Tag Archives: #china

A Victimless Crime

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Investors are biding their time
Til GDP data sublime
But what if it’s weak?
Will havoc it wreak?
Or is that a victimless crime?

In general, nothing has really happened in markets overnight. Perhaps the only exception is the continued weakness in the Shanghai Composite, which fell another 1.2%, taking the week’s decline beyond 5%. But otherwise, most equity markets are little changed, currencies have done little, and bond yields are within 1 bp of yesterday’s closes as well. The blame for this inactivity is being laid at the feet of this morning’s US GDP data, where we get our first look at Q1. What is truly interesting about this morning’s number is the remarkably wide range of expectations according to economist surveys. They range from 1.0% to 3.2% and depending on your source, I have seen median expectations of 2.0% (Tradingeconomics.com), 2.2% (Bloomberg) and 2.5% (WSJ). The problem with such a wide range is it will be increasingly difficult to determine what is perceived as strong or weak when it prints. However, my view is that we are in the middle of a market narrative which dictates that a strong print (>2.5%) will see equity and dollar strength on the back of confidence in the US economy continuing its world leading growth, while a weak number (<2.0%) will lead to equity strength but dollar weakness as traders will assume that given the Fed’s recent dovish turn, expectations for rate cuts will grow and stocks will benefit accordingly while the dollar suffers. We’ll know more pretty soon.

Returning to the China story, there are actually two separate threads of discussion regarding the Chinese markets and economy. The first, which has been undermining equities there this week, is that the PBOC is backing off on its recent easing trajectory, slowing the injection of short-term funds into the market. The massive equity market rally that we have seen there so far this year has been fueled by significant margin buying, however, if easy money is ending then so will the rally. While I am certain the PBOC will do all it can to prevent a major correction in stock prices, the tone of discussion there is that the PBOC is no longer supporting a further rise.

The second part of the story was a speech last night by President Xi regarding the Belt and Road Initiative. In it, he basically acceded to the US demands for honoring IP, ending forced technology transfer and maintaining a stable currency. Adding to that was the PBOC’s fix at a stronger than expected rate of 6.7307, reinforcing the idea that they would not seek advantage by weakening their currency. Given that the renminbi has been weakening steadily for the past seven sessions and reached its weakest point in more than two months, the PBOC’s actions have served to reinforce their desire to maintain control of the currency.

But arguably, the more important part of the speech was that it cleared the way, at the highest levels, for the Chinese to agree to numerous US demands on trade, and thus successfully conclude the trade talks. Those talks get going again next week when Mnuchin and Lighthizer travel back to Beijing. Look for very positive vibes when they meet the press.

Given that one of the key constraints in the global economy lately has been trade concerns, led by the US-China spat, a resolution will be seen as a harbinger to deals elsewhere and the removal of at least one black cloud. Will central banks then return to their tightening efforts? I sincerely doubt that we will see anything of the sort in the near term. At this point, I expect the reaction function for the central banking community is something along the lines of, ‘we will raise rates after we see inflation print at high levels for several consecutive months, not in anticipation that higher inflation is coming because of growth in another variable.’

So despite my earlier concerns that the market had already priced in a successful conclusion of the trade deal, and that when it was signed, equity markets would retreat, it now seems more likely that we have further to run on the upside. Central banks are nowhere near done blowing all their bubbles.

And those are the big stories for the day. As well as the GDP data at 8:30 we get Michigan Sentiment at 10:00 (exp 97.0), although that seems unlikely to have any impact after GDP. The dollar has had a hell of a week, rallying steadily as we continue to see weak data elsewhere (Japanese IP -4.6% last night!), and some emerging markets, notably ARS and TRY have come under significant new pressure. It wouldn’t surprise if there was some profit taking after the data, whether strong or weak, so I kind of expect the dollar to fade a little as we head into the weekend.

Good luck and good weekend
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Spring Next Year

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Interest rates shan’t
Rise ere spring next year. But might
They possibly fall?

This morning’s market theme is that things look bad everywhere, except perhaps in the US. Starting in Tokyo, the BOJ met last night and, to no one’s surprise, left their policy rate unchanged at -0.10%. They maintained their yield curve control target of 0.00% +/- 0.20% for 10-year JGB’s and they indicated they would continue to purchase JGB’s at a clip of ¥80 trillion per year. But there were two things they did change, one surprising and one confusing.

First the surprise; instead of claiming rates would remain low for an “extended period”, the new language gave a specific date, “at least through around spring 2020”. Of course, this gives them the flexibility to extend that date specifically, implying an even more dovish stance going forward. Market participants were not expecting any change to the language, but interestingly, the yen actually rallied after the report. Part of that could be because there was significant weakness in Asian equity markets and a bit of a risk-off scenario, but I also read that some analysts see this as a prelude to tighter policy. I don’t buy the latter idea, but it does have adherents. The second thing they did, the confusing one, was they indicated they would create a lending facility for their ETF portfolio. The unusual thing here is that generally, lending securities is a way to encourage short-selling, although they did couch the idea in terms of added liquidity to the market. Given they own more than 70% of the ETF market, it is clear that liquidity must be suffering, but I wouldn’t have thought bringing short-sellers to the party would be their goal.

In South Korea, Q1 GDP shrank -0.3%, a much worse outcome than the expected 0.3% growth, and largely caused by a sharp decline in exports and IP. This is an ominous sign for the global economy, and also calls into question the accuracy of the Chinese data last week. Given the tight relationship between Korean exports and Chinese growth, something seems out of place here. The market impact was a decline in the KOSPI (-0.5%), falling Korean yields and a decline in the KRW, which fell a further 0.6% and is now at its weakest point in two years. Look for the Bank of Korea to ease policy going forward.

Turning to Europe, the Swedish Riksbank left policy rates unchanged at -0.25%, as expected, but their statement indicated that there would be no rate hike later this year, as previously expected, given the slowing growth and lack of inflation in Sweden. While I foreshadowed this earlier this week, the market response was severe, with SEK falling 1.4%, although the Swedish OMX (stock market) rallied 1% on the news. You know, bad news is good because rates remain low.

One last central bank note, the Bank of Canada has thrown in the towel on normalizing policy, dropping any reference to higher rates in the future from their statement yesterday. Upon the release of the statement, the Loonie fell a quick 1%. Although it has since recovered a bit of that, it is still lower by 0.6% from before the meeting. It seems concerns over slowing growth now outweigh concerns over excess leverage in the private sector.

The other market note was the sharp decline in Chinese stocks with the Shanghai Composite falling 2.4% as traders and investors there lose faith that the PBOC is going to continue to support the economy, especially after the better than expected GDP data last week. Even the renminbi fell, -0.3%, although it has been especially stable for the past two months as the US-China trade talks continue. Speaking of which, the next round of face-to-face talks are set to get under way shortly, but there has been little in the way of news, either positive or negative, for the past two weeks.

One other thing about which we have not heard much lately is Brexit, where the internal political machinations continue in Parliament, but as yet, there has been no willingness to compromise on either side of the aisle. Of note is that the pound continues to fall, down a further 0.2% this morning and now firmly below 1.29. While there is no doubt that the dollar is strong across the board, it also strikes that some market participants are beginning to price in a chance of a no-deal Brexit again, despite Parliament’s stated aim of preventing that. As yet, there is no better alternative.

Finally, the euro is still under pressure this morning as well, down a further 0.2% this morning, which makes 1.5% in the past week. This morning’s only data point showed Unemployment in Spain rose unexpectedly to 14.7%, another sign of slowing growth throughout the Eurozone. At this point, the ECB is unwilling to commit to easing policy much further, but with the data misses piling up, at some point they are going to concede the point. Easier money is coming to the Eurozone as well.

This morning brings Initial Claims data (exp 200K) and Durable Goods (0.8%, 0.2% ex Transport). It doesn’t seem that either of these will change any views, and as we have seen all week, I expect that Q1 earnings will be the market’s overall focus. A bullish spin will continue to highlight the different trajectories of the US and the rest of the world, and ultimately, continue to support the dollar.

Good luck
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Addiction To Debt

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A policy change did beget
In China, addiction to debt
Per last night’s report
Financial support
Continues, the bulls’ views, to whet

The data from China continues to surprise modestly to the upside. Last week, you may recall, the Manufacturing PMI report printed above 50 in a surprising rebound. Last night, Q1 GDP printed at 6.4%, a tick better than expected, and the concurrent data; Fixed Asset Investment (6.3%), IP (8.5%) and Retail Sales (8.7%) all beat expectations as well. In fact, the IP data blew them away as the analyst community was looking for a reading of 5.9%. While there is some possibility that the data is still mildly distorted from the late Lunar New Year holiday, it certainly seems as though the Chinese have managed to prevent any significant further weakness in their economy.

How, you may ask, have they accomplished this feat? Why the way every government does these days. As we also learned last week, debt in China continues to grow rapidly, far more rapidly than the economy, which means that every yuan of debt buys less growth. It should be no surprise that there is diminishing effectiveness in this strategy, but it should also be no surprise that this is likely to be the way forward. In the short run, this process certainly pads the data story, helping to ensure that growth continues. However, there is a clear and measurable negative aspect to this policy.

Exhibit A is real estate. One of the areas seeing the most investment in China continues to be real estate. The problem with expanding real estate debt (it grew 11.6% in Q1 compared to 6.4% growth for GDP) is that real estate investment is not especially productive. For an economy that relies on manufacturing, productivity growth is crucial. The more money invested in real estate, the less available for improved efficiencies in the economy. Longer term this will lead to slower GDP growth in China, just as it has done in all the developed world economies. However, as politics, even in China, is based on the here and now, there is no reason to expect these policies to change. Two years ago, President Xi tried to force a crackdown on excessive debt used to finance the property bubble that had inflated throughout China. However, it is abundantly clear that the priorities have shifted to growth at all costs. At this stage, I expect that we will see consistently better numbers out of China going forward, regardless of any trade resolution. If Xi wants growth, that is what the rest of the world will see, whether it exists or not.

Turning to the FX market, this implies to me that we are about to see CNY start to strengthen further. Last night saw a 0.40% rally taking the dollar down to key support levels between 6.68-6.69. I expect that we are going to see the renminbi start a more protracted move higher and at this point would not be surprised to see the USDCNY end 2019 around 6.30. That is a significant change in my view from earlier this year, but there has also been a significant change in the policy stance in China which cannot be ignored.

Elsewhere, risk overall has been ‘on’ as investors have responded to the better than expected Chinese data, as well as the continued dovishness from the central banking community, and keep buying stocks. If you recall several weeks ago, there was a conundrum as both stocks and bonds were rallying. At the time, the view from most pundits was that the stock market was wrong and that the bond market was presaging a significant slowdown in the economy. In fact, we saw that first yield curve inversion at the time in early March. However, since then, 10-year Treasury yields have backed up by 22bps and now sit above 2.60% for the first time in a month, while stock prices have continued to rally. As such, it appears that the bond market had it wrong, not the stock market. The one caveat is that this stock market rally has been on diminishing volumes which implies that it is not that widely supported. The opposing viewpoints are the bulls believe there is a big catch up rally in the wings as those who have missed out reach peak FOMO, while the bears believe that though the rally has been substantial, it has a very weak underlying basis, and will retreat rapidly.

As to the FX market, yesterday saw dollar strength, which was a bit surprising given the weaker than expected economic data (both IP and Capacity Utilization disappointed) as well as mixed to negative earnings data from the equity market. However, this morning, the dollar has retraced those gains with the pound being the one real outlier, falling slightly amid gains in virtually every other currency, as inflation data from the UK printed softer than expected at 1.9%, thus pushing any concept of tighter policy even further into the future.

On the data front, this morning brings the Trade Balance (exp -$53.3B) and then the Fed’s Beige Book is released this afternoon. We also have two more Fed speakers, Harker and Bullard, but that message remains pretty consistent. No change in policy in the near future and all efforts to determine the best way to push inflation up to the target level. What this means in practice is that there is a vanishingly small probability that US monetary policy will tighten any further in the near future. Of course, neither will policy elsewhere tighten, so I continue to view the dollar’s prospects positively with the clear exception of the CNY as mentioned above.

Good luck
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Clearly On Hold

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Though policy’s clearly on hold
Most central banks feel they’ve controlled
The story on growth
And yet they’re still loath
To change their inflation threshold

Amidst generally dull market activity (at least in the FX market), traders and investors continue to look for the next key catalysts to drive markets. In US equity markets, we are now entering earnings season which should keep things going for a while. The early releases have shown declining earnings on a sequential basis, but thus far the results have bested estimates so continue to be seen as bullish. (As an aside, could someone please explain to me the bullish case on stocks trading at a 20+ multiple with economic growth in the US at 2% and globally at 3.5% alongside extremely limited policy leeway for further monetary ease? But I digress.) Overnight saw Chinese stocks rock, with Shanghai soaring 2.4% and the Hang Seng 1.1%. European stocks are a bit firmer as well (DAX +0.6%, FTSE +0.4%) and US futures are pointing higher.

Turning to the central banks, we continue to hear the following broad themes: policy is in a good place right now, but the opportunity for further ease exists. Depending on the central bank this is taking different forms. For example, the Minutes of the RBA meeting indicated a growing willingness to cut the base rate further, and market expectations are building for two more cuts this year, down to 1.00%. Meanwhile, the Fed has no ability to cut rates yet (they just stopped raising them in December) but continues to talk about how they achieve their inflation target. Yesterday, Boston Fed president Rosengren posited that a stronger commitment to the symmetry around their 2.0% target could be useful. Personally, I don’t believe that, but I’m just a gadfly, not a PhD economist. At any rate, the idea is that allowing the economy to run hot without tightening is tantamount to easing policy further. In the end, it has become apparent the Fed’s (and every central bank’s) problem is that their economic models no longer are a good representation of the inner workings of the economy. As such, they are essentially flying blind. Previous relationships between growth, inflation and employment have clearly changed. I make no claim that I know what the new relationships are like, just that 10 years of monetary policy experiments with subpar results is enough to demonstrate the central banks are lost.

This is true not just in the US and Europe, but in Japan, where they have been working on QE for nearly thirty years now.

More ETF’s bought
Will be followed by more and
More ETF’s bought

“It’s vital for the Bank of Japan to continue persistently with powerful monetary easing,” Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said. As can be seen from Kuroda-san’s comments last night in the Diet, the BOJ is a one-trick pony. While it is currently illegal for the Fed to purchase equities, that is not the case in Japan, and they have been buying them with gusto. The thing is, the Japanese economy continues to stumble along with minimal growth and near zero inflation. As the sole mandate for the BOJ is to achieve their 2.0% inflation target, it is fair to say that they have been failing for decades. And yet, they too, have not considered a new model.

In the end, it seems the lesson to be learned is that the myth of omnipotence that the central banks would have us all believe is starting to crack. Once upon a time central banks monitored activity in the real economy and tried to adjust policy accordingly. Financial markets followed their lead and responded to those actions. But as the world has become more financially oriented during the past thirty years, it seems we now have the opposite situation. Now, financial markets trade on anticipation of central bank activity, and if central banks start to tighten policy, financial markets tend to throw tantrums. However, there is no tough love at central banks. Rather they are indulgent parents who cave quite quickly to the whims of declining markets. Regardless of their alleged targets for inflation or employment, the only number that really matters is the S&P 500, and that is generally true for every central bank.

Turning to this morning’s data story, the German ZEW survey was released at a better than expected 3.1. In fact, not only was this better than forecast, but it was the first positive reading in more than a year. It seems that the ongoing concerns over German growth may be easing slightly at this point. Certainly, if we see a better outcome in the Manufacturing PMI data at the end of April, you can look for policymakers to signal an all clear on growth, although they seem unlikely to actually tighten policy. Later this morning we see IP (exp 0.2%) and Capacity Utilization (79.1%) and then tonight, arguably more importantly, we see the first look at Chinese Q1 GDP (exp 6.3%).

If you consider the broad narrative, it posits that renewed Chinese monetary stimulus will prevent a significant slowdown there, thus helping economies like Germany to rebound. At the same time, the mooted successful conclusion of the US-China trade talks will lead to progress on US-EU and US-Japanese talks, and then everything will be right with the world as the previous world order is reincarnated. FWIW I am skeptical of this outcome, but clearly equity market bulls are all-in.

In the end, the dollar has been extremely quiet (volatility measures are back to historic lows) and it is hard to get excited about movement in the near-term. Nothing has yet changed my view that the US will ultimately remain the tightest policy around, and thus continue to draw investment and USD strength. But frankly, recent narrow ranges are likely to remain in place for a little while longer yet.

Good luck
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A Future Upgrade

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The data from China conveyed
A story that can be portrayed
As Q1 was weak
But policy tweaks
Imply there’s a future upgrade

In a relatively dull session for news events, Chinese data was the biggest story. The trade surplus there expanded dramatically, rising to $32.6B, much larger than any expectations, as not only did exports grow more robustly (+14.2%) but imports fell sharply (-7.6%). On the surface this suggests that the global situation may have seen its worst days, as demand for Chinese goods was strong, but the domestic economy there continues to be plagued by weakness. However, a few hours later, Chinese money supply and loan data was released with a slightly different message. Here, M2 grew more than expected at an 8.6% rate, while new loans also expanded sharply (+13.7%) implying that the PBOC’s efforts at stimulating the economy are starting to bear fruit. The loan data also implies that growth going forward, in Q2 and beyond, is likely to rebound further. In fact, the only negative piece of news was that auto sales continue to decline in China, falling 5.2% in March, the ninth consecutive year/year decline in the series. The market response to this was muted in the equity space, with Shanghai virtually unchanged, but the renminbi did benefit, rising 0.2% in the wake of the release.

Away from those data points, the news has been sparse. Interestingly, the dollar has been under pressure across the board since yesterday’s close with the euro now higher by 0.6%, both the pound and yen by 0.3% and Aussie leading the way amid firmer commodity prices, by 0.7%. In fact, despite the Shanghai equity performance, today has all the other earmarks of a risk-on session. Equity markets elsewhere in Asia were firm (Nikkei +0.75%, Hang Seng +0.25%), they are higher in Europe (FTSE and CAC +0.4%, DAX +0.6%) and US futures are pointing higher as well (DJIA +0.7%, S&P +0.5%). At the same time government bond yields are rising with 10-year Treasury yields now higher by 5bps. Much of this movement has occurred early this morning after JP Morgan released better than expected results. So, for today, all seems right with the world!

Away from those data releases, there has been far less of interest. Yesterday we heard from NY Fed President Williams who explained that the rate situation was appropriate for now and that there was no reason for the Fed to act in the near future. While growth seems solid, the continuing lack of measured inflation shows no signs of changing and so rates are likely to remain on hold for an extended period. In a related story, a WSJ survey of economists described this morning shows expectations for the next Fed move to have been pushed back to Q4 2020, with a growing likelihood that it will be a rate cut. In other words, expectations are for an extended period of time with no monetary policy changes. If that is the case, then markets will need to find other catalysts to drive prices. Who knows, maybe equity prices will start to reflect company fundamentals again! Just kidding!

Actually, this situation will drive the market to be even more focused on the economic data as essentially every central bank around the world has indicated the current policy pause is designed to observe the data and then respond accordingly. So, if weakness becomes evident in a country or region, look for the relevant central bank(s) to ease policy quickly. At the same time, if inflation does start to pick up someplace, policy tightening will be discussed, if not implemented right away. And markets will respond to these discussions given the lack of other catalysts.

For now however, Goldilocks has been revived. Rates have almost certainly peaked for this cycle, and policy stability may well lead us to yet further new highs in the equity space. Perhaps the central banks have well and truly killed the business cycle and replaced it with a permanent modest growth trajectory. Personally, I don’t believe that is the case, as evidenced by the diminishing impact of each of their policies, but the evidence over the past several years is working in their favor, I have to admit.

This morning’s only data point is Michigan Consumer Sentiment, which is expected to decline slightly from last month’s 98.4 to 98.0 today. We also hear from Chair Powell again, but that story is old news. With risk being acquired, look for the dollar to continue to falter for the rest of the session, albeit probably not by much more. Things haven’t changed that much!

Good luck and good weekend
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Feeling Distress

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The dollar is feeling distress
As Treasury prices compress
The data released
Shows growth has increased
Thus risk is now ‘cool’ to possess

Risk is back in fashion this morning as better than expected Chinese Services PMI data (54.4 vs. exp 52.3) and better than expected German Services PMI data (55.4 vs exp 54.9) have combined with renewed optimism on the US-Chinese trade talks to revive risk taking by investors. If you recall, it was just last month that the PMI data was pointing to a global slowdown, which was one of the keys to market activity. It was part and parcel of the yield curve inversion as well as the dollar’s modest strength as investors fled most other countries for the least bad option, the US markets. But it seems that not only have markets responded positively to the complete u-turn by global central bankers, so have purchasing managers. In the end, everybody loves easy money, and the fact that virtually every nation has reversed early signs of policy tightening has played well on Main Street as well as on Wall Street.

So maybe recession is much further away than had recently been feared. Of course, we continue to see our share of weak data with this week already producing subpar Retail Sales (-0.2%, -0.4% ex autos) and weak Durable Goods Orders (-1.6%, +0.1% ex transport). This makes an interesting contrast to the stronger than expected ISM data (55.3) and Construction Spending (+1.0%). But investors clearly see the glass half-full as equities respond positively, and maybe more impressively, Treasury yields have backed up 14 bps in the past week. This means the yield curve is no longer inverted and we are already hearing a lot of dismissals about how that was an aberration and not a precursor of a recession. You know, ‘This time is different!’

The one thing that remains clear is there is a concerted effort by central bankers everywhere to focus on the good, ignore the bad and try to keep the global economy going. I guess that’s their collective job, so kudos are due as they have recently proven quite nimble in their responses. Of course, the fact that they seem to be inflating new debt bubbles with the potential for very serious consequences when they pop cannot be ignored forever.

Prime Minister May’s at a loss
And so now the aisle she’ll cross
It’s Labour she’ll ask
To help with the task
Of proving her deal’s not just dross

The other market surprise was the news that after a seven-hour cabinet meeting, PM May has given up on the Tories to help her pass the Brexit deal and has now reached out to Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, to see if they can come up with something that can garner a majority of votes in Parliament. Yesterday, Parliament tried to come up with their own plan for a second time, and this time handily rejected 11 suggestions. The problem for May is that Labour, itself, is split on what it wants to do, with a large portion looking for another referendum, while it has its own significant portion of Leavers. Quite frankly, the view from 3000 miles away is that this initiative is not going to result in any better solution than the already rejected ones. And while everyone abhors the idea of a hard Brexit, apparently nobody abhors it enough to concede their own viewpoint. However, the market continues to wear its rose-colored glasses and the pound has rebounded 0.5% today and more than 1.1% since yesterday morning. The pound continues to be completely driven by the Brexit saga, as it rallied despite a very poor Services PMI outturn of 48.9.

Away from those stories, market optimism has been fanned by the hints that the US-China trade talks are continuing to make progress. Chinese vide-premier, and lead negotiator, Liu He, is in Washington today and tomorrow to resume the conversation. Meanwhile, central banks continue to back away from any further policy tightening, even in marginal countries where it had been expected. Poland is the latest to sound more dovish than previous comments, and markets are also now pricing in further rate cuts in both India and South Africa. The point is that the market addiction to easy money is growing, and there does not appear to be a single central banker anywhere who can look through the short-term and recognize, and respond to, long term concerns.

But in the meantime, stocks continue to rally. Today, after the Chinese data, we saw the Nikkei jump 1.0%, and Shanghai rally 1.25%. Then after the Eurozone data, the DAX rocketed 1.85% and even the CAC, despite the weak French data, rallied 1.0%. I guess the fact that there are still weak areas in Europe implies that Signor Draghi will never be tempted to raise rates. And not to be outdone, US futures are pointing to a 0.5% rise at the open.

This morning’s data brings ADP Employment (exp 170K) and then ISM Non-Manufacturing (exp 58.0). If things hold true to form, look for a better ISM number, although the ADP will be quite interesting. Remember, last month’s NFP number was shockingly weak so there are still questions about that. Friday, we will learn more, especially with the revisions.

And the dollar? Well, as is often the case on days where risk is accumulated, the dollar is under broad pressure, down 0.3% vs. the euro, NOK and SEK. It is also under pressure vs. EMG currencies with INR (+0.7%) and PHP (+0.6%) leading the way in Asia, while the CE4 are all higher by roughly 0.3%. There is no reason to think this pressure will abate today, unless we see something quite surprising, like the US-China trade talks falling apart. In other words, look for modest further dollar weakness as the session progresses.

Good luck
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Pure Satisfaction

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This weekend the data released
From China showed growth had increased
The market’s reaction
Was pure satisfaction
With short sellers all getting fleeced

Remember all those concerns over slowing growth around the world as manufacturing data kept slipping to recession-like numbers? Just kidding! Everything in the world is just peachy. At least that seems to be the take from equity markets this morning after Chinese PMI data this weekend surprised one and all by showing a significant rebound. The ‘official’ Manufacturing PMI printed at 50.5, up from 49.2 in February and well above the consensus forecast of 49.5. More importantly, it was on the expansion side of the 50.0 boom/bust line. The non-manufacturing number printed at 54.8, also higher than February (54.3) and consensus expectations of 54.1. Then last night, the Caixin data was released and it, too, showed a much better reading at 50.8, up from 49.9 and above consensus expectations of 50.1. And that’s all it took to confirm the bullish case for equity markets with the Nikkei rising 1.4% and Shanghai up 2.6%. In fairness, we also heard soothing words from Chinese Vice-premier Liu He, China’s top trade negotiator, that he was optimistic a deal would soon be reached, perhaps when he is back in Washington later this week.

What makes this so interesting is that European markets are all rallying as well, albeit not quite as robustly (DAX +1.1%, CAC +0.5%) despite weaker than forecast PMI data there. In fact, German Manufacturing PMI fell to 44.1, its lowest level since July 2012 during the European bond crisis, while the French also missed the mark at 49.7. However, it is becoming evident that we are fast approaching the bad news is good phenomenon we had seen several years ago. You may recall that this is the theory that weak economic data is actually good for equity prices because the central banks will ease policy further, thus increasing inequality and making the rich richer helping to support equity market valuations by adding further liquidity to the system.

It cannot be surprising that in this risk-on festival, the dollar has suffered overnight, falling between 0.2% and 0.5% vs. its G10 counterparts and by similar numbers vs. most of the EMG bloc. In fact, the two notable decliners beyond the dollar have been; TRY, currently down 0.6% (although that is well off its worst levels of -2.0%) after local elections over the weekend showed President Erdogan’s support in the major cities in Turkey has fallen substantially; and the yen, which given the risk-on mindset is behaving exactly as expected. In addition, 10-year Treasury yields have backed up to 2.44% and are no longer inverted vs. the 3-month T-bill, after spending all of last week in that situation.

What should we make of this situation? Is everything in the economy turning better and Q4 simply an aberration? Or is this simply the lash hurrah before the coming apocalypse?

On the positive side is the fact that last year’s efforts by central banks around the world to ‘normalize’ monetary policy is clearly over. ZIRP is the new normal, and quite frankly, it looks like the Fed is going to start heading back in that direction soon. Certainly, the market believes so. And as long as free money exists in the current low inflation environment, equity markets are going to be the main beneficiaries.

On the negative side, the number of red flags raised in the economy continues to increase, and it seems hard to believe that economic growth can continue unabated overall. For example, auto manufacturing has been declining rapidly and the housing market continues to slow sharply. These are two of the largest and most important industries in the US economy, and contraction in either will reduce growth. We are looking at contraction in both, despite interest rates still much closer to historic lows than highs. Remember, both these businesses are credit intensive as almost everyone borrows money to buy a car or a house. As an example of the concerns, auto loan delinquencies are at record levels currently with more than 6.5% overdue by more than 90 days.

Obviously, this is a small sample of the economy, albeit an important one with significant knock-on effects, but at the end of the day, investors continue to take the bullish view. Free money trumps all the potential travails of any particular industry.

It’s funny, because this attitude is what has been increasing the hype for the sexiest new economic views of MMT. After all, isn’t this what we have been seeing for the past decade? Fiscal stimulus paid for by central bank monetization of debt with no consequence. At least no consequences yet. Japan is leading the way in this process and despite a debt/GDP ratio of something like 240%, everybody sees the yen as a safe haven with negative 10-year yields. And arguably, last year’s tax and spending bill in the US alongside the end of policy tightening here, and almost certain future easing, is exactly the same story. Ironically, the Eurozone experiment is going to find itself on the wrong side of this process since member countries ceded their seignorage when they accepted the euro for their own currencies. And who knows, maybe MMT is a more correct description of the world and printing money without end has no negative consequences. I remain skeptical that 10 years of experimental monetary policy in the developed world is sufficient to overturn 300 years of economic history, but I am, by nature, a skeptic. At any rate, right now, the market is embracing the idea which means that equity markets ought to continue to gain, and government bond yields are not destined to rise alongside them.

As we start Q2, we are treated to a bunch of data as well as some more Fedspeak:

Today Retail Sales 0.3%
  -ex autos 0.4%
  ISM Manufacturing 54.5
  Business Inventories 0.5%
Tuesday Durable Goods -1.8%
  -ex transport 0.2%
Wednesday ADP Employment 170K
  ISM non-Manufacturing 58.0
Thursday Initial Claims 216K
Friday Nonfarm Payrolls 170K
  Private Payrolls 170K
  Manufacturing Payrolls 10K
  Unemployment Rate 3.8%
  Average Hourly Earnings 0.3% (3.4% Y/Y)
  Average Weekly Hours 34.5

So, on top of Retail Sales and Payroll data, both seen as critical information, we hear from four more Fed speakers during the second half of the week. The thing is, we already know what the Fed’s view is, no rate hikes anytime soon, but it is too soon to consider rate cuts. That is where the data comes in. Any hint of weakness in the data especially Friday’s payroll report, and you can be sure the calls for a rate cut will increase.

Right now, the market feels like the Fed is going to be the initiator of the next set of rate cuts, and so I expect the dollar will be pressured by that view. But remember, if the Fed is cutting, you can be sure every other central bank will be going down that road shortly thereafter.

Good luck
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Both Driver and Bane

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Though Brexit and China remain
For markets, both driver and bane
The rest of the globe
Is worth a quick probe
Since some things are clearly germane

The markets are beginning to demonstrate Brexit fatigue as each day’s anxieties are no longer reflected in price movements. Broadly, a hard Brexit is still going to be bad and result in a significant decline in the pound, and a signed deal should see the pound rally somewhat, but the political machinations are just getting annoying at this point. Yesterday’s news was the House of Commons voted to seek a delay, although there has been no definition of how long that delay should be. It seems PM May is going to bring her deal to the floor one more time to see if she can get it passed this time:

Although her rep’s suffered much harm
The PM has rung the alarm
It’s time to get real
And vote for her deal
Perhaps the third time is the charm

The threat to the Brexiteers is a long delay opens the way for a reversal of the process, so this deal is better than that outcome. Of course, as I have written before, a delay requires unanimity from the rest of the EU and given the uncertainty of what can be gained by a delay at this time, it still appears there is a real risk of a hard Brexit, despite Parliament’s vote yesterday.

The latest news is a delay
In Brexit is what’s on the way
But will that resolve
The issues involved
Don’t count on it in any way

As to the pound, yesterday it fell, today it is rallying, but in general, it is still stuck. For the past three plus weeks it has traded between 1.30 and 1.33, albeit visiting both sides several times. Let’s move on.

The China trade story continues in slow motion as hopes of a late March meeting between President’s Xi and Trump have now faded to late April. Of note overnight was a new law passed by the Chinese government that alleges to address IP theft and international investment. While that certainly appears to be in response to US concerns, the lack of an enforcement mechanism remains a significant obstacle to concluding the process. However, it does appear to be a tacit admission that IP theft has been a part of the program in the past, despite vehement protestations on the part of the Chinese. But for now, this issue is headed to the back burner and will only matter to markets again when a deal seems imminent, or the talks collapse.

So what else is happening in the world? Well, global growth remains under pressure with data around the world indicating a slowdown is essentially universal. German production, US housing, Japanese inflation, you name it and the data is weaker than expected, and weaker than targeted. What this means is that pretty much every central bank around the world, at least in the developed world, has stopped thinking about policy normalization and is back on the easy money bus.

While Chairman Powell takes the brunt of the criticism for his quick volte-face last December, we have seen it everywhere. ECB President Draghi will have spent eight years at the helm and only cut rates and added monetary stimulus, all to achieve average growth of a whopping 1.5% or so with inflation remaining well below the target of 2.0% throughout his tenure. And, as he vacates the seat, he will leave his successor with further ease ongoing (TLTRO’s) and no prospect of a rate hike for years to come. But hey, perpetual debt-fueled slow growth and negative interest rates should be great for the stock market! What could possibly go wrong?

Meanwhile, the BOJ finds itself in exactly the same place as the ECB, lackluster growth, virtually no inflation and monetary policy set at extreme ease. Last night, Kuroda-san and his friends left policy unchanged (although two BOJ members voted for further ease) and said that the 2.0% inflation target remained appropriate and they were on track to achieve it…eventually. Alas, unless anti-aging medicines are available soon, I don’t think any of us will ever see that outcome. The yen’s response was to sink slightly further, falling 0.2%, and it is trading near its weakest levels of the year. However, in the big scheme of things, it remains right in the middle of its long-term trading range. My point is that we will need a stronger catalyst than more of the same from Kuroda to change things.

Other noteworthy currency stories are the weakness in HKD, as a glut of cash pouring into the island territory has driven interest rates there down significantly and opened up a carry trade opportunity. The HKMA has already spent close to $1 billion supporting the currency at the floor of its band over the past two weeks and seems likely to spend another $5-$7 billion before markets are balanced again.

Sweden has watched its krone depreciate steadily as slowing growth has caused a change in the Riksbank’s tune. In December, it was assumed they would be raising rates and exiting NIRP given the growth trajectory, which led to some modest currency strength. However, the reality has been the growth has never appeared and now the market has priced out any rate hikes. At the same time, FX traders have all unwound those long krone positions and pushed down the SEK by more than 4% this year. While it has rallied 0.4% overnight, it remains the key underperformer in the G10 this year. in fact, there is talk that the Riksbank may need to intervene directly in FX markets if things get much worse, although given the lack of inflation, it seems to me that is excessive.

So you see, there is a world beyond Brexit! As to today’s session, we see a bit more data from the US including: Empire Manufacturing (exp 10.0); IP (0.4%); Capacity Utilization (7.4%); JOLT’s Job Openings (7.31M); and Michigan Sentiment (95.3). This is a nice array of data which can help give an overall assessment as to whether the economy is continuing to sag, or if there are some possible bright spots. But unless everything is extraordinarily strong, I imagine that it will have limited direct impact and the dollar, which has been broadly under pressure today (after a rally yesterday) will continue to slide a little. Right now, there is no strong directional view as traders await the next central bank pronouncements. With the Fed, that comes next week. Until then, look for range trading.

Good luck and good weekend
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Cause For Concern

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Once more to Great Britain we turn
And so we ask, ‘what did we learn?’
May’s Deal lacks appeal
But No-Deal they feel
Is still quite a cause for concern

Where’s Howie Mandel when you need him to say, “Deal…or No Deal?”

In yet another loss for beleaguered British PM May, the House of Commons yesterday approved a bill ruling out a no-deal Brexit for the UK. Of course, the day before they defeated the only Brexit deal on the table. Like a spoiled child, they cannot figure out what they want, but they know they want something. The next step is to request an extension of the deadline, which is now just 15 days away. However, even on that subject there is no clarity. The length of that extension has been open to debate with many different answers. For the pro-Brexit crowd, those willing to see a no-deal outcome, they want as short a delay as possible. Anything beyond six months is likely to allow a second referendum, with the current polls showing that Bremain would be the winner. Naturally, those who want to remain are seeking the longest extension possible.

But it is important to remember that the other 27 members of the EU need to approve the extension unanimously, which when it comes to EU activities is certainly the exception, not the rule. For example, what if Hungary, which is currently at odds with the EU over other issues, decides to vote against an extension simply to tweak the rest of the bloc’s collective nose? My point is that an extension, while pretty likely, is hardly guaranteed. And we have already heard from a number of different EU members on the importance of a rationale for an extension. Ultimately, now that Parliament has taken control of the process from PM May, they have to decide what they want to do, not merely what they want to avoid. And thus far, that information has been lacking.

Turning to the market reaction, the pound rallied sharply yesterday, a full 2.0%, as traders and investors gained confidence that the UK would not be crashing out of the EU without a deal. Of course, given the current lack of alternatives, that remains a fraught situation. This morning, it has ceded about 0.65% of those gains between profit-taking and a dawning realization that just because they voted not to leave without a deal, that hasn’t actually solved the problem. In the end, there is much more to this process and this story, with the potential for both a bigger rally, if somehow the UK comes up with a viable solution, or a much bigger decline, if the delay doesn’t help solve the problem.

The other noteworthy news has been the postponement of a meeting between President’s Xi and Trump to sign any trade deal. While there had been recent indications that progress was being made, apparently it has not been enough progress to schedule a meeting. In the end, as I have written repeatedly, it is difficult for China to agree to not steal IP and force technology transfers when they have maintained, all along, that they don’t do that to begin with. In addition, yesterday President Trump indicated he was in “no hurry” to sign a deal, so this cloud is likely to hang over the global economy for a while yet.

As evidence of that cloud, Chinese data last night pointed to further slowing in the economy there as IP fell to a 5.3% growth rate, the slowest since 2002! While Retail Sales remained unchanged at 8.2%, auto sales continue to decline, falling -2.8% in the January-February period from year ago levels. (The Chinese statistics agency combines Jan and Feb every year to try to smooth the impact of the Chinese New Year, which typically floats in that period.) Interestingly, the combination of these two stories, trade disappointment and weak data, has led to the renminbi slipping 0.5% this morning, a pretty big move for the currency.

Away from those two stories, we continue to see signs of slowing growth around the developed world with rising Swedish Unemployment (6.6% vs. 6.3% previously) and a continued lack of inflationary pressure from both Germany (1.5%) and France (1.3%). This has helped reverse the euro’s recent modest strength with the single currency lower by 0.25% this morning.

In fact, the dollar is having a strong day virtually everywhere, with Aussie and Kiwi both falling more than 0.5% after the weak Chinese data raised concerns over their key export market. Meanwhile, even the yen is lower by 0.45%, as the economic story there continues to point to slowing growth and the possibility of yet more monetary policy ease. The problem for Kuroda-san is there are precious few things left to do. After all, he already has negative interest rates and owns 43% of the JGB market, as well as 10% of the equity market, all while maintaining a cap on the yield of the 10-year JGB. Barring explicit monetization of the debt, meaning relieving the Japanese government of the obligation to repay the debt on their balance sheet, the list is short. However, if they do go to explicit monetization, you can be sure the yen will fall sharply.

Equity markets, however, remain oblivious of all the potential problems that exist and continue to focus on a single thing, easy money. Slowing growth and weaker profitability are meaningless in the new world. The only thing that matters is free cash. My observation on this phenomenon is that it has diminishing returns. And despite ongoing efforts to prop up the economy by central banks everywhere, equity markets, while well off the lows seen in December, have not been able to take the next step higher. To my untrained eye, it appears that the top has been put in, and that lower is the most likely direction over time. But perhaps not today, where equities continue to hang in there and US futures are pointing slightly higher.

Today’s data is just Initial Claims (exp 225K) and New Home Sales (620K), neither of which is likely to have a significant impact. With no Fed speakers, the market is going to be focused on the UK, with their next vote to extend the Brexit deadline, but away from that, has no obvious catalysts. Given the dollar’s decline yesterday, and the rebound thus far today, my money is on a modest continuation of the rebound, at least for the rest of the day.

Good luck
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Disruption and Mayhem

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Tomorrow when Parliament votes,
According to some anecdotes,
Another rejection
Will force introspection
As well as a search for scapegoats

For traders the story that’s clear
Is Brexit may soon engineer
Disruption and mayhem
And soon a new PM
Who’s not named May just might appear!

As we begin a new week, all eyes remain focused on the same key stories that have been driving markets for the past several months; the Fed, Brexit and the US-China trade talks. Ancillary issues like weakening Eurozone and Japanese growth continue to be reported but are just not as compelling as the first three.

Starting with Brexit this morning, after a weekend of failed negotiations, PM May looks on course to lose the second vote on her negotiated deal. Interestingly, the EU has been unwilling to make any concessions of note which implies they strongly believe one of two things: either the lack of a deal will force a delay and second referendum which will result in Remain winning, or they will be effectively unscathed by Brexit. I have to believe they are counting on the first outcome, as it is a purely political calculation, and in the spirit of European referenda since the EU’s creation, each time a vote went against the EU’s interest (Maastricht, Treaty of Lisbon, etc.) the government of the rejecting country ignored the result and forced another vote to get the ‘right’ result. However, in this case, it appears the EU is playing a very risky game. None of the other referenda had the same type of economic consequences as Brexit, and a miscalculation will be very tough to overcome.

While several weeks ago, it appeared that PM May had been building some support, the latest estimates are for a repeat of the 230-vote loss from late January. The question is what happens after that. And to that, there is no clear answer. The probability of a hard Brexit continues to rise, although many still anticipate a last-minute deal. But the pound has declined for nine consecutive sessions by a total of 3.0% (-0.2% overnight) and unless some good news shows up, has the opportunity to fall much further. The next several weeks will certainly be interesting, but for hedgers, quite difficult.

As to the Fed, last night Chairman Powell was interviewed on 60 Minutes along with former Fed Chairs Bernanke and Yellen. Powell explained that the economy was strong with a favorable outlook and that rates were at an appropriate level for the current situation. When questioned on the impact of President Trump’s complaints, he maintained that the Fed remained apolitical and independent in their judgements. And when asked about the stock market, he essentially admitted that they have expanded their mandate to include financial markets. Given the broad financialization of the economy, I guess this makes sense. At any rate, there is no way a Fed chair will ever describe the economy poorly or forecast lower growth as it would cause a panic in markets.

Finally, turning to the trade talks, the weekend news indicated that there has been agreement over the currency question with the Chinese accepting an effective floor to the renminbi. Although the Chinese denied that there was a one-way deal, they repeated their mantra of maintaining a stable currency. As yet, no signing ceremony has been scheduled, so the deal is not done. However, Chinese equity markets rebounded sharply overnight (after Friday’s debacle) as expectations grow that a deal will be ready soon. It continues to strike me that altering the Chinese economic model is likely to take longer than a few months of negotiations and anything that comes out of these talks will be superficial at best. However, any deal will certainly be the catalyst for a sharp equity rally, of that you can be sure. One other thing to note about China is that we continue to see softening data there. Over the weekend, Loan growth was reported at a much lower than expected CNY 703B ($79.4B), not the type of data that portends a rebound. And early this morning, Vehicle Sales were reported falling 13.8%! Again, more evidence of a slowing economy there.

In the meantime, Friday’s payroll data was a lot less positive than had been expected. The headline NFP number of just 20K (exp 180K) was a massive disappointment, and though previous months were revised higher, it was just by 12K. However, the Unemployment Rate fell to 3.8% and Average Hourly Earnings rose 3.4% Y/Y, the strongest since 2007. Housing data was also positive, so the news, overall, was mixed. Friday saw markets turn mildly negative on the US, with both equities and the dollar under pressure.

Add it all up and you have a picture of slowing global growth with the idea that monetary policy is going to tighten quickly fading from view. The critical concern is that central bankers have run out of tools to help positively impact their economies when things slow down. And that is a much larger long-term worry than a modest slowing of growth right now.

Looking at the data this week, two key data points will be released, Retail Sales and CPI. Here is the full list:

Today Retail Sales -0.1%
  -ex autos 0.2%
  Business Inventories 0.6%
Tuesday NFIB Small Biz Optimism 102.0
  CPI 0.2% (1.6% Y/Y)
  -ex food & energy 0.2% (2.2% Y/Y)
Wednesday Durable Goods -0.7%
  -ex transport 0.2%
  PPI 0.2% (1.9% Y/Y)
  -ex food & energy 0.2% (2.6% Y/Y)
  Construction Spending 0.4%
Thursday Initial Claims 225K
  New Home Sales 620K
Friday Empire Manufacturing 10.0
  IP 0.4%
  Capacity Utilization 78.5%
  Michigan Sentiment 95.5
  JOLT’s Jobs Report 7.22M

So, lots of stuff, plus another Powell speech this evening, but I think Retail Sales will be the big one. Recall, last month, Retail Sales fell 1.2% and nobody believed it. But I have to say the forecast is hardly looking for a major rebound. In the end, though, the US economy continues to be the top performing one around, and while the Fed may no longer be tightening, we are seeing easing pressures elsewhere (RBA, ECB). Today’s price action has shown little overall movement in the dollar, but the future still portends more strength.

Good luck
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