strengthen vs. the EMG bloc as a whole.

This morning brings our first real data of the week, PPI (exp 2.8%, 2.5% ex food & energy). However, PPI is typically not a market mover. Tomorrow’s CPI data, on the other hand, will be closely watched for signs that inflation is starting to test the Fed’s patience. But for now, other than the Brexit news, which is the first truly positive non-dollar news we have seen in a while, my money is on a quiet session with limited FX movement. The only caveat is if we see significant equity market movement, whereby a dollar reaction would be normal. This is especially so if equities fall and so risk mitigation leads to further dollar buying.

Good luck
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Growth Would Be Marred

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The IMF’s Christine Lagarde
Explained global growth would be marred
By tariffs imposed
Which keep borders closed
To products that ought not be barred

The dollar has continued its recent ascent this morning, edging higher still against most of its counterparts as US interest rates continue to climb. In fact, as I type, the 10-year Treasury has breached 3.25% for the first time in more than seven years, and quite frankly, there is no reason to think this trend is going to stop. Rather, given the significant amount of new issuance that will be required by the Treasury Department, and the fact that the Fed is reducing the amount of bonds that it purchases as it shrinks its balance sheet, we should expect to see yields continue higher. Back in January I forecast that the 10-year yield would reach 4.00% by the end of the year. For the longest time that seemed impossible, but while still a difficult conclusion, given the speed with which yields have risen recently, it doesn’t seem quite as far-fetched as it used to.

At any rate, the market stories today are largely the same as those from yesterday. Perhaps the key headline was the IMF announcement that they had reduced their estimates for global growth for 2018 and 2019 by 0.2% to 3.7% for both years. The key change since their last estimate was the increased trade tensions between the US and China and the estimated impact those will have on nations around the globe. However, they did not adjust their estimate of US growth, which is likely to encourage the Trump Administration to continue down the path of further tariffs in their negotiation strategy.

Beyond that story, we are still in the grips of the Italian budget situation, where there has been no indication that the coalition government is going to adjust policy to reduce the projected deficit. Given that every one of these situations in Europe turns into a game of chicken, it is probably too early to assume no solution will be found. However, it is important to remember that DiMaio and Salvini, the heads of the 5-Star and League parties respectively, and the real power in the government, are both anti-establishment, and there appears to be a very real chance that they ignore the European Commission and the EU rules. Certainly the Italian stock and bond markets are concerned over that outcome, as 10-year yields there have risen another 10bps while the FTSE MIB has fallen a further 0.5%. This process will continue to weigh on the euro for now so it should be no surprise that the single currency has fallen by 0.5% this morning. But arguably it is not only the Italian situation impacting the euro, we also saw German trade data, which reported a significant decline in imports, -2.7%. While this did result in an increased trade surplus, sharply falling imports is not a sign of economic strength, and so this was likely not seen as a positive. Net, the combination of ongoing tighter US monetary policy and stalling growth in Europe should help underpin the dollar going forward.

Looking at the rest of the G10 space, the dollar is firmer virtually across the board, with the only exception the Japanese yen, which is flat on the day. Though some may argue that slightly better than expected Economy Wathers Survey data helped, this appears to me to be a consequence of a broader risk-off sentiment that is sweeping the markets. A stronger dollar and a stronger yen are natural consequences of this mentality. What is interesting, however, is that two other natural haven assets, gold and Treasuries, are not performing in the same way. I think the explanation for both is the same: higher US short term rates, now above 2.0% across products, is of sufficient attraction to draw frightened investors into Treasury bills rather than taking the risk of a 10-year note. As well, now that cash earns a return, the opportunity cost of holding gold has increased substantially. Given this situation, it appears there is much further to go for the dollar, as fear will drive investors to short term dollar holdings. With this in mind, I suspect we will hear much less about an inverting yield curve for a time. After all, given the sharp rise in 10-year yields and the increased demand for short term assets, it will be very hard for that to occur.

Flipping to emerging markets, the dollar is broadly stronger here as well, across all three regions. In fact, the only noteworthy exception is BRL, which rallied 1.5% yesterday in the wake of the results of Sunday’s presidential election. It is clear that the market remains highly in favor of a President Bolsonaro there, and I expect that as we approach the run-off vote in three weeks’ time the real will continue to perform well. However, this movement has all the earmarks of a ‘buy the rumor, sell the news’ scenario, which means that a sharp dollar rally could well result in the wake of the run-off vote no matter who wins. Granted, if Fernando Haddad, the left wing candidate wins, I would expect the real’s decline to be much sharper.

Away from that, USDCNY is trading above 6.93 today as the Chinese continue to try to ease policy domestically without causing too much market turmoil. While the Trump Administration is apparently looking at naming China a currency manipulator in the latest report due shortly, given the dollar’s overall strength, it appears to me that the movement is entirely within the confines of the overall market. Quite frankly, it still seems as though the Chinese are quite concerned about a ‘too-weak’ renminbi as a trigger to an increase in capital outflows, and so will prevent excessive weakness for now. That said, I expect CNY will continue to weaken going forward.

And that’s really it for today. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Report was released at 107.9, softer than expected but still tied for the second highest reading of all time. Confidence in the economy remains strong. All we have for the rest of the day are speeches by Chicago Fed President Evans and NY’s John Williams. However, given what we have heard lately and the dearth of new news likely to change opinions, it beggars belief to think that anything new will come from these comments. In other words, there is nothing standing in the way of the dollar continuing to rise on the back of ever tighter US monetary policy.

Good luck
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Both Flexed Their Muscles

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In China more policy ease
Did nothing to help to appease
The stock market bears
Who unloaded shares
Along with their spare RMB’s

Then tempers between Rome and Brussels
Got hotter as both flexed their muscles
The latter declared
The budget Rome shared
Was certain to cause further tussles

This morning the dollar has resumed its uptrend. The broad theme remains that tighter US monetary policy continues to diverge from policies elsewhere around the world, and with that divergence, dollar demand has increased further.

China’s weekend action is the latest manifestation of this trend as Sunday they announced a one-percentage point cut in the Required Reserve Ratio (RRR) for all banks. This should release up to RMB 1.2 trillion (~$175billion) of liquidity into the market, helping to foster further economic activity, support the equity markets and keep a lid on interest rates. At least that’s the theory. Alas for the Chinese, whose markets were closed all of last week for national holidays, the Shanghai Composite fell 3.7% on the day, as they caught up with last week’s global equity market decline. It is not clear if the loss would have been greater without the RRR cut, but one other noteworthy feature of the session was the absence of any official attempts to support the market, something we have seen consistently in the past. It ought not be surprising that the renminbi also suffered overnight, as it fell nearly 0.5% and is now trading through the 6.90 level. If you recall, this had been assumed to be the ‘line in the sand’ that the PBOC would defend in an effort to prevent an uptick in capital outflows. As it is just one day, it is probably too early to make a judgment, but this bears close watching. Any acceleration higher in USDCNY will have political repercussions as well as market ones.

Speaking of political repercussions, the other noteworthy story is the ongoing budget saga in Italy. There has been no backing down by the populist government in Rome, with Matteo Salvini going so far as to call Brussels (the EU) the enemy of Italy in its attempts to impose further austerity. The Italians are required to present their budget to the EU by next Monday, and thus far, the two sides are far apart on what is acceptable for both the country and EU rules. At this point, markets are clearly getting somewhat nervous as evidenced by the ongoing decline in Italian stock and bond markets, where 10-year yields have jumped another 15bps (and the spread to German bunds is now >300bps) while the FTSE-MIB Index is down another 2.5% this morning. Given that this is all happening in Europe, it is still a decent bet that they will fudge an outcome to prevent disaster, but that is by no means a certainty. Remember, the Italian government is as antiestablishment as any around, and they likely relish the fight as a way to beef up their domestic support. In addition to the Italian saga, German data was disappointing (IP fell -0.3% vs. expectations of a 0.4% gain), and the combination has been sufficient to weigh on the euro, which is down by 0.4% as I type.

Beyond these stories, the other big news was the Brazilian election yesterday, where Jair Bolsonaro, the right wing candidate, came first with 46% of the vote, and now leads the polls as the nation prepares for a second round vote in three weeks’ time. The Brazilian real has been the exception to EMG currency weakness over the past month, having rallied nearly 9% during the last month. It will be interesting to see if it continues that trend when markets open there this morning, but there is no question that the markets believe a Bolsonaro administration will be better for the economy going forward.

Otherwise, the stories remain largely the same. Ongoing US economic strength leading to tighter Fed policy is putting further pressure on virtually all EMG currencies throughout the world. And it is hard to see this story changing until we see the US economy show signs of definitive slowing.

Turning to the upcoming week, data is sparse with CPI being the key release on Thursday.

Tuesday NFIB Business Optimism 108.9
Wednesday PPI 0.2% (2.8% Y/Y)
  -ex food & energy 0.2% (2.5% Y/Y)
Thursday Initial Claims 206K
  CPI 02% (2.4% (Y/Y)
  -ex food & energy 0.2% (2.3% Y/Y)
Friday Michigan Sentiment 100.5

As to Fed speakers, we have three regional Fed Presidents (Evans, Williams and Bostic) speaking a total of seven times this week. However, it is pretty clear from comments lasts week that there is no indication the Fed is going to relax their view that gradually tighter policy is appropriate for now. The one thing that can derail this move would be much softer than expected CPI data on Thursday, but that just doesn’t seem that likely now. Look for the dollar to continue to trend higher all week.

Good luck
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Still Under Stress

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As traders are forced to assess
A bond market still under stress
Today’s jobs report
Might be of the sort
That causes some further regress

Global bond markets are still reeling after the past several sessions have seen yields explode higher. The proximate cause seems to have been the much stronger data released Wednesday in the US, where the ADP Employment and ISM Non-Manufacturing reports were stellar. Adding to the mix were comments by Fed Chairman Powell that continue to sing the praises of the US economy, and giving every indication that the Fed was going to continue to raise rates steadily for the next year. In fact, the Fed funds futures market finally got the message and has now priced in about 60bps of rate hikes for next year, on top of the 25bps more for this year. So in the past few sessions, that market has added essentially one full hike into their calculations. It can be no surprise that bond markets sold off, or that what started in the US led to a global impact. After all, despite efforts by some pundits to declare that the ECB was the critical global central bank as they continue their QE process, the reality is that the Fed remains top of the heap, and what they do will impact everybody else around the world.

Which of course brings us to this morning’s jobs data. Despite the strong data on Wednesday, there has been no meaningful change in the current analyst expectations, which are as follows:

Nonfarm Payrolls 185K
Private Payrolls 180K
Manufacturing Payrolls 12K
Unemployment Rate 3.8%
Participation Rate 62.7%
Average Hourly Earnings (AHE) 0.3% (2.8% Y/Y)
Average Weekly Hours 34.5
Trade Balance -$53.5B

The market risk appears to be that the release will show better than expected numbers today, which would encourage further selling in Treasuries and continuation of the cycle that has driven markets this week. What is becoming abundantly clear is that the Treasury market has become the pre-eminent driver of global markets for now. Based on the data we have seen lately, there is no reason to suspect that today’s releases will be weak. In fact, I suspect that we are going to see much better than expected numbers, with a chance for AHE to touch 3.0%. Any outcome like that should be met with another sharp decline in Treasuries as well as equities, while the dollar finds further support.

Away from the payroll data, there have been other noteworthy things ongoing around the world, so lets touch on a few here. First, there is growing optimism that with the Tory Party conference now past, and PM May still in control, that now a Brexit deal will be hashed out. One thing that speaks to this possibility is the recent recognition by Brussels that the $125 trillion worth of derivatives contracts that are cleared in London might become a problem if there is no Brexit deal, with payment issues needing to be sorted, and have a quite deleterious impact on all EU economies. As I have maintained, a fudge deal was always the most likely outcome, but it is by no means certain. However, today the market is feeling better about things and the pound has responded by rallying more than a penny. The idea is that with a deal in place, the BOE will have the leeway to continue raising rates thus supporting the pound.

Meanwhile, stronger than expected German Factory orders have helped the euro recoup some of its recent losses with a 0.25% gain since yesterday’s close. But the G10 has not been all rosy as the commodity bloc (AUD, NZD and CAD) are all weaker this morning by roughly 0.4%. Other currencies under stress include INR (-0.6%) after the RBI failed to raise interest rates as expected, although they explained there would be “calibrated tightening” going forward. I assume that means slow and steady, but sounds better. We have also seen further pressure on RUB (-1.3%) as revelations about Russian hacking efforts draw increased scrutiny and the idea of yet more sanctions on the Russian economy make the rounds. ZAR (-0.75%) and TRY (-2.0%) remain under pressure, as do IDR (-0.7%) and TWD (-0.5%), all of which are suffering from a combination of broad dollar strength and domestic issues, notably weak financial situations and current account deficits. However, there is one currency that has been on a roll lately, other than the dollar, and that is BRL, which is higher by 3.4% in the past week and 8.0% since the middle of September. This story is all about the presidential election there, where vast uncertainty has slowly morphed into a compelling lead for Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing firebrand who is attacking the pervasive corruption in the country, and also has University of Chicago trained economists as his financial advisors. The market sees his election as the best hope for market-friendly policies going forward.

But for today, it is all about payrolls. Based on what we have heard from Chairman Powell lately, there is no reason to believe that the Fed is going to adjust its policy trajectory any time soon, and if they do, it is likely only because they need to move tighter, faster. Today’s data could be a step in that direction. All of this points to continued strength in the dollar.

Good luck and good weekend
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Conditions Have Tightened

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The Treasury market is frightened
As risk of inflation has heightened
So 10-year yields jumped
The dollar got pumped
And credit conditions have tightened

The dollar rallied yesterday on the back of a sharp rise in US Treasury yields. The 10-year rose 13bps, jumping to its highest level since 2014. The 30-year rose even more, 15bps, and both have seen those yield rallies continue this morning. The catalyst was much stronger than expected US data, both ADP and ISM Non-Manufacturing were quite strong, and further comments by Chairman Powell that indicated the Fed would remain data dependent and while they didn’t expect inflation to rise sharply, effectively they are prepared to act if it does.

Adding to the inflation story was the Amazon news about raising the minimum wage at the company to $15/hour, and don’t forget the trade war with China, where tariffs will clearly add upward pressure on prices. All this makes tomorrow’s payroll report that much more important, as all eyes will be on the Average Hourly Earnings number. We have a fairly recent analogy of this type of market condition, the first two weeks of February this year, when the January AHE number jumped unexpectedly, and within a week, equities had fallen 10% while the dollar rallied sharply as risk was jettisoned with abandon. While I am not forecasting a repeat of those events, it is best to be aware of the possibility.

And quite frankly, that has been THE story of the market. It cannot be that surprising that the dollar has been the big beneficiary, as this has turned into a classic risk-off scenario. EMG currencies are under increasing pressure, and even the G10 is suffering, save the yen, which has rallied slightly vs. the dollar. At this point, there is no obvious reason for this trend to stop until tomorrow’s data release. If AHE data is firm (current expectations are for a 0.3% rise on the month translating into a 2.8% Y/Y rise), look for this bond rout to continue, with the concurrent impact of a stronger dollar and weaker equities. But since that is not until tomorrow, my sense is that today is going to be a session of modest further movement as positions get squared ahead of the big news.

Good luck
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Goldilocks Ain’t Dead Yet

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The Chairman said, no need to fret
Our low unemployment’s no threat
To driving up prices
And so my advice is
Relax, Goldilocks ain’t dead yet

Chairman Powell’s message yesterday was that things were pretty much as good as anyone could possibly hope. The current situation of unemployment remaining below every estimate of NAIRU while inflation remains contained is a terrific outcome. Not only that, there are virtually no forecasts for inflation to rise meaningfully beyond the 2.0% target, despite the fact that historically, unemployment levels this low have always led to sharper rises in inflation. In essence, he nearly dislocated his shoulder while patting himself on the back.

But as things stand now, he is not incorrect. Measured inflationary pressures remain muted despite consistently strong employment data. Perhaps that will change on Friday, when the September employment report is released, but consensus forecasts call for the recent trend to be maintained. Last evening’s news that Amazon was raising its minimum wage to $15/hour will almost certainly have an impact at the margin given the size of its workforce (>575,000), but the impact will be muted unless other companies feel compelled to match them, and then raise prices to cover the cost. It will take some time for that process to play out, so I imagine we won’t really know the impact until December at the earliest. In the meantime, the Goldilocks economy of modest inflation and strong growth continues apace. And with it, the Fed’s trajectory of rate hikes remains on track. The impact on the dollar should also remain on track, with the US economy clearly still outpacing those of most others around the world, and with the Fed remaining in the vanguard of tightening policy, there is no good reason for the dollar to suffer, at least in the short run.

However, that does not mean it won’t fall periodically, and today is one of those days. After a weeklong rally, the dollar appears to be consolidating those gains. The euro has been one of today’s beneficiaries as news that the Italian government is backing off its threats of destroying EU budget rules has been seen as a great relief. You may recall yesterday’s euro weakness was driven by news that the Italians would present a budget that forecast a 2.4% deficit, well above the previously agreed 1.9% target. The new government needs to spend a lot of money to cut taxes and increase benefits simultaneously. But this morning, after feeling a great deal of pressure, it seems they have backed off those deficit forecasts for 2020 and 2021, reducing those and looking to receive approval. In addition, Claudio Borghi, the man who yesterday said Italy would be better off without the euro, backed away from those comments. The upshot is that despite continued weakening PMI data (this time services data printed modestly weaker than expected across most of the Eurozone) the euro managed to rally 0.35% early on. Although in the past few minutes, it has given up those gains and is now flat on the day.

Elsewhere the picture is mixed, with the pound edging lower as ongoing Brexit concerns continue to weigh on the currency. The Tory party conference has made no headway and time is slipping away for a deal. Both Aussie and Kiwi are softer this morning as traders continue to focus on the interest rate story. Both nations have essentially promised to maintain their current interest rate regimes for at least the next year and so as the Fed continues raising rates, that interest rate differential keeps moving in the USD’s favor. It is easy to see these two currencies continuing their decline going forward.

In the emerging markets, Turkish inflation data was released at a horrific 24.5% in September, much higher than even the most bearish forecast, and TRY has fallen another 1.2% on the back of the news. Away from that, the only other currency with a significant decline is INR, which has fallen 0.65% after a large non-bank lender, IL&FS, had its entire board and management team replaced by the government as it struggles to manage its >$12 billion of debt. But away from those two, there has been only modest movement seen in the currency space.

One of the interesting things that is ongoing right now is the fact that crude oil prices have been rallying alongside the dollar’s rebound. Historically, this is an inverse relationship and given the pressure that so many emerging market economies have felt from the rising dollar already, for those that are energy importers, this pain is now being doubled. If this process continues, look for even more anxiety in some sectors and further pressure on a series of EMG currencies, particularly EEMEA, where they are net oil importers.

Keeping all this in mind, it appears that today is shaping up to be a day of consolidation, where without some significant new news, the dollar will remain in its recent trading range as we all wait for Friday’s NFP data. Speaking of data, this morning brings ADP Employment (exp 185K) and ISM Non-Manufacturing (58.0), along with speeches by Fed members Lael Brainerd, Loretta Mester and Chairman Powell again. However, there is no evidence that the Fed is prepared to change its tune. Overall, it doesn’t appear that US news is likely to move markets. So unless something changes with either Brexit or Italy, I expect a pretty dull day.

Good luck
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Southeast of France

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The nation that’s southeast of France
Seems willing to leap at the chance
Of increasing spending
While also descending
Into a black hole of finance

Today’s markets have been dominated by a renewed fear that Italy may become Quitaly, quitting the euro in an effort to regain control of their finances. This view came about when Claudio Borghi, the chairman of the lower house budget committee (analogous to the House finance committee in the US), said that the euro was “not sufficient” to solve Italy’s fiscal issues. That was seen as an allusion to the idea that if Italy ditched the euro and returned to the lire, they would have more flexibility to implement the fiscal policies they wanted. In this case, flexibility can be understood to mean that Italy would be able to print and spend more money domestically, while allowing the lire to depreciate. The problem with the euro, as Italy sees it, is since they don’t control its creation, they cannot devalue it by themselves. There can be no surprise that the euro declined, falling 0.6% after a 0.3% decline yesterday. Of course, Italian stock and bond markets have also suffered, and there has been a more general feeling of risk aversion across all markets.

In the meantime, the latest Brexit news covers a new plan to allegedly solve the Irish border issue. It seems that PM May is going to offer up the idea that the UK remains in the customs union while allowing new checks on goods moving between Northern Ireland and the UK mainland. The problem with this idea, at least on the surface, is that it will require the EU to compromise, and that is not something that we have seen much willingness to embrace on their part. Remember, French President Macron has explicitly said that he wants the UK to suffer greatly in order to serve as a warning to any other members from leaving the bloc. (Funnily enough, I don’t think that either Matteo Renzi or Luigi Di Maio, the leaders of the League and Five-Star Movement respectively in Italy, really care about that.)

For now, the market will continue to whipsaw around these events as hopes ebb and flow for a successful Brexit resolution. While it certainly doesn’t seem like anything is going to be agreed at this stage, my suspicion remains that some fudge will be found. The one caveat here is if PM May is ousted at the Conservative Party conference that begins later this week. PM Boris Johnson, for instance, will tell the Europeans to ‘bugger off’ and then no deal will be found. In that case, the pound will fall much further, but that seems a low probability event for right now. With all of that in mind, the pound has fallen 0.6% this morning and is back below 1.30 for the first time in three weeks.

In fact, the dollar is higher virtually across the board this morning, with AUD also lower by 0.6% after the RBA left rates unchanged at 1.50% while describing potential weakening scenarios, including a slowdown in China. Even CAD is lower, albeit only by 0.15%, despite the resolution of the NAFTA replacement talks yesterday.

Emerging markets have fared no better with, for example, IDR having fallen nearly 1.0% through 15,000 for the first time in twenty years, despite the central bank’s efforts to protect the rupiyah through rate hikes and intervention. We have also seen weakness in INR (-0.6%), ZAR (-1.3%), MXN (-0.6%), TRY (-1.9%) and RUB (-0.7%). Stock markets throughout the emerging markets have also been under pressure and government bond yields there are rising. In other words, this is a classic risk-off day.

Yesterday’s ISM data was mildly disappointing (59.8 vs. 60.1 expected) but continues to point to strong US economic growth. Since there are no hard data points released today (although we do see auto sales data) my sense is the market will turn its focus on Chairman Powell at 12:45, when he speaks at the National Association of Business Economics Meeting in Boston. His speech is titled, The Outlook for Employment and Inflation, obviously the exact issues the market cares about. However, keeping in mind the fact that Powell has been consistently bullish on the economy, it seems highly unlikely that he will say anything that could derail the current trend of tighter US monetary policy. Combining this with the renewed concerns over Europe and the UK, and it seems the dollar’s rally may be about to reignite.

Good luck
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