Tag Archives: #CPI

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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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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Watching With Rigor

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Though Draghi said data of late
May not have appeared all that great
We’re watching with rigor
Inflation that’s vigor-
Ously rising at a high rate

After a multi week decline, the dollar is showing further signs of stabilizing this morning. And that includes its response to yesterday’s surprising comments by ECB President Mario Draghi, who indicated that despite the ECB lowering its forecasts for growth this year and next, and that despite the fact that recent data has been falling short of expectations, he still described the underlying inflation impulse as “relatively vigorous” and reconfirmed that QE would be ending in December with rates rising next year. In fact, several of his top lieutenants, including Peter Praet and Ewald Nowotny, indicated that rates ought to rise even sooner than that. Draghi, however, has remained consistent in his views that gradual removal of the current policy accommodation is the best way forward. But as soon as the words “relatively vigorous” hit the tape, the euro jumped more than 0.5% and touched an intraday high of 1.1815, its richest point since June. The thing is, that since that time yesterday morning, it has been a one-way trip lower, with the euro ultimately rising only slightly yesterday and actually drifting lower this morning.

But away from the excitement there, the dollar has continued to consolidate Friday’s gains, and is actually edging higher on a broad basis. It should be no surprise that the pound remains beholden to the Brexit story, and in truth I am surprised it is not lower this morning after news that the Labour party would definitively not support a Brexit deal based on the current discussions. This means that PM May will need to convince everyone in her tenuous majority coalition to vote her way, assuming they actually get a deal agreed. And while one should never underestimate the ability of politicians to paint nothing as something, it does seem as though the UK is going to be leaving the EU with no exit deal in place. While the pound is only down 0.15% this morning, I continue to see a very real probability of a much sharper decline over the next few months as it becomes increasingly clear that no deal will appear.

There was one big winner overnight, though, the Korean won, which rallied 4.2% on two bits of news. Arguably the biggest positive was the word that the US and Korea had agreed a new trade deal, the first of the Trump era, which was widely hailed by both sides. But let us not forget the news that there would be a second round of talks between President Trump and Kim Jong-Un to further the denuclearization discussion. This news is also a significant positive for the won.

The trade situation remains fascinating in that while Mr Trump continues to lambaste the Chinese regarding trade, he is aggressively pursuing deals elsewhere. In fact, it seems that one of the reasons yesterday’s imposition of the newest round of tariffs on Chinese goods had so little market impact is that there is no indication that the president is seeking isolationism, but rather simply new terms of trade. For all the bluster that is included in the process, he does have a very real success to hang his hat on now that South Korea is on board. Signing a new NAFTA deal might just cause a re-evaluation of his tactics in a more positive light. We shall see. But in the end, the China situation does not appear any closer to resolution, and that will almost certainly outweigh all the other deals, especially if the final threatened round of $267 billion of goods sees tariffs. The punditry has come around to the view that this is all election posturing and that there will be active negotiations after the mid-term elections are concluded in November. Personally, I am not so sanguine about the process and see a real chance that the trade war situation will extend much longer.

If the tariffs remain in place for an extended period of time, look for inflation prints to start to pick up much faster and for the Fed to start to lean more hawkishly than they have been to date. The one thing that is clear about tariffs is that they are inflationary. With the FOMC starting their meeting this morning, all eyes will be on the statement tomorrow afternoon, and then, of course, all will be tuned in to Chairman Powell’s press conference. At this point, there seems to be a large market contingent (although not a majority) that is looking for a more dovish slant in the statement. Powell must be happy that the dollar has given back some of its recent gains, and will want to see that continue. But in the end, there is not yet any evidence that the Fed is going to slow down the tightening process. In fact, the recent rebound in oil prices will only serve to put further upward pressure on inflation, and most likely keep the doves cooped up.

With that in mind, the two data points to be released today are unlikely to have much market impact with Case-Shiller Home Prices (exp 6.2%) at 9:00am and Consumer Confidence (132.0) due at 10:00. So barring any new comments from other central bankers, I expect the dollar to remain range bound ahead of tomorrow’s FOMC action.

Good luck
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Just How He Feels

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On Wednesday the Chairman reveals
To all of us, just how he feels
If dovish expect
Bulls to genuflect
If hawkish, prepare for some squeals

This is an early note as I will be in transit during my normal time tomorrow.

On Friday, the dollar continued its early morning rebound and was generally firmer all day long. The worst performer was the British pound, which fell more than 1.0% after Friday’s note was sent. It seems that the Brexit story is seen as increasingly tendentious, and much of the optimism that we had seen develop during the past three weeks has dissipated. While the pound remains above its lowest levels from earlier in the month, it certainly appears that those levels, and lower ones, are within reach if there is not some new, positive news on the topic. This appears to be an enormous game of chicken, and at this point, it is not clear who is going to blink first. But every indication is that the pound’s value will remain closely tied to the perceptions of movement on a daily basis. Hedgers need to be vigilant in maintaining appropriate hedge levels as one cannot rule out a significant move in either direction depending on the next piece of news.

But away from the pound, the story was much more about lightening positions ahead of the weekend, and arguably ahead of this week’s FOMC meeting. The pattern from earlier in the week; a weaker dollar along with higher equity prices around the world and higher government bond yields, was reversed in a modest way. US equity markets closed slightly softer, the dollar, net, edged higher, and 10-year Treasury yields fell 2bps.

The big question remains was the dollar’s recent weakness simply a small correction that led to the other market moves, or are we at the beginning of a new, more significant trend of dollar weakness? And there is no easy answer to that one.

Looking ahead to this week shows the following data will be released:

Tuesday Case-Shiller House Prices 6.2%
  Consumer Confidence 312.2
Wednesday New Home Sales 630K
  FOMC Decision 2.25%
Thursday Initial Claims 208K
  Goods Trade Balance -$70.6B
  Q2 GDP 4.2%
Friday PCE 0.2% (2.3% Y/Y)
  Core PCE 0.1% (2.0% Y/Y)
  Personal Income 0.4%
  Personal Spending 0.3%
  Chicago PMI 62.5
  Michigan Sentiment 100.8

So clearly, the FOMC is the big issue. It is universally expected that they will raise the Fed funds rate by 25bps to 2.25%. The real question will be with the dot plot, and the analysis as to whether the sentiment in the room is getting even more hawkish, or if the CPI data from two weeks ago was enough to take some of the edge off their collective thinking, and perhaps even change the median expectations of the path of rate hikes. I can virtually guarantee you that if the dot plot shows a lower median, even if it is because of a change by just one FOMC member, equity markets will explode higher around the world, the dollar will fall and government bond yields will rise. However, my own view is that the data since we have last heard from any Fed speaker has not been nearly soft enough to consider changing one’s view. Instead, I expect a neutral to hawkish statement, and a little pressure on equities.

But the big picture narrative does seem to be starting to change, and so any dollar benefit is likely to be short lived. Be ready to hear a great deal more about the structural deficits and how that will force the dollar lower. One last thing, tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports go into effect on Monday, which will only serve to add upward pressure to inflation data, and ultimately keep the FOMC quite vigilant. I remain committed to the idea that the cyclical factors will regain their preeminence, but it just may take a few weeks or months for that to be apparent. In the meantime, look for the dollar to slowly slide lower.

Good luck
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Rate Hikes to Condone

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Today’s UK data has shown
The pace of price rises has grown
Surprising most folks
And likely to coax
Mark Carney, rate hikes to condone

The British pound is outperforming today, currently up 0.35%, as the market responds to a higher than expected inflation reading released this morning. CPI printed at 2.7%, well above the 2.4% consensus view and perhaps signaling that UK inflation, after a summer reprieve, is set to return to its post-Brexit peak of 3.1%. This has traders increasing their estimates of rate activity by the BOE, starting to price in tighter policy despite the ongoing uncertainty created by Brexit. As such, it should not be too surprising that the pound is firmer.

But the pound is by no means alone in its performance characteristics this morning, with the dollar weaker against virtually all comers. In fact, only two of the G10 bloc has suffered today, CHF (-0.45%) and JPY (-0.1%), the two haven currencies. The implication is that risk-taking is back. Certainly equity markets have been holding up their end of that bargain, with US markets strong performance yesterday feeding into strength throughout most of APAC last night led by Shanghai’s 1.1% gains and the Nikkei’s 1.0% rally. European shares, however, have seen a less positive reaction, as they are up at the margin, but only a few basis points, with some markets, notably Italy, actually suffering. (Italy, however, is feeling the effects of the imminent budget deadline with no cogent plan in place and significant differences between the government’s election promises and the fiscal restraint imposed by the EU.) But the other haven asset of note, US Treasuries, has also sold off, with the 10-year yield now trading at 3.05%, its highest level since late May. All told, despite the ongoing trade tensions, it seems that market participants are increasingly comfortable adding to their risk profiles.

More proof of this concept comes from the huge leveraged debt financing completed yesterday by Blackstone Group, where they borrowed $13.5 billion to purchase 55% of a Thompson-Reuters data company called Refinitiv (who comes up with these names?) At any rate, despite ratings of B- by S&P and Caa2 by Moody’s, and a leverage ratio of between 7x and 8x of EBITDA, the deal was massively oversubscribed with yields printing at, for example, 8.25% for 8-year unsecured notes, down from an initial expectation of 9.00%. High leverage, covenant lite debt is all the rage again. What could possibly go wrong?

But I digress. Back in the currency world, the dollar’s weakness has manifested itself in the EMG bloc as well as G10. For example, despite a softer than expected inflation reading from South Africa, where the headline fell to 4.9% while core fell to 4.2%, the rand is firmer by 1.8% this morning. The story here is confusing as some pundits believe that the central bank may be forced to raise rates in order to help protect the rand, which despite today’s rally is still lower by 10% this year. We have seen this type of behavior from Russia, India and Indonesia, three nations where domestic concerns have been outweighed by their currency’s weakness. However, there is a large contingent that believe the SARB will stay on the sidelines as they seek to encourage growth ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for the middle of next year.

It is not just the rand, however, that is showing strength today, but a broad spectrum of EMG currencies. These include MXN (+0.35%), INR (+0.45%), TRY (+1.5%), RUB (+0.5%) and HUF (+0.25%); as wide a cross-section as we are likely to see. In other words, this has much more to do with broad trends than specific data or stories. And with that in mind, it is hard to fight the tape.

It has become increasingly clear that most markets have made peace with the idea that the trade situation is not going to improve in the short run. Next week the US will impose 10% tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports and the administration is already preparing its list for an additional $267 billion of goods to be taxed. No economist believes that this will enhance the pace of growth; rather the universal assumption is that global growth will slow amid this process. And yet investors and traders have simply decided to ignore this outcome, with a large contingent explicitly declaring that they believe these are simply negotiating tactics and that there will be no long-term impact. While I hope they are correct, I fear this is not the case, and that instead, we are going to see this process carry on for an extended period of time, driving up prices and inflation and forcing the Fed to tighten policy more than currently priced by markets. If I am correct, then the likelihood of a significant repricing of risk is quite large. But again, that is only if I am correct.

As to today’s session, we see our first real data of the week with Housing Starts (exp 1.23M) and Building Permits (1.31M) as well as the reading on the Current Account (-$103.5B). But with risk-on today’s theme, these data would have to be drastically weak, sub 1.0M, to have an impact. Instead, it appears that the dollar will remain under pressure today, and perhaps through the rest of the week into next as the market awaits the Fed rate hike next week, and more importantly the statement describing their future views. Until then, this seems to be the theme.

Good luck
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Things Went Awry

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A decade has passed since the day
That Lehman collapsed all the way
It sank several banks
And brought us Dodd-Frank
In effort to curb foul play

And during those ten years gone by
A number of things went awry
Some xenophobes won
And they’ve overrun
Attempts, good ideas, to apply

The upshot is markets worldwide
Have started to feel the downside
Of higher Fed rates
While there are debates
If euros or dollars will slide

Despite a number of ongoing stories that may ultimately impact markets, notably the US-China trade situation, Italian budget discussions and Brexit negotiations, movement overnight in the FX market has been benign. This morning, the broad dollar index is lower by about 0.25%, with most G10 currencies having strengthened by similar amounts, but the EMG bloc remains under pressure with TRY (-1.5%), INR (-0.75%), KRW (-0.5%) and ZAR (-0.5%) all leaning in the other direction. However, when stepping back to get perspective, the situation can fairly be summed up by saying EMG currencies have been weakening pretty consistently for the past six plus months, while the G10 has barely moved at all since the end of May when the dollar’s sharp rise came to a halt.

Given the relatively uninteresting state of markets this morning, and the fact that there is virtually no data of note until Wednesday this week, I thought I might take a short retrospective look at how things have changed since the financial crisis ten years ago.

Remarkably, last Friday was the tenth anniversary of Lehman Brothers bankruptcy filing. The ensuing ten years has brought about significant changes in the way markets behave, regulators oversee things and investors approach the process. Arguably, the bigger question is what will the next ten years look like. And while there is no way to be sure, there do seem to be several trends that have further to run.

The hardest thing to understand is how a debt fueled crisis resulted in policies designed to increase debt further. While during the immediacy of the extremely deep recession in 2009 there were few complaints about central bank policy trends, which were seen as emergency measures, the first eyebrows were raised when interest rates went negative in Sweden, and then followed throughout Europe and then finally in Japan. But even that would likely have been seen as generally reasonable if the interest rate cycle had been of a more normal duration. Instead, central bankers around the world collectively decided that expanding global money supply inexorably for ten years was the prudent thing to do. Consider that despite global growth chugging along at about 3.5%, global money supply has risen more than 100% since 2008, which means it has grown at nearly an 8% annual clip. As evidenced by the large gap between economic and monetary growth, it is clear that some great portion of that new money found a home outside the ‘real’ economy.

In fact, it is this situation that has defined market activity since 2008, while simultaneously confusing half the economic community. That money has found a home in global debt and equity markets, causing massive inflation there, while only trickling into the real economy and thus allowing measured price inflation, like CPI or PCE, to remain subdued. Most market analysts understood this concept within months of the process beginning, but mainstream economists and policymakers claimed to be puzzled by the lack of inflation, and so were willing to maintain ‘emergency’ policy for ten years, despite rebounding global growth. Now, clearly through this period there were areas in the world that had slowdowns (notably Europe in 2011 and China in 2015), but the idea that flooding the market with funds and then leaving them in place for nigh on ten years was economically prudent seems hard to swallow.

And of course, there were real consequences to these actions, not simply numeric arguments. Income and wealth inequality exploded, as those already rich were the main beneficiaries of the global stock and bond market rallies. At the same time, lower skilled labor found themselves under enormous pressure from a combination of technological improvements in production, reducing the demand for labor and globalization increasing the supply of labor. In hindsight, it should be no surprise at all that we have seen a significant increase in the number of nationalists being elected around the world, especially in the G10. After all, it is much easier to demonize foreign workers than industrial robots, especially since they don’t vote.

The thing is that while the Fed has, at least, made some strides to finally reduce the money supply, both raising rates and allowing their balance sheet to actually shrink, they remain the only central bank doing so. And even though the ECB is slowing its QE purchases, they are still adding funds, while both China and Japan continue to add money to the system indefinitely. Current forecasts show that global money supply will not start to shrink until the end of next year at the earliest based on current policy trajectories and expectations. However, that makes the heroic assumption that when money supply starts to shrink, financial markets will be unaffected. And that seems highly unlikely given how crucial those excess funds have been to financial market performance for the past decade.

Summing up, the Lehman bankruptcy triggered a global crisis that was built on excessive leverage, notably in the US housing market. The crisis response was to cut short-term interest rates dramatically while flooding the markets with cash in order to drive down long-term interest rates. The consequences of this policy, which was repeated around the world once the Fed led the way, was a massive rally in both equity and fixed income markets, and a modest rebound in economic growth. Financial engineering became the norm (issue cheap debt to repurchase shares and drive up EPS and stock prices while increasing balance sheet leverage), whereas R&D and Capex shrank in comparison. The dollar, meanwhile, initially rallied sharply as a safe haven, and despite periodic bouts of weakness, it has continued its long-term uptrend, thus pressuring export industries to move production offshore. And the result of all that economic and financial change has been the rise of nationalist political parties around the world as well as significant pressure on the global free trade movement amongst nations.

There is a great irony in the fact that for many years after the crisis, central bankers were terrified of global deflation, and sought aggressively to push inflation higher. Well, now they have done so in spades, and it will be quite interesting to see how they respond to this more traditional monetary phenomenon. As the Fed continues on its current policy path, we are seeing an increasing number of EMG central banks forced to raise rates as well, despite suspect economic growth, as inflation is breaking out all over the bloc. Friday saw Russia raise rates in a surprise, and all eyes are on Brazil and South Africa this week. My fear is that ten years of emergency monetary accommodation has left the world in a precarious position, one where the future will see even bigger problems than the crisis ten years ago. Ask yourself this, how will global markets respond to a debt “jubilee”, where debt is simply erased from the books and investors are left in the lurch? Don’t think it can’t happen.

And with that as a backdrop, let’s quickly look ahead to a very limited week of data as follows:

Today Empire Manufacturing 23.0
Tuesday TIC Flows $65.1B
Wednesday Housing Starts 1.23M
  Building Permits 1.31M
Thursday Initial Claims 210K
  Philly Fed 16.5
  Existing Home Sales 5.36M

With the FOMC meeting next week, all eyes are going to turn in that direction. While expectations are universal for a 25bp rate hike, the question is how hawkish or dovish will they sound. The interesting thing is that recent comments by Fed speakers have been far more focused on the potential of the ongoing trade issues to negatively impact the economy. (Secretly I believe that they are actually quite happy with this as if things turn south they will be able to blame someone else and the market will accept that explanation.) At any rate, the data of late has been mixed, with the wage data showing stronger than expected growth, while CPI was actually soft. Given the dearth of important data this week, I expect that the dollar will continue its recent wishy-washy performance, with some days of modest rallies and some days of modest declines, but no new trend evolving.

Good luck
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Inspired

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It seems that inflation here’s not
Exploding, nor running too hot
That news has inspired
Stocks getting acquired
The dollar, meanwhile, went to pot

Yesterday’s CPI reading was surprisingly mild, with the headline rate rising 2.7% and the core just 2.2%. Both those readings were 0.1% below expectations and the market reaction was swift. Equity futures rallied immediately, with those gains maintained, and actually increased, throughout the session. At the same time the euro jumped 0.6%, as the CPI data moderated expectations of an ever more aggressive Fed. In other words, Goldilocks is still alive and well.

The employment situation in the US remains remarkably robust (Initial Claims were just 204K, the lowest level since December 1969!), while inflation seems to be under control. If you recall Chairman Powell’s comments from Jackson Hole, he remains data dependent, and clearly does not feel beholden to any particular economic model that defines where interest rates ought to be based on historical constructs. Rather, he seems willing to be patient if patience is required. Certainly the market understands that to be his view, as this data has helped flatten the trajectory of rate hikes further out the curve. While there is no doubt that the Fed will move later this month, and the probability of a December move remains high, next year suddenly looks much less certain, at least right now. Given this new information, it is no surprise that the dollar remains under modest pressure. And if the data starts to point to a slowdown in US growth and continued moderation in inflation, then the dollar ought to continue to suffer. But one data point does not make a trend, so let’s be careful about extrapolating this too far.

Beyond the CPI data, we also heard from Signor Draghi at the ECB press conference. He was remarkably consistent despite the reduction in GDP growth forecasts made by his staff economists. QE will wind down as advertised, with €30 billion of purchases this month and then €15 billion for the rest of the year, ending in December. And rates will remain where they are “through summer” which has widely been interpreted to mean until September 2019. Consider that one year from now, US interest rates are very likely to be at least 75bps higher than the current 2.00% and possibly as much as 150bps higher, which means that the spread will be at least 315bps in favor of the dollar. I understand that markets are forward looking, but boy, that is a very wide spread to ignore, and I expect that the dollar will continue to benefit accordingly.

Last night we also saw important data from China, where Fixed Asset Investment rose at its slowest pace (5.3%) since the data series began in 1996. This is somewhat surprising given Beijing’s recent instructions to regional governments to increase infrastructure investment as President Xi attempts to address a slowing economy. From the Chinese perspective, this is also an unwelcome outcome for the ongoing trade dispute with the US as it may give the appearance that China is more motivated for a deal and encourage President Trump to press harder. But for our purposes, the risk is that a slowing Chinese economy results in a weaker renminbi and there is clearly concern in Beijing that if USDCNY trades to 7.00, it could well encourage a more significant capital flight from the country, something that the PBOC wants to avoid at all costs. Now, last night it fell just 0.2% on the news and has actually recouped those losses since then, but that fear remains a driving force in Chinese policy.

The other stories that continue are in Turkey, where it should be no surprise that President Erdogan was extremely disappointed in the central bank for its surprisingly large rate hike yesterday morning. While the lira has held on to the bulk of its early gains, given Erdogan’s unpredictability, it is easy to contemplate further changes in the central bank governance that would be seen as quite negative for TRY. In Italy, the budget battles continue with no outcome yet, but this morning’s spin being somewhat less positive than yesterday’s, with concerns FinMin Tria will not be able to prevent a breech of the EU’s 3.0% budget deficit limit. And finally, BOE Governor Carney, in a closed door briefing with the PM and her cabinet, indicated that one possible scenario if there is no Brexit deal would be for crashing house prices but rising interest rates, a true double whammy. And on that subject, there has been no indication that a deal is any closer at this time. But all of these have been secondary to the CPI story, which seemed to change the tone of the markets.

This morning brings a raft of US data as follows: Retail Sales (exp 0.4%, 0.5% ex autos); IP (0.3%); Capacity Utilization (78.3%); Business Inventories (0.6%); and Michigan Consumer Sentiment (96.7). Arguably, the Retail Sales data will be the most closely watched as investors try to get a better understanding of just how the US economy is performing, but quite frankly, that number would need to be quite strong to alter the impressions from yesterday. Finally, we hear from Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, which could be interesting based on the CPI data’s change to impressions. In the end, though, I expect a relatively quiet session. It’s Friday and traders will want to reduce exposures.

Good luck and good weekend
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A Charade

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The news there was movement on trade
Twixt China and us helped persuade
Investors to buy
Though prices are high
And it could well be a charade

We also learned wholesale inflation
Was lower across the whole nation
Thus fears that the Fed
Might still move ahead
Aggressively lost their foundation

The dollar is little changed overall this morning, although there are a few outlier moves to note. However, the big picture is that we remain range bound as traders and investors try to determine what the path forward is going to look like. Yesterday’s clues were twofold. First was the story that Treasury Secretary Mnuchin has reached out to his Chinese counterpart, Liu He, and requested a ministerial level meeting in the coming weeks to discuss the trade situation more actively ahead of the potential imposition of tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports. This apparent thawing in the trade story was extremely well received by markets, pushing most equity prices higher around the world as well as sapping a portion of dollar strength in the FX markets. Remember, the cycle of higher tariffs leading to higher inflation and therefore higher US interest rates has been one of the factors underpinning the dollar’s broad strength.

But the other piece of news that seemed to impact the dollar was a bit more surprising, PPI. Generally, this is not a data point that FX traders care about, but given the overall focus on inflation and the fact that it printed lower than expected (-0.1%, 2.8% Y/Y for the headline number and -0.1%, 2.3% Y/Y for the core number) it encouraged traders to believe that this morning’s CPI data would be softer than expected and therefore reduce some of the Fed’s hawkishness. However, it is important to understand that PPI and CPI measure very different things in somewhat different manners and are actually not that tightly correlated. In fact, the BLS has an entire discussion about the differences on their website (https://www.bls.gov/ppi/ppicpippi.htm). The point is that PPI’s surprising decline is unlikely to be mirrored by CPI today. Nonetheless, upon the release, the dollar softened across the board.

This morning, however, the dollar has edged slightly higher, essentially unwinding yesterday’s weakness. As the market awaits news from three key central banks, ECB, BOE and Bank of Turkey, traders have played things pretty close to the vest. Expectations are that neither the BOE or the ECB will change policy in any manner, and in fact, the BOE doesn’t even have a press conference scheduled so there is likely to be very little there. As to Draghi’s presser at 8:30, assuming there is no new guidance as expected, questions will almost certainly focus on the fact that the ECB staff economists have reduced their GDP growth forecasts and how that is likely to impact policy going forward. It will be very interesting to hear Draghi dance around the idea that softer growth still requires tighter policy.

But certainly the most interesting meeting will be from Istanbul, where current economist forecasts are for a 325bp rate rise to 22.0% in order to stem the decline of the lira as well as try to address rampant inflation. The problem is that President Erdogan was out this morning lambasting higher interest rates as he was implementing new domestic rules on FX. In the past, many transactions in Turkey were denominated in either USD or EUR (things like building leases) as the financing was in those currencies, and so landlords were pushing the FX risk onto the tenants. But Erdogan decreed that transactions like that are now illegal, everything must be priced in lira, and that existing contracts need to be converted within 30 days at an agreed upon rate. All this means is that if the currency continues to weaken, the landlords will go bust, not the tenants. But it will still be a problem.

Elsewhere, momentum for a Brexit fudge deal seems to be building, although there is also talk of a rebellion in the Tory party amongst Brexit hardliners and an incipient vote of no confidence for PM May to be held next month. Certainly, if she is ousted it would throw the negotiations into turmoil and likely drive the pound significantly lower. But that is all speculation as of now, and the market is ascribing a relatively low probability to that outcome.

FLASH! In the meantime, the BOE left rates on hold, in, as expected, a unanimous vote, and the Bank of Turkey surprised one and all, raising rates 525bps to 24.0%, apparently willing to suffer the wrath of Erdogan. And TRY has rallied more than 5% on the news, and is now trading just around 6.00, its strongest level since late August. While it is early days, perhaps this will be enough to help stabilize the lira. However, history points to this as likely being a short reprieve unless other policies are enacted that will help stabilize the economy. And that seems a much more daunting task with Erdogan at the helm.

Elsewhere in the EMG bloc we have seen both RUB and ZAR continue their recent hot streaks with the former clearly rising on the back of rising oil prices while the latter is responding to a report from Moody’s that they are unlikely to cut South Africa to a junk rating, thus averting the prospect of wholesale debt liquidation by foreign investors.

As mentioned before, this morning brings us CPI (exp 0.3%, 2.8% Y/Y for headline, 0.2%, 2.4% Y/Y for core). Certainly, anything on the high side is likely to have a strong impact on markets, unwinding yesterday’s mild dollar weakness as well as equity market strength. This morning we hear from Fed governor Randy Quarles, but he is likely to focus on regulation not policy. Meanwhile, yesterday we heard from Lael Brainerd and she was quite clear that the Fed was on the correct path and that two more rate hikes this year were appropriate, as well as at least two more next year with the possibility of more than that. So Brainerd, who had been one of the most dovish members for a long time, has turned hawkish.

All in all, traders will be focused on two things at 8:30, CPI and Draghi, with both of them important enough to move markets if they surprise. However, the big picture remains one where the Fed is the central bank with the highest probability of tightening faster than anticipated, while the ECB, given the slowing data from Europe, seems like the one most likely to falter. All that adds up to continued dollar strength over time.

Good luck
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