Tag Archives: #election

Chaos Prevailed

Posted on by

In Washington, chaos prevailed
As Congress’s job was derailed
Investors, though, thought
‘Twas nothing, and bought
More stocks with the 10-year was assailed

One of the more remarkable aspects of the chaotic events in Washington, DC yesterday was the fact that the market reaction was completely benign.  On the one hand, given the working assumption that the theatrics would not affect the ultimate outcome, it is understandable.  On the other hand, the fact that there continues to be this amount of discord in the nation in the wake of a highly contentious election bodes ill for the ability of things to quickly return to normal.  In the end, though, market activity indicates the investment community firmly believes there will be lots more fiscal stimulus as the new Biden administration tries to address the ongoing pandemic driven economic issues.  Hence, the idea behind the reflation trade remains the current narrative, with more stimulus leading to faster economic growth, while increased Treasury supply to fund that stimulus leads to higher long end yields and a steeper yield curve.

However, now that the formalities of the electoral vote counting have concluded, focus has turned back to the narrative on a full-time basis, with the ongoing argument over whether inflation or deflation is in our future, as well as the question of whether assets, generally, are fairly valued or bubblicious.  The thing is, away from the politics, nothing has really changed very much lately.

Covid-19 continues to spread and the resultant lockdowns around the world continue to be expanded and extended.  Just last night, for instance, Japan declared a limited state of emergency in Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures in an effort to stem the spread of Covid.  That nation has been dealing with its highest caseload since April, and the Suga government was responding to requests for help from the local governments.  Meanwhile, in Germany, on Tuesday lockdowns were extended through the end of January and restrictions tightened to prevent travel of more than 15km from one’s home.  And yet, this type of news clearly does not dissuade investors as last night saw the Nikkei rally 1.6% while the DAX, this morning, is higher by 0.4% after a 1.75% rally yesterday.  In the end, the narrative continues to highlight the idea that the worse the Covid situation, the greater the probability of further fiscal and monetary stimulus, and therefore the bigger the boost to growth.

At the same time, the reflation piece of the narrative continues apace with Treasury yields continuing to climb, edging higher by one more basis point so far this morning after an eight basis point rise yesterday.  Something that has received remarkably little attention overall is the fact that oil prices have been rallying so steadily of late, having climbed more than 40% since the day before the Presidential election, and given the pending supply reductions, showing no signs of backing off.  This, along with the ongoing rallies in most commodities, is part and parcel of the reflation trade, as well as deemed a key piece of the ultimate dollar weakness story.

Regarding this last observation, there is, indeed, a pretty strong negative correlation between the dollar’s value and the price of oil.  Of course, the question to be answered is the direction of causality.  Do rising oil prices lead to a weaker dollar?  Or is it the other way round?  If it is the former, then the dollar’s future is likely to be one of weakness as the supply reductions in US shale production alongside the Saudi cuts can easily lead to further gains of $10-$15/bbl.  However, the dollar is impacted by many things, notably Fed policy, and if the dollar is the driver of oil movement, the future of the black, sticky stuff is going to be far less certain.  If, for example, inflation rises more rapidly than currently anticipated, and forces the market to consider that the Fed may react by reducing policy ease, the dollar could easily find support, especially given the massive short positions currently outstanding.  Would oil continue to rise into that circumstance?  The point is, correlations are fine to recognize, but as a planning tool, they leave something to be desired.  Understanding the fundamentals underlying price action remains critical to plan effectively.

As to today’s session, the risk picture has turned somewhat mixed.  As mentioned above, Asian equity prices had a pretty good day, with Shanghai (+0.7%) rising alongside the Nikkei, although the Hang Seng (-0.5%) struggled.  European bourses are mixed, with the DAX (0.4%) leading and the CAC (+0.1%) slightly higher although the FTSE 100 (-0.5%) is under pressure.  There is one outlier here, Sweden, where the OMX has rallied 2.1% this morning, although there is no general news driving the movement.  In fact, PMI Services data was released at its weakest level since the summer, which hardly heralds future strength.

We’ve already discussed Treasury weakness but the picture in Europe is more mixed, with bunds (-1bps) and OATs (-0.5bps) rallying slightly while Gilts (+1.7bps) are under pressure alongside Treasuries.

And finally, the dollar is showing some solid gains this morning, higher against all its G10 counterparts and most of the EMG bloc.  Despite ongoing strength in the commodity space, AUD (-0.75%) leads the way lower with NZD (-0.6%) next in line.  Clearly, the market did not embrace the Japanese news on the lockdown, as the yen has declined 0.6% as well.  As to the single currency, it has fallen 0.5%, with a very strong resistance level building at 1.2350.  It will take quite an effort to get through that level in the short run.

Emerging markets declines are led by CLP (-1.85%) and ZAR (-1.0%), although the weakness is nearly universal.  Interestingly, the Chile story is not about copper, which continues to perform well, but rather seems to be a situation where the currency is being used as a funding currency for carry trades in the EMG bloc.  ZAR, on the other hand, is suffering alongside gold, which got hammered yesterday and is continuing to soften.

On the data front, today brings Initial Claims (exp 800K), Continuing Claims (5.2M), the Trade Balance (-$67.3B) and ISM Services (54.5).  Remember, tomorrow is payrolls day, so there may be less attention paid to these numbers this morning.  One cautionary tale comes from the Challenger Job Cuts number, which is released monthly but given limited press.  Today, it jumped 134.5% from one year ago, a significant jump on the month, and a bad omen for the employment picture going forward.  With this in mind, it seems highly unlikely the Fed will do anything but ease policy further in the near term.  One other thing, yesterday the December FOMC Minutes were released but had no market impact.  Recall, the December meeting occurred prior to the stimulus bill or the Georgia run-off election, so was missing much new information.  But in them, the FOMC made clear that the bias was for a dovish stance for a long time to come.  Based on what we heard from Chicago’s Evans on Tuesday, it doesn’t seem that anything has changed since then.

Given the significant short dollar positions that are outstanding in the investment and speculative communities, the idea that the dollar could rally in the near term is quite valid.  While nothing has changed my longer-term view of rising inflation and deeper negative real yields undermining the dollar, that doesn’t mean we can’t jump in the near term.

Good luck and stay safe
Adf

Blue Wave at Last

Posted on by

Psephologists have now decided
The run-off election provided
A blue wave at last
So laws can be passed
Republicans view as misguided

The market responded by sellin’
The 10-year, with traders foretellin’
Inflation to come
As Powell stays mum
While financing Treasury’s Yellen

While the election results from Georgia are not yet final, the indications at this time are that the Democratic party won one of the seats with the second one still too close to call.  However, the market has already made its decision, that both seats flipped to the Democrats and that the Senate will now be split 50:50, which means that the Vice President will be able to cast the deciding vote.  The clear implication is that, while hardly a mandate, the Democrats will control both the executive and legislative branches and be able to implement a great deal of their agenda.  In other words, the blue wave high tide has finally crested.

The initial reaction to this news has been seen in the sell-off of the 10-year Treasury, where the yield has risen to 1.02% as I type, its first foray above 1.00% since March 19th, during the first days of the Covid-19 market panic.  The reflation trade is back in vogue, with expectations now that the new administration will be aggressively adding fiscal stimulus, thus increasing Treasury issuance significantly and ultimately steepening the yield curve as demand for long-dated Treasuries will not be able to keep pace with the new supply.  However, given the already record levels of debt outstanding, the government simply cannot afford for interest rates to rise too far, as if they do, interest payments will soak up an ever-increasing proportion of available revenues.  It is for this reason that I continue to believe the Fed will increase their current activity, and whether tacitly, by expanding QE and extending the maturity of purchases, or explicitly, by setting a yield target, implement Yield Curve Control (YCC).

At the same time, the Fed has made it abundantly clear that higher inflation is of no concern to the committee.  The latest proof comes from Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, who explained to us yesterday, “Frankly, if we got 3% inflation, that would not be so bad.  It is very difficult to imagine out of control inflation, even with the large debt that fiscal authorities have been running up.”   Perhaps, as a Regional Fed President, he simply lacks imagination.  After all, just yesterday, almost at the same time he was recounting his views, the ISM Prices Paid index printed at 77.6, well above expectations and at a level seen only twice, briefly, in the past decade.  There is a strong correlation between this index and PPI, so the idea that inflation pressures are building is hardly unimaginable.

Which brings us back to the prospects for the dollar, as well as other markets.  While yields have climbed today, the prospect of inflation rising more rapidly and real rates falling further into negative territory still informs my view that the dollar has further to decline.  This will become more obvious when the Fed steps in to prevent the rise in nominal yields, which I am confident will occur sooner rather than later.  Again, while I don’t anticipate a dollar collapse, as other central banks will fight to prevent such an outcome, further dollar weakness is in the cards.

Speaking of other central banks fighting the dollar’s weakness, last night the PBOC started to do just that by establishing the CNY fix at a weaker renminbi rate than anticipated.  Since August 1st, CNY has appreciated by nearly 8% vs. the dollar, which for an economy that remains heavily reliant on exporting for GDP growth, is a growing problem.  As the PBOC makes no bones about directing the value of the currency, you can expect that they will be actively managing the renminbi’s value going forward in an effort to prevent too much further strength.  But, as long as both nominal and real yields remain positive in China, that will attract significant capital flows and continue to pressure the renminbi higher.

So, what has all this news done to other markets?  Well, most of Europe is ecstatic at the election outcome, at least that seems to be the case based on the rallies seen in equity markets there.  The FTSE 100 (+2.3%) is leading the way, but we are seeing strong gains in the DAX (+0.9%) and CAC (+0.8%) as well, despite the fact that the PMI Services data disappointed across the board.  The story in Asia was more mixed with the Nikkei (-0.4%) and Australia (-1.1%) underwhelmed by the outcome, although the Hang Seng (+0.2%) and Shanghai (+0.6%) both wound up in the green.  As to US futures, as I type, they are a mixed bag, with DOW futures higher by 0.2%, SPU’s lower by 0.4% while NASDAQ futures are down 2.0%.  The latter’s decline are a response to the election results as concerns grow that Big Tech will now be in the crosshairs of Congress for more regulation if not outright dismemberment.

While we have already discussed the Treasury market, European government bonds are mostly softer today as well, with yields rising as much as 4bps in the UK, although German bunds are unchanged on the session.

Another inflationary impulse comes from oil, where yesterday the Saudis surprised the market by unilaterally cutting production by 1 million barrels/day helping to take WTI above $50/bbl for the first time since late February.  If this rally continues, look for gasoline prices to creep higher, one of the key sentiment indicators regarding the perception of inflation.

And finally, the dollar remains broadly under pressure this morning, with NOK (+0.75%) the leading gainer in the G10 on the back of the oil rally, although both AUD (+0.6%) and NZD (+0.65%) are also having a good day as both commodity prices gain and they serve as a proxy for Asian growth.  Meanwhile, the euro (+0.35%) is trading at new highs for the move and back to levels not seen since April 2018.

Emerging market currencies are universally higher this morning, led by PLN (+0.85%), MXN (+0.8%) and HUF (+0.8%).  Those stories are easy to see, with oil helping the peso, while the CE4 currencies are tracking the euro’s strength.  Asian currencies, while all firmer, did not show nearly the enthusiasm, with gains between 0.1% and 0.2%, but of course, the election results were not fully known during their session.

On the data front, this morning brings ADP Employment (exp 75K) as well as Factory Orders (0.7%) and the PMI Services index (55.2).  Then, this afternoon, we see the FOMC Minutes of the December meeting, one where they disappointed many folks by not easing further. The first thing to note is that after yesterday’s ISM data, the ADP forecast increased from 50K.  Clearly, the manufacturing sector remains in better shape than expected.  At the same time, the Minutes ought to be interesting as perhaps we will learn more about attitudes regarding any prospects for what could change policy.  Of course, given the world was a different place then, and as Evans explained, inflation is of no concern, the real question from the Minutes will be what will the Fed do next to ease further.

As to the dollar, it is hard to see a short-term path in any direction other than lower, but I continue to expect the decline to be slow and orderly.

Good luck and stay safe
Adf

All Colored Rose

Posted on by

With spectacles all colored rose
Investors see only the pros
While cons may exist
They’ve all been dismissed
Thus, risk appetite only grows

It is good to be alive!!  That seems to be the mantra in markets this morning as despite ongoing vote recounts in a number of states, the mainstream media have declared Joe Biden the winner of the election.  This has unleashed a wave of buying (albeit not a blue wave) which has pushed both equity and commodity prices higher, as well as, interestingly enough, bond prices.  While I rarely, if ever, quote from another organization’s research, I will make an exception today as I feel it encapsulates the mindset that appears to have taken hold.  Citibank published a note over the weekend with the following: “..[the] trifecta of knowing who the next president will be, that the end of the pandemic is at hand and that sufficient economic stimulus will be available for the interim will mark the bright start of the New Economic Cycle in 2021.”  Perhaps, reading this comment you may understand why I have become such a skeptic over time.

Let us deconstruct this trifecta.  At this time, there are recounts in several key battleground states where the margin of victory was extremely narrow, including Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan and Georgia, and although the bulk of the media continue to claim this will not change the outcome, stranger things have happened.  However, let us assume this is the case.  The second leg is “the end of the pandemic is at hand”.  This statement seems a bit disingenuous. Every day there is a headline about the rising number of cases worldwide, which have now topped 50 million since this began in March and are spiking rapidly into the second wave.  In addition, we know that Europe has essentially closed down half its economy for the month of November.  In the meantime, one of the forecast benefits of a Biden victory was a new, national and sensible approach to addressing the pandemic.  It strikes me that if the end of the pandemic were at hand, the rise in new daily cases would be heading toward zero, or some extremely low number, certainly not the 472+K reported yesterday or 600K the day before, nor would there be a need for a new and sensible policy as the pandemic was already ending.  Finally, with the presumed Republican majority in the Senate, and with Majority Leader McConnell having indicated that the next stimulus bill should not be more than $500 billion, either the definition of sufficient has changed (prior to the election the punditry insisted that at least $2 trillion was necessary), or more cynically, Citibank is simply talking their book, trying to encourage more investment and economic activity, especially utilizing their services.

However, it is clear that market participants are willing to accept that trifecta at face value, and so this morning, we are seeing a powerful risk rally across all asset classes.  Starting with equity markets, which are clearly the drivers of risk sentiment, not only is my screen completely green, but powerfully so.  Asia started the process with significant gains (Nikkei +2.1%, Hang Seng +1.2%, Shanghai +1.9%), and Europe has taken up the mantle with gusto (DAX +1.9%, CAC +1.6%, FTSE 100 +1.4%).  Remember, all this positivity exists despite the fact that the Brexit negotiations remain quite far apart and ostensibly need to be completed by Sunday coming.  But today, that is irrelevant.  Lest you were concerned US markets were not participating, futures here are much higher as well (DOW and SPC +1.45%, NASDAQ +1.8%).  In other words, all is right with the world.

The bond market’s behavior is far more interesting, however, although perhaps there is a cogent explanation.  As we all know, a risk-on day, especially one as powerful as this, typically sees haven assets like government bonds sold off to free up capital to invest in stocks.  But this morning, Treasury yields are lower by 1 basis point while European markets are seeing yield declines (price rises) of between 2 and 3 basis points (with Greek 10-year yields lower by 8 basis points.)  While Greek yields make sense, after all their bonds are risk assets, not havens, it is surprising to see Bunds, OATS and Gilts rallying so much.  Perhaps the rationale behind this movement is the belief that we are set to see an increase in QE, especially in Europe, as Madame Lagarde has made clear that the ECB is going to be doing more come the December meeting.  The only concern with this thought process is that we have known that to be the case for two weeks, so why would these rallies suddenly pick up steam today?

Commodity markets are definitely feeling the love with oil rallying 3+% and both precious and base metals all higher on the day.  In other words, optimism reigns here.

Finally, the dollar is under pressure against most of its counterparts in the EMG space this morning although is having a mixed performance versus the G10.  Starting with the G10, perhaps the most surprising thing is that NOK (+0.15%) has gained so little given the strong rebound in oil.  Instead, the Commonwealth currencies are the leaders, with NZD (+0.4%) on top followed by CAD and AUD (both +0.2%).  All four of those currencies are beneficiaries of firmer commodity prices.  Meanwhile, JPY (-0.45%) is the leading decliner, which in a risk-on scenario is just what would be expected.  As well, weakness in CHF (-0.2%) is also no surprise.  But the pound (-0.2%) is under a bit of pressure, and neither the euro (-0.1%) nor SEK (-0.2%) have been able to gain during this session, which is somewhat surprising, especially given Stockie’s high beta to risk assets.

In the Emerging markets, TRY (+5.5%) is far and away the big winner today after the central bank governor was replaced and the economics minister (Erdogan’s son-in-law) stepped down.  It seems the market believes that the new central bank governor is going to raise rates to try to shore up the currency.  After that, we have seen solid strength in IDR (+1.0%), MXN (+0.8%) and KRW (+0.65%), although the bulk of the bloc is somewhat higher.  In the case of IDR, the rupiah has been the beneficiary of stock market inflows overnight with Korea’s won feeling the same sort of love.  Of course, MXN benefits when oil rallies, as does RUB (+0.3%) just not that much today.  In fact, the only red numbers come from the CE4 (HUF -0.5% with the others just marginally lower), and that only recently after the euro slid to a loss on the day.

On the data front, there is precious little released this week, with CPI the clear highlight.

Tuesday NFIB Small Biz Optimism 104.4
JOLT’s Job Openings 6.5M
Thursday Initial Claims 730K
Continuing Claims 6.75M
CPI 0.2% (1.3% Y/Y)
-ex food & energy 0.2% (1.7% Y/Y)
Friday PPI 0.2% (0.4% Y/Y)
-ex food & energy 0.2% (1.2% Y/Y)
Michigan Sentiment 81.8

Source: Bloomberg

However, while there may not be much data of note, we do get to hear from loads more Fed speakers this week, with thirteen different events, although only nine different speakers (Dallas’s Kaplan will be hoarse after his four different speeches).  One of these, though, on Thursday, will be Chairman Powell at the ECB Forum, where we will also hear from Madame Lagarde and the BOE Governor Andrew Bailey.

Breaking news just hit the tape about a Pfizer vaccine that was quite efficacious and that has encouraged even more risk taking, so equities are even stronger.  At this stage, there is nothing to stop the risk rally, and thus, nothing to help the dollar today.  While it won’t collapse, it will likely remain under pressure all day.

Good luck and stay safe
Adf

Most Pundits Agree

Posted on by

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good luck and stay safe
Adf

Hopes are now Dashed

Posted on by

Psephologists took a great hit
Their forecasts turned out to be sh*t
The blue wave has crashed
And hopes are now dashed
For Congress, more cash to commit

An astrologer, and economist and a psephologist walk into a bar
“What’s it going to be?” asks the barkeep.
“We have no idea,” they reply

While the final results of the Presidential race are not yet in, nor seem likely to be known before Friday at the earliest, what has become clear is that the Republican party is very likely to retain control of the Senate, no matter what, and that the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives has shrunk.  In other words, the idea of the blue wave, where the Democrats would not merely win the presidency, but retake the Senate and expand their control of the House has been crushed.  And with that outcome, the reflation trade that had gained so many adherents of late, is being quickly unwound.

Thus, the election results have spawned both a bull flattening of the yield curve, with 10-year yields currently lower by 11.5 basis points, while 30-year yields are 13 basis points lower and a dollar rebound, especially against most emerging market currencies.  It had seemed odd yesterday to see such significant market movement ahead of the results of what many expected to be a close, and possibly contested, election.  But clearly, there was a significant amount of enthusiasm for that mythical blue wave.

Until the Presidential results are declared, it will be extremely difficult to focus on US economic issues, as in fairness, given the diametrically opposed platforms of the two candidates, we can only surmise a future path once we know who wins.  As such, I expect the two stories that will dominate for the rest of the week will be the election results and the ongoing covid inspired lockdowns throughout Europe.

As this is not a political discussion, let us turn to the other major storyline.  As of today, it appears that Germany, France, Italy and the UK are all imposing significant restrictions on most, if not all, of their citizens for the entire month of November.  Given the rapid spread of the virus in this wave, Europe reported another 239K new cases yesterday, it is understandable that governments feel the need to act.  However, the balance between trying to maintain economic activity and trying to avoid spending so much money on healthcare save citizens’ lives is a difficult one to maintain.  After all, the EU has very strict guidelines as to what type of budget deficits its members can run, and at this point, every member is over the limit.  It is this reason that Madame Lagarde has been so clear that the ECB can, and will, do more to support the economy.  If they don’t, things will get ugly very quickly.  It is also this reason that leads me to believe the euro has limited upside for the foreseeable future.  Whatever is happening in the US, the situation in Europe is not one that inspires confidence.

Thus, let’s look at how markets are responding to the incomplete election results and the increase in Covid infections.  Equities in Asia had a mixed session, with the Nikkei (+1.7%) performing well while the Hang Seng (-0.2%) suffered on the back of the Ant Financial story.  (This story revolves around the expected IPO of the Chinese company, which was forecast to be the largest of the year, but which the Chinese government squashed.)  Shanghai equities were little changed on the session, up just 0.2%.  Europe, however, has seen early gains evaporate and at this point could best be characterized as mixed.  The DAX (-0.1%) is the laggard, while the CAC and FTSE 100 (+0.2% each) are marginally higher.  However, Spain’s IBEX (-1.1%) is feeling the pain of the lockdowns, as is Italy’s MIB (-0.25%).  US futures are quite interesting at this point, with DOW futures actually lower by 0.1%, while NASDAQ futures are 2.0% higher.  And NASDAQ futures were as much as 4.5% higher earlier in the session.  It seems that the status quo in US politics is deemed a positive for the Tech mega caps, while the cyclical companies are expected to have a much tougher time.  As well, if President Trump wins, there will be no expectation of significant tax hikes, something that would have been a virtual certainty with a President Biden.

As discussed above, Treasuries are rallying fiercely.  But we are seeing rallies throughout Europe as well, with Gilt yields leading the way, having fallen by 4.3 bps, but most of the continent looking at 2bp declines.  This appears to be either position unwinding or a renewed enthusiasm that the ECB is going to step up in a massive way next month.  Recall, yesterday, bonds fell everywhere, so a rebound is not that surprising, especially for those who were selling based on the moves in the US.  However, I suspect that given the newest lockdown announcements, investors have become increasingly convinced that the ECB is going to get perilously close to the idea of direct funding of government deficits, something that is verboten within the rules, but something that is desperately needed by the likes of Italy, Spain and Greece.

As to the dollar, yesterday’s sharp decline was puzzling for the same reason the bond market sell-off was puzzling, and so, this morning’s rebound makes perfect sense.  While earlier in the session, the dollar had seen much sharper gains, at this hour (6:52am), those gains are fairly modest.  AUD (-0.4%) is the worst G10 performer, followed closely by GBP (-0.35%) and NZD (-0.35%).  Meanwhile, both haven currencies, CHF and JPY have climbed back to unchanged on the day from earlier session losses.  With the election news still roiling markets, it is nonsensical to try to attribute these moves to anything other than position moves.

EMG currencies are also under pressure virtually across the board, and like the G10, the early declines, which in some cases were quite substantial have abated.  For instance, MXN (-4.1% last night, -1.0% now) showed the most volatility, but CNY (-1.0% last night, unchanged now) also saw substantial movement.  Again, to attribute this, or any currency movement, to anything other than position adjustment in the wake of the US election results would be a mistake.

As to the data today, the Services PMI data was released throughout Europe and was pretty much as expected.  ISM Services (exp 57.5) is out at 10:00 and expected to continue to show surprising growth.  Before that, we see the Trade Balance (exp -$63.9B), but trade policy is just not of interest these days.

Rather, the market will remain enthralled with the election results, which as I type remain decidedly unclear.  Either candidate could win the key remaining states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia, although all three are trending Trump right now.

In the end, the election result will matter because it will inform policy ideas.  If we remain status quo ante, the dollar likely has further to rise.  If Mr Biden emerges victorious, the dollar could certainly cede its recent gains, but no collapse is in sight.

Good luck and stay safe
Adf

Votes in the States

Posted on by

The second wave’s not the infection
Nor, either, is it the election
Instead, central banks
Will fire more blanks
As each makes a massive injection

But meantime, the world now awaits
The outcome from votes in the States
Most polls point toward Blue
Which many construe
As time to add risk to their plates

Election day has finally arrived, and the market is positively giddy over the prospects, or at least so it seems.  Equity markets worldwide are rising dramatically, haven assets are selling off, so Treasuries and bunds have fallen, and the dollar is under pressure versus every currency except the Turkish lira.  Most polls continue to point to a Biden victory, although there are several, interestsingly those that predicted Trump’s victory four years ago, calling for him to be reelected.  It is interesting that risk is being acquired so aggressively at this time given a key part of the narrative has been the relatively high probability of a contested election with no winner declared for weeks, if not longer driving major uncertainty in markets.  In addition, several big cities have been taking precautions against anticipated violence and rioting, with storefronts being boarded up and additional police called to duty.  Again, that hardly seems like a signal to be adding risk, but then this is the 2020’s, when everything you thought you knew turns out to have been wrong.

I guess the real question is, can the risk rally be sustained?  Well, if central banks have anything to say on the subject, and clearly they will try, the answer is a qualified yes.  Qualified because the longevity of the rally is still subject to debate.

While we all know that both the Fed and Bank of England will be meeting on Thursday, last night we got our first central bank meeting of the week, when the RBA convened Down Under.  As was widely expected, they cut their Cash Rate Target to 0.10% and they lowered the yield target on 3-year government bonds to 0.10% (that is their yield curve control program) but they also surprised the market by expanding their QE by A$100 billion.  This last is in addition to their unlimited purchases to maintain the 3-year rate at 0.10%.  The market response was quite positive, but it’s not clear whether that would have happened regardless, or whether it was dependent on the RBA’s actions.  But whatever the case, the ASX 200 rose 1.9% and AUD rose more than a penny and is higher by 0.9% at this hour.

But what of the rest of the world?  Why is risk being gobbled up so aggressively today?  For instance, despite a complete lack of new data from Europe, we are seeing broad-based strength in Continental equity markets.  The DAX (+1.75%), the CAC (+2.0%) and the FTSE 100 (+1.65%) are all firmly in the green, as are every other Eurozone market.  Perhaps they are continuing to react to last week’s ECB meeting where Madame Lagarde promised to “recalibrate” ECB policy in order to do more.  In other words, the creativity of central bankers will be on full display.  Consider, right now, all they can do is print money and buy bonds.  Perhaps they will start to buy other assets (equities anyone?), or perhaps, the frequently discussed digital euro will be announced, with every Eurozone citizen eligible to open an account at the central bank that will be replenished with cash funds regularly.  Or is it simply the European asset management crowd voting that if the polls are correct, the economy will recover quickly?  While there is no obvious catalyst, market sentiment has turned quite positive this week, especially after last week’s doom and gloom.

But it’s not just Europe.  We saw strength in Asia (Nikkei +1.4%, Hang Seng +2.0%, Shanghai +1.4%) and US futures are rocking as well with DOW (+1.5%) leading the way, though both the SPX (+1.2%) and NASDAQ (+0.75%) remain firmly positive.  Again, other than the RBA news, there was nothing out of Asia, and of course it is far too early to have anything from the US.  In fairness, yesterday did see a blowout ISM number 59.3 vs. 56.0 expected, so the data in the US continues to be impressive.  But it beggars belief that equities are rallying today based on that information.  In the end, it remains all about the election.

One thing that we have seen really build up lately is the view that the US yield curve is going to steepen dramatically.  That is evident in the record short position in long bond futures in Chicago (>260K), as well as the massive outflows the from ETF’s TLT and LQD, the biggest government bond and IG corporate bond ETF’s respectively.  The view seems to be that regardless of who wins the election, the US is going to see higher interest rates in the back end as the massive amount of Treasury issuance that will be required to fund the growing budget deficit will overwhelm the market.  And that makes perfect sense.  Of course, making sense and making money are two very different things.  If the market is excessively skewed in one direction in anticipation of an event, it is the very definition of the ‘buy the rumor, sell the news’ set-up that happens time and again.  My take here is that while a year from now, we may well see much higher Treasury yields in the 30-year, that will not be the first move once the election is over.  Not only will the Fed have something to say on the subject, but positions will get stale and unwound, and we could easily see a significant Treasury rally, especially if the economy falters.

One last thing to mention is the oil market, which saw a massive rebound yesterday on the story that the OPEC+ production cuts are likely to remain in place, rather than their expected ending.  In the end, oil prices remain a function of supply and demand, and any economic growth, for now, will still require oil.  The future may well be renewables, but in this case, the future is quite a few years away.

But that is really the story heading into the election.  It is surprising to me that we have seen as much movement as we have this morning, but since election results won’t be released until 7:00pm Eastern time, today is no different than yesterday in terms of new information.  I sincerely doubt that Factory Orders (exp 1.0%) are going to change any views, and given the Fed meeting Thursday, we still have silence from the FOMC.  While I would not fight the tape today, I still do not see the appeal of a short dollar position for the medium term.

Good luck and stay safe
Adf

Remarkable

Posted on by

The week ahead’s certain to be
Remarkable, as we shall see
Election reports
More Fedspeak, of sorts
And data on jobs finally

There should be no lack of excitement this week as (hopefully) the election season finally winds down and we can all try to begin planning for the next four years of policy.  At this point, most of the polls continue to show there will be a change in the White House, with a fair number of polls predicting a blue wave, where the Democrats retake the Senate, as well as the Presidency.  The thing about pollsters is they are very much like economists; they take the data they want and extrapolate the information in a linear fashion going forward.  The problem with this approach, both for economists and psephologists, is that very little about life or the human condition is linear.  If anything, my observation is that life is quite cyclical, with the key being to determine when the cycle is changing.  As Yogi Berra is reputed to have said, “it’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.”  But predictions galore are certainly being made these days.

For our purposes, however, it is important to continue to game out the potential outcomes, and for hedgers, ensure that proper hedge protection is in place.  Regarding fiscal policy, it seems quite clear that a blue wave will usher in unprecedented levels of additional fiscal stimulus, with numbers of $3 trillion – $5 trillion being bandied about.  If the status quo remains, with President Trump being reelected and the Senate remaining in Republican control, I expect a much smaller stimulus bill, something on the order of the $1.8 trillion that had been discussed up until last week.  Finally, in the event the Republicans hold the Senate, but Mr Biden wins, we are likely to see the reemergence of fiscal conservatism, at least in a sense, and potentially any bill will be smaller.

With that as our backdrop, the consensus view remains that a Biden victory will see a weakening of the dollar, a steepening of the yield curve and an equity market rally.  Meanwhile a Trump victory will see a strengthening of the dollar, a more modest steepening of the yield curve and an equity market rally.  It is quite interesting to me that the consensus is for stocks to continue to rise regardless of the outcome, and for the long end of the bond market to sell off, with only the degree of movement in question.  I have to ask, why is the dollar story different?  The one conundrum here is the expectation of a weaker dollar and a steeper yield curve.  Historically, steep yield curves, implying strong future growth, lead to a stronger dollar.  And after all, it is not as though, the dollar is at excessively strong levels that could lead one to believe it is overbought.  Regardless, this seems to be what is built in at this stage.

Moving on to the FOMC, Thursday’s meeting, two days after the election, is likely to be the least interesting meeting of the year.  It strains credulity that the Fed will act given what could well be a lack of clarity as to the winner of the election.  And even if it is clear, they really have nothing to do at this time.  They are simply going to reiterate the current stance; rates will not rise before 2023, they will continue to purchase bonds ad infinitum, and please, Congress, enact some more fiscal stimulus!

As to Friday’s employment report, it will depend on whether or not the election is settled as to whether the market views the numbers as important.  If the results are known and it is the status quo, then investors will pay attention to the data.  However, if either there is no clear result, or there is a change at the top, this will all be ancient history as the market will be preparing for the new Administration’s policies, so what happened before will lose its significance.  This is especially so given the expectations for a significantly larger fiscal stimulus outcome, and therefore a significant change in economic expectations.

So, that is how we start things off.  Equity markets have shaken off last week’s poor performance and are rebounding nicely.  Asia started things on the right foot (Nikkei +1.4%, Hang Seng +1.5%) although Shanghai was flat on the day despite a better than expected Manufacturing PMI print (53.6).  Europe, meanwhile, is rocking as well, with the DAX (+1.85%) and CAC (+1.8%) both ripping higher while the FTSE 100 (+1.2%) is also having a solid day.  US futures are all pointing sharply higher as well, around 1.5% as I type.

Bond markets are actually mixed this morning, with Treasuries rallying slightly, and yields lower by 1.5 basis points.  However, in Europe, we are seeing bonds sell off (risk is on, after all) although the movement has been quite modest.  After all, with the ECB promising they will be adding new programs come December, why would anyone want to sell bonds the ECB is going to buy?  Of more interest is the fact that Treasury prices are rallying slightly, but this is likely to do with the fact that the market is heavily short Treasury bond futures, and some lightening of positions ahead of the election could well be in order.

On the commodity front, oil prices are falling further, as the renewed wave of lockdowns in Europe has depressed demand, while Libya simultaneously announced they have increased production to 1 million bbl/day, the last thing the oil market needs.  Gold, meanwhile, is moving higher, which strongly suggests it is behaving as a risk mitigant, given the fact neither rates are falling nor is the dollar.

As to the dollar, arguably, the best description today is mixed.  With so much new information yet to come this week, investors and traders seem to be biding their time.  In the G10, it is an even split, with three currencies modestly firmer, (CAD, NZD and AUD all +0.2%) and three currencies modestly weaker (NOK and GBP -0.2%, CHF -0.1%) with the rest essentially unchanged.  The one that makes the most sense is NOK, with oil continuing its slide.  Surprisingly, the pound is weaker given the story circulating that the EU and UK have essentially reached a compromise on the fisheries issue, one of the key sticking points in Brexit negotiations.

Emerging market currencies have a stronger bias toward weakness with RUB (-1.25%) and TRY (-1.0%) leading the way lower.  Clearly, the former is oil related while the lira has been getting pummeled for weeks as investors continue to vote on their views of Turkish monetary policy and the economic potential given new sanctions from the West.  But after those two, most APAC currencies were under pressure, somewhat surprisingly given the Chinese data, however, INR and TWD (-0.45% each) also underperformed last night.  On the plus side, CZK (+0.35%) is the leader, benefitting from a better than expected PMI print.

Speaking of data, Manufacturing PMI’s from Europe were all revised slightly higher, but had little overall impact on the FX markets.  This week, of course brings a great deal of info:

Today ISM Manufacturing 56.0
ISM Prices Paid 60.5
Construction Spending 1.0%
Tuesday Factory Orders 1.0%
Wednesday ADP Employment 650K
Trade Balance -$63.9B
ISM Services 57.5
Thursday Initial Claims 740K
Continuing Claims 7.35M
Nonfarm Productivity 5.2%
Unit Labor Costs -10.1%
FOMC Rate Decision 0.00% – 0.25%
Friday Nonfarm Payrolls 580K
Private Payrolls 680K
Manufacturing Payrolls 51K
Unemployment Rate 7.6%
Average Hourly Earnings 0.2% (4.6% Y/Y)
Average Weekly Hours 34.7
Participation Rate 61.5%
Consumer Credit $7.5B

Source: Bloomberg

Adding to the mix is the BOE meeting on Thursday as well, while the RBA meets tonight.  To me, this is just trying to level set as we await this week’s extraordinary possibilities.  Nothing has changed my view that the dollar is likely to strengthen as the situation elsewhere in the world, especially in Europe, is pointing to a terrible Q4 outcome economically (and, I fear in the health category) which will continue to weigh on the euro, as well as most emerging markets.  But one thing is clear, is there is a huge amount of uncertainty for the rest of this week.

Good luck and stay safe
Adf

Quickly Fading

Posted on by

With stimulus hopes quickly fading
And Covid, more countries pervading
Most risk appetites
Have been read last rites
Thus traders, to buy, need persuading

Well, yesterday was no fun, at least if you owned equities in your portfolio, as we saw sharp declines throughout European and US markets.  And frankly, today is not shaping up to be much better.  Risk assets are still being jettisoned around the world as investors run to havens.  Perhaps the only place this is not true is China, where recent data releases show the economy there moving back toward trend growth.  The question at hand, then, seems to be, Is this the beginning of the widely anticipated sell-off/correction?  Or is this simply a short-term blip in an otherwise strong uptrend in risk asset pricing?

Evidence on the side of the broader sell-off comes in the form of; a) the lack of a stimulus bill, which seems officially impossible before the election, and to which may hopes were pinned; and b) the increasing spread of Covid-19, forcing governments worldwide to reimpose restrictions on dining, drinking and many in-person services.  Without the stimulus to offset the economic activity that is being halted, the prospects of economic growth are fading quickly.  And unless the Fed or ECB starts to give money directly to citizens, rather than simply purchase securities, there is very little either one can do to prevent a more serious economic downturn.

Worryingly, the evidence for the short-term blip thesis is entirely technical, as yesterday’s price action halted at a key trend line, thus did not ‘officially’ break lower.  Certainly, it is exceedingly difficult to find a good reason to believe that, after a remarkable runup since the March lows, there is much left in the tank of this rally.  On what basis does one become bullish from here?  After all, the hopes for stimulus have been dashed, at least in the near-term.  Hopes for a vaccine have taken a back seat as well, with much less discussion as numerous candidates continue to go through phase 2 and 3 trials, but nothing has been approved.  The problem with the hopes for a vaccine being approved quickly is that a key part of the approval process is to ensure that there are no long-term side effects for those that prove efficacious.  And that simply takes time and cannot be accelerated.

Meanwhile, as the US election nears, investors appear to be taking their cues from the polls and expectations for a Biden victory are growing.  It is interesting to me that given the Democratic platform of higher taxes, more government intrusion into the economy and an attack on the mega-cap tech companies with an eye toward breaking them up, that investors believe a Blue wave will be positive for equities.  It seems to me, all of those would be decidedly negative outcomes for shareholders as we would transition from one of the most openly business-friendly presidencies to what, on the surface, would shape up as one of the least business-friendly administrations.  Yet, nearly everything that has been published, or at least that I have seen, comes down on the side of a Biden victory as being positive for risk assets.  While this appears to be entirely on the strength of expectations for a massive new stimulus bill, for an institution that prides itself on its forward-looking abilities, one would think the negatives of even larger increases in the budget deficit and the public debt required to fund those, would be recognized as distinctly negative.

But for now, the narrative remains if the polls are correct, risk assets will perform well, the yield curve will steepen, and the dollar will decline.  While I would argue the first two are unlikely, the dollar’s behavior will depend on what happens elsewhere in the world, thus seems impossible to call at this time.

And that seems to be the state of play this morning.  So, let’s take a look around markets at this hour.  Overnight equity action saw a mixed bag with the Nikkei essentially unchanged, the Hang Seng (-0.5%) softening and Shanghai (+0.1%) marginally higher.  As an aside, Australia’s ASX 200 fell 1.7%, despite the relatively positive news about China.  In Europe, while the FTSE 100 is back to flat on the session, the Continent remains under water led by the CAC (-1.0%) but with solid declines elsewhere (DAX -0.4%, Italy’s MIB -0.55%).  These readings, though, are actually better than from earlier in the session.  Finally, US futures have also improved in the past hour and are now pointing higher by roughly 0.5%.

Bond markets are showing modest risk-off tendencies this morning, at least throughout Europe, with Bund yields lower by 1bp, as are French OAT’s.  Treasuries, on the other hand are unchanged in the session, trading right at 0.80%, which represents about a 7-basis point decline (bond rally) from last week’s levels.  There remains a huge amount of sentiment that the yield curve is going to steepen dramatically after the election as traders and investors anticipate a tsunami of bond issuance to fund the new Administration’s platform.  Of course, if the polls prove to be wrong, as they were in 2016, my sense is we could see a very sharp bond rally as the record short interest in bond futures gets quickly unwound.

Commodity prices, which yesterday were under pressure, and have seen oil trade well back below the $40/bbl level, are bouncing this morning, up ~1.0%, but looking through the rest of the complex, in base metals and ags, movement has been very modest and is mixed.

Finally, the dollar has turned from a dull opening, to some modest weakness overall.  NOK (+0.65%) is leading the way higher in the G10 space as it benefits from oil’s bounce.  However, after that, CAD (+0.3%) is the next biggest mover, also being helped by oil, and the rest of the bloc is +/- 0.2%, with no real stories to tell.  The pound, which has really done very little this month, continues to be whipsawed by Brexit headlines, although there is some positivity as both sides are meeting right now in London.

Emerging market currencies have two outliers this morning, ZAR (+0.75%) and TRY (-0.8%), with the rest of the bloc +/- 0.2% and very little of news to discuss.  If I had to characterize the market, it would be slightly dollar bearish, but in truth, the modesty of movement makes any judgement hard to offer.  As to the big movers, Turkey’s lira continues to suffer (-3.5% this week) as investors flee the country amid concerns the central bank has completely lost control of markets there, while President Erdogan continues his war of words with Europe and feels the sting of further sanctions.  On the flipside, ZAR is actually the leading gainer in the past week, as well as today, with hopes for positive budget news bolstering the demand for very high real yields.

Data today brings Durable Goods (exp 0.5%, 0.4% ex transport), Case Shiller Home Prices (4.20%) and Consumer Confidence (102.0).  With the Fed meeting next week, we have entered into the quiet period, so will not be hearing them castigate Congress for failing to pass a spending bill, although they all will be thinking it!  Across the pond, the ECB meets Thursday, and analysts are anticipating a strong signal that the ECB is going to increase monetary ease in December, yet another reason to be suspect of the collapsing dollar theory.  As for today, if the bulls can get the upper hand, then the dollar’s modest retreat thus far today can certainly extend.  But I don’t really see that happening, and think we see a bit of dollar strength before the session ends.

Good luck and stay safe
Adf

Deeper Downturn

Posted on by

There once was a virus that spread
Worldwide, leaving too many dead
Its summer vacation
Has led to frustration
That governments, people, misled

Now lockdowns have made a return
From London to Paris to Bern
And ECB voices
All highlight the choices
More QE or deeper downturn

As another week draws to a close, market activity has been relatively muted.  It seems that participants are biding their time waiting for an outcome on at least one of the big current stories.  Will Brexit talks continue and be successful or will Boris decide there is no chance and simply prepare for a no-deal outcome?  Will the second wave of Covid infections running rampant in Europe slow down, or will this wave be even larger than the first with a bigger negative impact on the economy?  And finally, what is going to happen in the US presidential election?

And let’s face it, those are three really big questions with no clear answers at this time.  But let’s quickly try to address them in order and see if we can discern potential market responses.

Brexit – we have already passed the deadline Boris had originally issued for a deal, although he has since recanted and said if the EU demonstrates they are interested in “intensifying” the talks, the UK will work even harder to reach a deal.  Unfortunately, the indications from the EU are less promising as French President Macron remains adamant that French fishing vessels have unfettered access to UK waters in any deal.  While there are signs the rest of Europe are annoyed with Macron over this stance, his unwillingness to compromise, as of yet, means there has been no movement.  The other sticking point, the level of UK state aid to its companies, seems much more tractable to solve. However, right now, no deal is in sight.

Trying to game out the market impact of this binary outcome is dependent on an estimate of what is currently priced into the market.  Several indicators, including CFTC positioning and some proprietary bank positioning indicators, show that the market remains net long Sterling.  As the pound appears overvalued at current levels, it seems the likelihood of a large rally in the event of a positive outcome is quite limited.  Rather, the future for the pound is likely lower.  In the event of a no-deal Brexit, a move toward 1.20 is quite realistic by year end.  Whereas, a positive outcome is more likely to see just a moderate, ‘sell the news’ response, perhaps back toward 1.25-1.28.

The second wave of infections is clearly a growing problem.  More localized lockdowns are being imposed in Germany, the Netherlands and Spain with talk of more coming in Italy and throughout Eastern Europe.  This is in addition to the curfew in Paris which is equally problematic.  Not surprisingly, ECB members have been vocal about the need and ability of the central bank to do even more, implying that the PEPP is going to get quite a boost by December.  Once again, I will highlight that the Fed has made it quite clear they have limited ability to do anything else, although they will certainly try, which means that on a relative basis, other countries are going to ease their monetary policy further.  In this case, that bodes ill for the future direction of the euro, which I think has every possibility of drifting back to 1.15 in the short run and 1.10 over time, ceteris paribus.

But the big ceteris is the US presidential election.  The polls point to a Biden victory, although I’m sure nobody has forgotten that the same polls pointed to a Clinton victory four years ago.  Betting markets are also leaning that way, although with far less confidence.  As to the market, based on my readings, it appears that a large majority of market participants agree with the polls and have positioned accordingly.  Remember, too, that control of Congress is a crucial point in anticipating any potential market movement.  So here goes:

Blue wave – Biden wins and Democrats retake Senate:  given the platform of much higher capital gains and corporate taxes and massive spending, equity markets seem likely to fall sharply this year as investors take profits at current tax rates, and the dollar to fall alongside them.  I would want to own gold in this scenario.

Biden win with Republican Senate:  much less impact as divided government gets less done.  Arguably, we will fund the budget on continuing resolutions for four years, rather than any big new programs getting enacted.  The market response here is likely to be far more benign, with range trading rather than steep trends.

Trump win with Democratic House:  No change to current situation means further efforts at tax cuts and deregulation, but unlikely to see tax hikes.  The US has the chance to be the cleanest shirt in the dirty laundry basket and draw in more investment and prop up dollar strength.

Trump win and Republican House (admittedly low probability):  dollar strength as US continues to focus on as much economic growth as possible, with more stimulus and more tax cuts.

At this point, all these questions remain open, but by New Year’s Eve, we will have answered at least two of the three for sure.

As to markets today, there is really very little to tell.  Equities in Asia were mixed (Nikkei -0.4%, Hang Seng +0.9%) but are performing well in Europe (DAX +1.1%, CAC +1.8%) as the ECB comments seem to have investors believing more stimulus is on its way.  US futures have edged higher in the past hour, but are still only pointing to gains of 0.2% or so.

Interestingly, bond markets are rallying with yields continuing their recent downtrend.  Treasury yields are lower by 1bp after having backed up a few yesterday afternoon.  European markets are seeing roughly 2 basis point declines across the board.  In fact, bunds are back at their lowest level (-0.635%) since the panic of late March when Covid first struck Europe.  Bonds there are certainly pricing in a slowing economy in the Eurozone.

Finally, the dollar is mixed.  Against its G10 counterparts, it is +/-0.2% with the Brexit story by far the most impactful.  GBP (-0.2% as I write) was higher by 0.3% just minutes ago, as it wiggles on each headline.  But the bloc is generally uninteresting.  As to emerging markets, it is largely the same story, with a pretty even mix of gainers and losers.  Here, though, the movement has been a bit larger with ZAR (+0.5%) the best performer, perhaps on strength in the metals markets, followed by CNY (+0.4%) where everyone is looking for strong GDP numbers on Monday.  On the downside, KRW (-0.4%) is bottom of the barrel today after a higher than expected Unemployment rate was reported.

Data this morning brings Retail Sales (exp 0.8%, 0.4% ex autos), IP (0.5%), Capacity Utilization (71.8%) and Michigan Sentiment (80.5).  Yesterday’s Initial Claims data was quite disappointingly high and bodes ill for the growth story here.  But in the end, the ongoing uncertainty and confusion over the three issues raised above imply a lack of direction in the near term, although choppiness could well be on the menu.

Good luck, good weekend and stay safe
Adf

Good Times Will Endure

Posted on by

Elections are out of the way
The outcome caused little dismay
Investors seem sure
Good times will endure
With stocks set to rally today

The dollar, however, is weak
Some pundits claim we’ve seen the peak
Still folks at the Fed
See rate hikes ahead
Which could, on those views, havoc wreak

The midterm elections are now past, with expectations largely fulfilled. The Democrats will run the House, while the Senate’s Republican majority has actually grown by four seats to a 53-47 count. At least that’s what appears to be the case at this time, although there are some runoff elections that need yet to be completed in the next weeks. The traditional view of a political split is that gridlock will ensue and very little in the way of new policy will come out of the next Congress. However, in this case, things may not actually work out that way. Consider the fact that President Trump’s populist leanings may well dovetail with Democratic priorities, especially on spending. It wouldn’t be that surprising if the next budget is even more stimulative than the last, especially as by next summer it is highly likely that the US growth impulse will be slowing down somewhat as the effects of the last stimulus fade away. And through it all, there is no indication that the Fed is going to stop raising interest rates, so I might argue that things haven’t changed all that much.

The risks to this view are if the new Democratic majority in the House chooses to use their power to rehash the battles from 2016 or, more disconcertingly for markets, decide that they want to proceed with an Impeachment process against the President. Two things about this issue are that, first, with the Republicans in control of the Senate, there is essentially zero probability that the President would be removed from office, so it would all be for show. But second, as I mentioned yesterday, the last time we saw this movie, in the autumn of 1998, the dollar fell sharply during the proceedings. This is just something to keep in mind as headlines start to flow going forward.

Enough about the elections. The market response overnight showed equity markets feeling a little better, with Europe higher and US futures pointing in the same direction, although APAC markets were largely flat. Meanwhile, the dollar has come under pressure across the board. The latter seems a little counterintuitive, although I guess it is simply a result of the embrasure of risk by investors. There is no need to flock to dollars, or yen for that matter, if expectations turn positive. And that’s what we seem to have seen.

Focusing on the FX market, the dollar is down pretty sharply across the board. Both the euro and the pound are higher by more than 0.5% despite what I would argue was some mildly negative news. In the Eurozone, while German IP was a touch firmer than expected at +0.2%, Retail Sales data throughout the Eurozone was actually quite weak, with both Italian and Austrian data showing contraction while the French managed to just hold on to an unchanged result, and all three coming well short of expectations.

Meanwhile, the pound continues to trade on hopes that a Brexit breakthrough is coming, despite the fact that yesterday’s widely publicized cabinet meeting produced exactly nothing. PM May has two potential problems here; first is the question of actually coming up with a deal that her cabinet can agree to support that also has EU support, a task that has thus far been out of reach. Second, remember that May has a coalition partner, not a majority in Parliament, and the Labor Party is now coming on record that they will vote against any deal. If that is the case, it is entirely possible that it all falls apart and the UK leaves the EU with no deal in place. While the pound has rallied nicely over the past week, up more than 3.5%, I continue to see the downside risks being significantly greater than the upside. Certainly the rally on a deal announcement would be much smaller in magnitude than the decline in the event of a hard Brexit. Hedgers must keep this in mind as they manage their risks.

As to the rest of the G10, the dollar has fallen even further than the euro and pound, with 0.7% pretty common across virtually the entire bloc. The only two exceptions are JPY, with a more modest 0.3% rally and CAD with a similar gain. My sense is the former is all about risk reduction mitigating some of the dollar weakness, while the latter is related to the fact that oil prices continue to fall, having come down nearly 20% from their highs reached in early October.

In the EMG bloc, there is broad dollar weakness as well with IDR leading the way (+1.5%) and ZAR jumping a solid 1.25%. We discussed the IDR story yesterday as investment flows continue to find their way back to the country given its continued strong growth and low inflation. ZAR, on the other hand, has benefitted from the combination of broad dollar weakness and gold’s recent strength, with the “barbarous relic” having rallied more than 4% in the past month. But it is not just those two currencies showing strength this morning; it is a universal dollar down day, with most freely traded currencies rising more than 0.5%.

And that’s really the day overall. There is no US data to be released today, and the Fed is just starting its two-day meeting, although there is no expectation that there will be any policy change regardless of the fact that it has been pushed back a day in deference to Election day yesterday. There is certainly no reason to believe that the dollar will reverse course in the near term, unless we see a significant uptick in US data that might cause the Fed to step up their pace of activity. However, that is not going to happen today, no matter what, and so I would look for the dollar to continue the overnight move and sell off modestly from this morning’s levels. Although I do not believe that the big picture has changed, any dollar strength is likely to be fleeting in the near future.

Good luck
Adf