Tag Archives: #Fed

Pending A-pocalypse

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Inflation’s on everyone’s lips
As traders now need come to grips
With data still soft
But forecasts that oft
Point to pending a-pocalypse

Is inflation really coming soon?  Or perhaps the question should be, is measured inflation really coming soon?  I’m confident most of us have seen the rise in prices for things that we purchase on a regular basis, be it food, clothing, cable subscriptions or hard goods.  And of course, asset price inflation has been rampant for years, but apparently that doesn’t count at all.  However, the focus on this statistic has increased dramatically during the past several months which is a huge change from, not only the immediate post-pandemic economy, but in reality, the past thirty years of economic activity.  In fact, ever since Paul Volcker, as Fed Chair, slew the inflationary dragon that lived in the 1970’s, we have seen a secular move lower in measured consumer prices alongside a secular move lower in nominal interest rates.

But the pandemic has forced a lot of very smart people (present company excluded) to reconsider this trend, with many concluding that higher prices, even the measured kind, are in our future.  And this is not a discussion of a short-term blip higher due to pent up demand, but rather the long-term trend higher that will need to be addressed aggressively by the Fed lest it gets out of hand.

The argument for inflation centers on the difference between the post GFC financial response and the post Covid shock financial response.  Back in 2009, the Fed cut rates to zero and inaugurated their first balance sheet expansion of note with QE1.  Several more bouts of QE along with years of near zero rates had virtually no impact on CPI or PCE as the transmission mechanism, commercial banks, were not playing their part as expected.  Remember, QE simply replaces Treasuries with bank reserves on a commercial bank balance sheet.  It is up to the commercial bank to lend out that money in order for QE to support the economy.  But commercial banks were not finding the risk adjusted returns they needed, especially compared to the riskless returns they were receiving from the Fed from its IOER program.  So, the banking sector sold the Fed their bonds and held reserves where they got paid interest, while enabling them to have a riskless asset on their books.  In other words, only a limited amount of QE wound up in the public’s pocket.  The upshot was that spending power did not increase (remember, wages stagnated) and so pricing pressures did not materialize, hence no measured inflation.

But this time around, fiscal policy has been massive, with the CARES act of nearly $2 trillion including direct payments to the public as well as forgivable small business loans via the PPP program.  So, banks didn’t need to lend the money to get things moving, the government solved that part of the equation. Much of that money wound up directly in the economy (although certainly some found its way into RobinHood accounts and Bitcoin), thus amping up demand.  At the same time, the lockdowns around the world resulted in broken supply chains, meaning many goods were in short supply.  This resulted in the classic, more money chasing fewer goods situation, which leads to higher prices.  This helps explain the trajectory of inflation since the initial Covid impact, where prices collapsed at first, but have now been rising back sharply.  While they have not yet reached pre-Covid levels, it certainly appears that will be the case soon.

Which leads us back to the question of, what will prevail?  Will the rebound continue, or will the long-term trend reassert itself?  This matters for two reasons.  First, we will all be impacted by rising inflation in some manner if it really takes off.  But from a markets perspective, if US inflation is rising rapidly, it will put the Fed in a bind with respect to their promise to keep rates at zero until the end of 2023.  If the market starts to believe the Fed is going to raise rates sooner to fight inflation, that will likely have a very deleterious effect on equity and bond prices, but a very positive effect on the dollar.  The combination of risk-off and higher returns will make the dollar quite attractive to many, certainly enough to reverse the recent downtrend.

Lately, we are seeing the beginnings of this discussion, which is why the yield curve has steepened, why stock markets have stalled and why the dollar has stopped sliding.  Fedspeak this week has been cacophonous, but more importantly has shown there is a pretty large group of FOMC members who see the need for tapering policy, starting with reducing QE, but eventually moving toward higher rates.  Yesterday, uber-dove Governor Lael Brainerd pushed back on that story, but really, all eyes will be on Chairman Powell this afternoon when he speaks.  To date, he has not indicated a concern with inflation nor any idea he would like to taper purchases, so any change in that stance is likely to lead to a significant market response.  Pay attention at 12:30!

With that as backdrop, a quick tour of the markets shows that risk appetite is moderately positive this morning.  While the Nikkei (+0.85%) and Hang Seng (+0.9%) both did well, Shanghai suffered (-0.9%) despite data showing record export performance by China last year.  Europe is far less exciting with small gains (DAX +0.2%, CAC +0.1% and FTSE 100 +0.7%) following Germany’s release of 2020 GDP data showing a full-year decline of “just” -5.0%, slightly less bad than expected.  US futures are mixed at this hour, but the moves are all small and offer no real news.

Bond markets show Treasury yields higher by 2bps, while European bonds have all seen yields slip between 1.0 and 1.7bps, at least the havens there.  Italian BTP’s are selling off hard, with yields rising 5.7bps, and the rest of the PIGS have also been under pressure.  Oil prices are little changed this morning, still holding onto their gains since November.  Gold prices are slightly softer and appear to be biding their time until the next big piece of news hits.

Finally, the dollar is somewhat mixed this morning, with the G10 basically split between gainers and losers, although the gains have been a bit larger (AUD +0.4%, SEK +0.3%) than the losses (CHF -0.2%, JPY -0.1%).  But this looks like position adjustments and potential order flow rather than a narrative driven move.  EMG currencies are also split, but there are clearly more gainers than losers here, with the commodity bloc doing best (ZAR +0.85%, RUB +0.65%, BRL +0.6%) and losses more random led by KRW (-0.25%) and CZK (-0.2%).  If pressed, one needs look past oil and gold to see agricultural commodities and base metals still performing well and supporting those currencies.  KRW, on the other hand is a bit more confusing given the growth in China, it’s main exporting destination.  Again, position adjustments are quite viable given the won’s more than 11% gain since May.

This morning’s data slate includes only Initial Claims (exp 789K) and Continuing Claims (5.0M), which if far from expectations could wiggle markets, but seem unlikely to do so as everyone awaits Powell’s speech.  Until then, I expect that the dollar will continue to remain supported, but if Powell reiterates a very dovish stance, we could easily see the dollar head much lower.  Of course, if he gives credence to the taper view, look for some real market fireworks, with both bonds and stocks selling off and the dollar jumping sharply.

Good luck and stay safe
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What Will the Fed Do?

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To taper, or not, is the new
Discussion.  What will the Fed do?
One group sees next winter
As when the Fed printer
Will slow down if forecasts come true

But yesterday doves answered back
It’s premature to take that tack
There’s no need to shrink
QE, the doves think
‘Til growth has absorbed all the slack

Remember just last month when the Fed tightened the wording in the FOMC statement to explain they would buy “at least $80 billion per month” of Treasuries and “at least $40 billion per month” of agency mortgage-backed securities “until substantial further progress has been made toward the Committee’s maximum employment and price stability goals.”  This was clearly more specific than their previous guidance of buying securities at “the current pace” to achieve the same ends.  It would be easy to read that December statement and conclude that reducing asset purchases was quite a long way off in the future, arguably years.  This is especially so when considering the fact that the US government cannot afford for interest rates to rise very far given the extraordinarily large amount of debt they have outstanding and need to service.  After all, it is much easier to service debt when interest rates are 0.25% than when they are 2.5%.

Granted, the first Covid vaccine had just been approved the weekend before that meeting, so the question of how it would be rolled out was still open, but it had to be clear that the vaccine was going to become widely available in the following months.  And yet, the statement seems to imply QE could increase going forward if there was to be any change at all.  Yet here we are just four weeks later, and we have heard a virtual chorus of Fed regional presidents explaining that tapering purchases may be appropriate before the end of the year.  In the past seven days, Chicago’s Evans, Philly’s Harker, Dallas’s Kaplan and Atlanta’s Bostic all said tapering purchases would be appropriate soon, with Harker explaining it could easily be this year.

That’s pretty powerful stuff, if the Fed is truly considering changing its stance on policy and the ramifications are huge.  Arguably, if the Fed truly announced they were going to be reducing purchases, the bond market would sell off much harder than recently, the stock market would sell off quite hard and the dollar would reverse course and rally sharply.  But of those three reactions, the only thing ongoing is the steepening of the yield curve, with stocks continuing their slow move higher and the dollar, while consolidating for the past week, hardly on a tear.

Naturally, there is a counterpoint which was reiterated by St Louis’s Bullard and Boston’s Rosengren yesterday, and earlier this week by Cleveland’s uber-hawk, Loretta Mester and Fed vice-Chair Richard Clarida, that there is no sign a taper is appropriate any time soon, and that the Fed will have the printing presses running at full tilt until the pandemic is behind us.

So, which is it?  Well, that is the question that will be debated in and by the markets for the foreseeable future, or at least until the Fed tells us.  This week, we will hear from nine more Fed speakers, including Chairman Powell, but then the quiet period starts and there will be no word until the FOMC meeting two weeks from today.  The list of speakers spans the spectrum from hawkish to dovish, but arguably, all eyes will be on Powell.  Many analysts have highlighted the 2013 Taper Tantrum, which resulted after then Fed Chair Bernanke mentioned that the Fed would not be buying bonds forever.  The market response then was to drive 10-year Treasury yields from 1.62% on May 1 2013 to 2.99% on September 15 2013!  I find it incredibly hard to believe that the current Fed will allow anything like that at all.  As I pointed out earlier, the US government simply cannot afford that outcome, and the Fed will prevent it from happening.  The implication is that at some point soon, the Fed is going to discuss yield curve control, likely as a method to help finance all the mooted infrastructure spending that is supposed to be coming from the new Administration and Congress.  Or something like that.  But they will not allow yields to rise that much more, they simply can’t.

How has this argument discussion played out in the markets today?  The picture has been mixed, at best, with perhaps a tendency to reduce risk becoming the theme.  Looking at equities, the Nikkei (+1.0%) was the outstanding performer overnight, while we saw marginal declines in the Hang Seng (-0.2%) and Shanghai (-0.3%).  European bourses, which had been slightly higher earlier in the session, have slipped back to either side of unchanged with the DAX (-0.15%) and FTSE 100 (-0.1%) a touch lower while the CAC (+0.1%) has edged higher.  The CAC has been supported by the news that Alimentation Couche-Tarde is bidding for Carrefours, the French grocery store chain, and a key member of the index.  In truth, this performance is a bit disappointing as well, given comments from ECB member Villeroy that they would be supporting the economy with easy money as long as necessary, and that they were carefully watching the exchange rate of the euro. (more on this later).  Finally, US futures, which had been slightly higher earlier in the session, are all slightly lower now, but less than 0.1% each.

As to the bond market, safety is clearly in demand, at least in Europe, where yields have fallen by between 1.8bps (Gilts) and 2.7bps (Bunds) with most other markets somewhere in between.  Treasuries, meanwhile, have edged higher by just a tick with the yield a scant 0.3bps lower at this time.  As I said, this is going to be the battle royal going forward.

In the commodity space, oil is basically unchanged this morning, holding on to recent gains, while gold is also unchanged, holding on to recent losses.

And finally, the dollar is somewhat higher this morning, seeming to take on its traditional role of haven asset.  It should be no surprise the euro (-0.3%) is under pressure, which is exactly what the ECB wants to see.  Remember, the other sure thing is that the ECB cannot afford for the euro to rally very far as it will negatively impact the Eurozone export community as well as import deflation, something they have been trying to fight for years.  Elsewhere in the G10, SEK (-0.95%) is the worst performer after the Riksbank announced they would be selling SEK 5 billion per month to buy foreign currency reserves, and coincidentally weaken their currency.  And they will be doing this until December 2023, which means they will be creating an additional SEK 180 billion in the market, a solid 13.5% of GDP.  Look for further relative weakness here.  But beyond SEK, the rest of the G10 has seen lesser moves, all of a piece with broad dollar strength.

In the emerging markets, CLP (-2.1%) is today’s big loser after announcing that they, too, would be selling CLP each day to increase their FX reserves to the tune of 5% of the Chilean economy.  Of course, liquidity in CLP is far worse than that in SEK, so a larger move is no surprise.  Regardless, we can expect continued pressure on this peso for a while.  But away from this story, the overnight session saw modest strength in most APAC currencies led by IDR (+0.5%) and KRW (+0.4%), while the morning session has seen CE4 currencies suffer alongside the euro, and LATAM currencies give up some ground as well.  BRL (-0.6%) seems to be responding to the extremely high inflation print seen yesterday, while HUF (-0.7%) is reacting to the news of an increase in QE there as the central bank expanded its corporate bond purchases to HUF 1.15 trillion from HUF 750 billion previously.

On the data front, today brings CPI (exp 0.4% M/M, 0.1% core) and the afternoon brings the Fed’s Beige Book.  With the inflation story gaining traction everywhere, all eyes will be on the data there.  If we see a higher than expected print, the pressure will increase on the Fed, but so far, they have been quite clear they are unconcerned with rising prices and are likely to stay that way for quite a while.  Ultimately, I fear that is one of the biggest risks out there, rising inflation.

Looking ahead, I believe the dollar’s consolidation of its losses will continue but would be surprised if it rallied much more at all.  Rather, a choppy day seems to be in store.

Good luck and stay safe
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Perfect Right Here

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Said Harker, by end of this year
A taper could be drawing near
But Mester explained
No cash would be drained
As policy’s perfect right here

Ahead of this morning’s payroll report, I believe it worthwhile to recap what we have been hearing from the FOMC members who have been speaking lately.  After all, the Fed continues to be the major force in the market, so maintaining a clear understanding of their thought process can only be a benefit.

The most surprising thing we heard was from Philadelphia Fed president Harker, who intimated that while he saw no reason to change things right now, he could see the Fed beginning to taper their asset purchases by the end of 2021 or early 2022.  Granted, that still implies an additional $1 trillion plus of purchases, but is actually quite hawkish in the current environment where expectations are for rates to remain near zero for at least the next three years.  Given what will almost certainly be a significant increase in Treasury issuance this year, if the Fed were to step back from the market, we could see significantly higher rates in the back end of the curve.  And, of course, it has become quite clear that will not be allowed as the government simply cannot afford to pay higher rates on its debt.   As well, Dallas Fed President Kaplan also explained his view that if the yield curve steepened because of an improved growth situation in the US, that would be natural, and he would not want to stop it.

But not to worry, the market basically ignored those comments as evidenced by the fact that the equity market, which will clearly not take kindly to higher interest rates in any form, rallied further yesterday to yet more new all-time highs.

At the same time, three other Fed speakers, one of whom has consistently been the most hawkish voice on the committee, explained they saw no reason at all to adjust policy anytime soon.  Regional Fed presidents from Cleveland (Loretta Mester), Chicago (Charles Evans) and St Louis (James Bullard) were all quite clear that it was premature to consider adjusting policy as a response to the Georgia election results and the assumed increases in fiscal stimulus that are mooted to be on the way.

Recapping the comments, it is clear that there is no intention to adjust policy, meaning either the Fed Funds rate or the size of QE purchases, anytime soon, certainly not before Q4.  And if you consider Kaplan’s comments more fully, he did not indicate a preference to reduce support, just that higher long-term rates ought to be expected in a well-performing economy.  Vice-Chairman Clarida speaks this morning, but it remains difficult to believe that he will indicate any changes either.  As I continue to maintain, the government’s ability to withstand higher interest rates on a growing amount of debt is limited, at best, and the only way to prevent that is by the Fed capping yields.  Remember, while the Fed has adjusted its view on inflation, now targeting an average inflation rate, they said nothing about allowing yields to rise alongside that increased inflation.  Again, the dollar’s performance this year will be closely tied to real (nominal – inflation) yields, and as inflation rises in a market with capped yields, the dollar will decline.

Turning to this morning’s payroll release, remember, Wednesday saw the ADP Employment number significantly disappoint, printing at -123K, nearly 200K below expectations.  As of now, the current median forecasts are as follows:

Nonfarm Payrolls 50K
Private Payrolls 13K
Manufacturing Payrolls 16K
Unemployment Rate 6.8%
Average Hourly Earnings 0.2% (4.5% Y/Y)
Average Weekly Hours 34.8
Participation Rate 61.5%
Consumer Credit $9.0B

Source: Bloomberg

These numbers are hardly representative of a robustly recovering economy, which given the cresting second wave of Covid infections and the lockdowns that have been imposed in response, ought not be that surprising.  The question remains, will administration of the vaccine be sufficient to change the trajectory?  While much has been written about pent up demand for things like travel and movies, and that is likely the case, there has been no indication that governments are going to roll back the current rules on things like social distancing and wearing masks.  One needs to consider whether those rules will continue to discourage those very activities, and thus, crimp the expected recovery.  Tying it together, a slower than expected recovery implies ongoing stimulus

But you don’t need me to explain that permanent stimulus remains the basic premise, just look at market behavior.  After yesterday’s US equity rally, we have seen a continuation around the world with Japan’s Nikkei (+2.35%) leading the way in Asia, but strength in the Hang Seng (+1.2%) and Australia (+0.7%), although Shanghai (-0.2%) didn’t really participate.  Europe, too, is all green, albeit in more measured tones, with the DAX (+0.8%) leading the way but gains in the CAC (+0.5%) and FTSE 100 (+0.2%) as well as throughout the rest of the continent.  And finally, US futures are all pointing higher at this hour, with all three indices up by 0.25%-0.35%.

The Treasury market, which has sold off sharply in the past few sessions, is unchanged this morning, with the yield on the 10-year sitting at 1.08%.  In Europe, haven assets like bunds, OATs and gilts are little changed this morning, but the yields on the PIGS are all lower, between 1.6bps (Spain) and 3.9bps (Italy).  Again, those bonds behave more like equities than debt, at least in the broad narrative.

In the commodity space, oil continues to rally, up another 1.3% this morning, and we continue to see strength in base metals and ags, but gold is under the gun, down 1.1%, and clearly in disfavor in this new narrative of significant new stimulus and growth.  Interestingly, bitcoin, which many believe as a substitute for gold has continued to rally, vaulting through $41k this morning.

And lastly, the dollar, which everyone hates for this year, is ending the week on a mixed note.  In the G10, NOK (+0.3%) is the best performer, as both oil’s rise and much better than expected IP data have investors expecting continued strength there.  But after that, the rest of the bloc is +/- 0.2% or less, implying there is no driving force here, rather that we are seeing position adjustments and, perhaps, real flows as the drivers.

In the emerging markets, ZAR (+1.2%) and BRL (+0.6%) are the leading gainers, while IDR (-0.8%) and CLP (-0.6%) are the laggards.  In fact, other than those, the bloc is also split, like the G10, with winners and losers of very minor magnitude.  Looking first at the rand, today’s gains appear to be position related as ZAR has been under pressure all week, declining more than 5.6% prior to today’s session.  BRL, too, is having a similar, albeit more modest, correction to a week where it has declined more than 5% ahead of today’s opening.  Both those currencies are feeling strain from weakening domestic activity, so today’s gains seem likely to be short-lived.  On the downside, IDR seems to be suffering from rising US yields, as the attractiveness of its own debt starts to wane on a relative basis.  As to Chile, rising inflation seems to be weighing on the currency as there is no expectation for yields to rise in concert, thus real yields there are under pressure.

And that’s really it for the day.  We have seen some significant movement this week, as well as significant new news with the outcome of the Georgia election, so the narrative has had to adjust slightly.  But in the end, it is still reflation leads to higher equities and a lower dollar.  Plus ça change, plus ça meme chose!

Good luck, good weekend and stay safe
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Slipping Away

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Last week it appeared conversations
On Brexit, had built expectations
To broker a deal
That both sides would feel
Was fruitful for all Europe’s nations

Alas, based on headlines today
That good will is slipping away
Concern has now grown
That both sides condone
No deal, to the market’s dismay

Apparently, Brexit talks have reached their denouement, with the weekend efforts of PM Johnson and European Commission President Von der Leyen unable to bridge the final gaps.  The key issues regarding fishing in UK waters and state support for UK companies remain outstanding and neither side has yet been willing to budge.  There is clearly a great deal of brinksmanship ongoing here, but with the timeline so compressed, the chance for a No-deal outcome is still remarkably high.  In fact, as of a bit past 6am in NY, the headlines claim that negotiations might end by this evening in Europe, after one final call between the two leaders.

So, is this the end?  Is Brexit upon us, three weeks early?  And if so, what can we expect going forward?

The first thing to remember about international negotiations is they are never over, even when they have ended, especially in a situation of this nature.  The economic impact in both the UK and throughout Europe will be significant in a no-deal outcome, and this is something that neither side really wants to occur, despite any rhetoric to the contrary.  The most recent analyst estimates indicate that the UK’s economy will suffer a long-term reduction of 3.0% in GDP compared to the situation if a deal is completed.  Meanwhile, the EU’s impact will be a much smaller 0.5% of GDP, but that impact will be unevenly distributed, with Ireland expected to suffer a 6% decline in economic activity, while various other nations see much smaller effects.  Germany, too, will feel the pain, as German auto exports to the UK are one of the most lucrative parts of German industry, and with tariffs imposed, they will certainly decline.

And, ultimately, that is why the best bet remains that a deal will be done.  Especially given the economic disruption of the pandemic, the ability for either the UK or EU to blithely sit by and allow a critical trade relationship to crumble is virtually nil.  So, even if the talks ostensibly end later today, they will not have ended.  Both sides will still be seeking a deal, as both sides desperately need one.

However, investors are clearly worried, as evidenced by this morning’s price action across markets.  Perhaps the most obvious outcome is that of the pound, which has fallen 1.3% on the news.  Last week I was making the case that the market had not fully priced in a positive deal, and any agreement was likely to see the pound rally.  At the same time, a true collapse in talks with a no-deal outcome is likely to see a further decline, with 5%-7% seen as a reasonable result.  This morning’s movement is just a down payment on that, if no deal actually is the outcome.

But this news seems to have forced investors across markets to reconsider their current positioning and potential market responses to negative news.  Perhaps you are not old enough to remember what negative news actually is, so I will give a brief refresher here.  Negative news is a situation where not only is the economic impact indisputably harmful to a (country, company, currency), but that a central bank response of further policy ease will be unable to change the outcome.  Thus, Friday’s weaker than expected NFP number was not really negative because it encouraged the view that the Fed will ease further next week, thus offsetting any bad economics.  But Brexit changes the structure, not just the data, and no matter what the BOE does, customs checks are still going to slow down trade and commerce.

It is with this in mind that we look at markets this morning and see that risk is broadly being reduced.  Asian equity markets started the move as the Nikkei (-0.75%), Hang Seng (-1.25%) and Shanghai (-0.8%) all showed solid declines.  And this was despite Chinese data showing that exports from the mainland had increased a much greater than expected 21% and fostered a record large trade surplus.  In Europe, the situation is similar with one real exception.  The DAX (-0.3%) and CAC (-0.8%) are leading the Continent lower as investors react to the potential crimp in economic activity.  However, the FTSE 100 (+0.5%) is higher as most members of the index will benefit greatly from a weaker pound, and so are responding to the pound’s market leading decline.

Speaking of the pound, it has fallen 1.3% from Friday’s closing levels and is the leading decliner across all major currencies.  But weakness is evident in the commodity bloc as AUD (-0.5%), NZD (-0.4%) and CAD (-0.2%) are all suffering alongside oil (WTI -0.9%) and gold (-0.4%).  EUR (-0.1%) has been a relative outperformer as the market continues to estimate a much smaller impact of a no-deal scenario.  Meanwhile, in the EMG bloc, losses are virtually universal, but the magnitude is not that substantial.  For example, MXN (-0.7%) is the worst performer today, obviously suffering from oil’s decline, but we have also seen weakness throughout the CE4 (HUF -0.4%, CZK -0.3%, PLN -0.2%) along with ZAR and RUB, both having fallen 0.3%.  In fact, the one bloc that has outperformed today is APAC, where only two currencies (MYR -0.2% and SGD -0.15%) are in the red.  Given the genesis of the problems is in Europe, this should not be that surprising.

Bond markets are taking the risk-off theme seriously with Treasury yields lower by 2.2 basis points and European govvies seeing substantial demand.  Gilts lead the way, with a 5.6bps decline, but Bunds (-3.0bps) and OAT’s (-2.6bps) are also rallying nicely.  Remember, too, that the ECB meets Thursday with expectations built in for a €500 billion increase in PEPP as well as a maturity extension of between six and twelve months in addition to an increase in the TLTRO program, with a maturity extension there as well.  One other thing to watch from the ECB is whether or not they mention the euro and its recent rally.  Madame Lagarde and her colleagues cannot countenance a significant rally from current levels, and I expect they will make that clear.

As to data this week, aside from the ECB, CPI is the biggest thing in the US:

Tuesday NFIB Small Business 102.5
Nonfarm Productivity 4.9%
Unit Labor Costs -8.9%
Wednesday JOLTs Job Openings 6.325M
Thursday Initial Claims 725K
Continuing Claims 5.27M
CPI 0.1% (1.1% Y/Y)
-ex food & energy 0.1% (1.6% Y/Y)
Friday PPI 0.1% (0.7% Y/Y)
-ex food & energy 0.2% (1.5% Y/Y)
Michigan Sentiment 76.0

Source: Bloomberg

With the last FOMC meeting of the year next Wednesday, the Fed is in their quiet period so there will be no commentary on that front.  With this in mind, the dollar, which continues to trend lower, will likely need some new catalyst to take the next step.  At this point, the biggest surprise is likely to be a positive conclusion to the Brexit talks, but given what we have seen over the past eight months, it is pretty clear that investors remain hugely bullish on the idea of the post-pandemic economy and will not be denied in their belief that stocks can only go up.  My gut tells me that US equities, where futures are currently lower by 0.3% or so, will finish the day higher, and the dollar will cede much of its overnight gains, even without a deal.

Good luck and stay safe
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Further Afflictions

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Each day there is growing conviction
The buck is due further affliction
More views now exist
The Fed will soon ‘Twist’
Thus, slaking the market’s addiction

But even if Powell and friends
Do act as the crowd now contends
Does anyone think
Lagarde will not blink
And cut rates at which her group lends?

You cannot read the financial press lately without stumbling across multiple articles as to why the dollar is due to fall further.  There is no question it has become the number one conviction trade in the hedge fund community as well as the analyst community.  There are myriad reasons given with these the most common:

1.     The introduction of the vaccine will lead to a quicker recovery globally and demand for risk assets not havens like the dollar
2.     The Biden administration will be implementing a new, larger stimulus package adding to the global reflation trade
3.     The Fed is going to embark on a new version of Operation Twist (where they swap short-dated Treasuries for long-dated Treasuries) in order to add more stimulus, thus weakening the dollar
4.     The market technical picture is primed for further dollar weakness in the wake of recent price action breaking previous dollar support levels.

Let’s unpack these ideas in order to try to get a better understanding of the current sentiment.

The vaccine story is front page news worldwide and we have even had the first country, the UK, approve one of them for use right away.  There is no question that an effective vaccine that is widely available, and widely taken, could easily alter the current zeitgeist of fear and loathing.  If confidence were to make a comeback, as lockdowns ended and people were released from home quarantines, it would certainly further support risk appetite.  Or would it?

Consider that risk assets, at least equities, are already trading at record high valuations as investors have priced in this outcome.  You may remember the daily equity rallies in October and November based on hopes a vaccine would be arriving soon.  The point is, it is entirely possible, and some would say likely, that the vaccine implementation has already been priced into risk assets.  One other fly in this particular ointment is that so many businesses have already permanently closed due to the government-imposed restrictions worldwide, that even if economic demand rebounds, supply may not be available, thus driving inflation rather than activity.

How about the idea of a new stimulus package adding to global reflation?  Again, while entirely possible, if, as is still widely expected, the Republicans retain control of the Senate, any stimulus bill is likely to disappoint the bulls.  As well, if this is US stimulus, arguably it will help support the US economy, US growth and extend the US rebound further and faster than its G10 and most EMG peers.  Yes, risk will remain in favor, but will that flow elsewhere in the world?  Maybe, maybe not.  That is an open question.

Certainly, a revival of Operation Twist, where the Fed extends the maturity of its QE purchases in order to add further support to the economy by easing monetary policy further would be a dollar negative.  I thought it might be instructive to see how the dollar behaved back in 2011-12 when Ben Bernanke was Fed Chair and embarked on the first go-round of this policy.  Interestingly enough, from September 2011 through June 2012, the first leg of Operation Twist, the dollar rallied 8.7% vs. the euro.  When the Fed decided to continue the program for another six months, the first dollar move was a continuation higher, with another 2.75% gain, before turning around and weakening about 6%.  All told, through two versions of the activity, the dollar would up slightly firmer (2.5%) than when it started.

And this doesn’t even consider the likelihood that if the Fed eases further, all the other major central banks will be doing so as well.  Remember, FX is a relative game, so relative monetary policy moves are the driver, not absolute ones.  And once again, I assure you, that if the euro starts to rally too far, the ECB will spare no expense to halt that rally and reverse it if possible.  Currently, the trade-weighted euro is back to levels seen in early September but remains 1.75% below the levels seen in 2018.  It is extremely difficult to believe that the ECB will underperform next week at their meeting if the euro is climbing still higher.  Deflation in Europe is rampant (CPI was just released at -0.3% in November), and a strong currency is not something Lagarde and her compatriots can tolerate.

Finally, looking at the technical picture, it may well be the best argument for further dollar weakness.  To the uninitiated (including your humble author) the variety of technical indicators observed by traders can be dizzying.  However, some include satisfying the target of an “inverted hammer” pattern, recognition of the next part of an Elliott Wave ABC correction and DeMark targets now formed for further dollar weakness.  While that mostly sounded like gibberish, believe me when I say there are many traders who base every action on these indicators, and when levels are reached in the market, they swarm in to join the parade.  At the same time, the hedge fund community, while short a massive amount of dollars, is reputed to have ample dry powder to increase those positions.

In sum, ironically, I would contend that the technical picture is the strongest argument for the dollar to continue its recent decline.  Risk assets are already priced for perfection, the vaccine is a known quantity and any Fed move is likely to be matched by other central banks.  This is not to say that the dollar won’t decline further, just that any movement is likely to be grudging and limited.  The dollar is not about to collapse.

A quick recap of today’s markets shows that risk appetite, not unlike yesterday’s lack of enthusiasm, remains satisfied for now.  Asian equities were mixed with the Hang Seng (+0.7%) the leader by far as both the Nikkei (0.0%) and Shanghai (-0.2%) showed no life.  European bourses are mostly lower (DAX -0.4%, CAC -0.25%) although the FTSE 100 is flat on the day.  And US futures are also either side of flat.

Bond markets, are rebounding a bit from their recent decline, with Treasuries seeing yields lower by 1 basis point and European bonds all rallying as well, with yields falling between 2bps and 3bps.  The latter may well be due to the combination of weaker than expected Services PMI releases as well as the news that Germany is extending its partial lockdown to January 10.  (Tell me again why the euro is a good bet here!)

Gold continues to rebound from its correction last week, up another $10 while the dollar, overall, this morning is somewhat softer, keeping with the recent trend.  GBP (+0.6%) is the leading gainer in the G10 on continued hopes a Brexit deal will soon be reached, but the rest of the bloc is +/-0.2%, or essentially unchanged.  EMG gainers include HUF (+0.7%) as the government there expands infrastructure spending, this time on airports, while the rest of the bloc has seen far smaller gains, which seem to be predicated on the idea of US stimulus talks getting back on track.

Initial Claims (exp 775K) data leads the calendar this morning with Continuing Claims (5.8M) and then ISM Services (55.8) at 10:00.  Yesterday’s Beige Book harped on the negative impact that government shutdowns have had on companies with no sign, yet, of vaccine hopes showing up in businesses.  At the same time, Chairman Powell, in his House testimony yesterday, explained that there was no rift between the Fed and the Treasury, and the Fed response when Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said he was recalling unused funds from the CARES act, was merely reinforcement of the idea that the Fed was not going to back away from their stated objectives.

In the end, the dollar remains under pressure and the trend is your friend.  With that in mind, though, it strikes that a decline of more than another 1%-2% will be very difficult to achieve without a more significant correction first.  Again, for receivables hedgers, these are good levels to consider.

Good luck and stay safe
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Nothing but Cheerful

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While yesterday traders were fearful
Today they are nothing but cheerful
The vaccine is coming
While Bitcoin is humming
It’s only the bears who are tearful

Risk is back baby!!  That is this morning’s message as a broad-based risk-on scenario is playing out across all markets.  Well, almost all markets, oil is struggling slightly, but since according to those in the know (whoever they may be) we have reached so-called ‘peak oil’, the oil market doesn’t matter anymore.  So, if it cannot rally on a day when other risk assets are doing so, it is of no consequence.

Of course, this begs the question, what is driving the reversal of yesterday’s theme?  The most logical answer is the release of the newest batch of Manufacturing PMI data from around the world, which while not universally better, is certainly trending in the right direction.  Starting last night in Asia, we saw strength in Australia (55.8), Indonesia (50.6), South Korea (52.9), India (56.3) and China (Caixin 54.9).  In fact, the only weak print was from Japan (49.0), which while still in contractionary territory has improved compared to last month.  With this much renewed manufacturing enthusiasm, it should be no surprise that equity markets in Asia were all bright green.  The Nikkei (+1.35%), Hang Seng (+0.85%) and Shanghai (+1.75%) led the way with New Zealand the only country not to join in the fun.

Turning to European data, it has been largely the same story, with Germany (57.8) leading the way, but strong performances by the UK (55.6) and the Eurozone (53.8) although Italy (51.5) fell short of expectations and France (49.6) while beating expectations remained below the key 50.0 level.  Spain (49.8), too, was weak failing to reach expectations, but clearly, the rest of the Continent was quite perky in order for the area wide index to improve.  Equity markets on the Continent are also bright green led by the FTSE 100 (+1.95%) but with strong performances by the DAX (+1.0%) and CAC (+1.1%) as well.  In fact, here, not a single market is lower.  Even Russian stocks are higher despite the weakest PMI performance of all (46.3).

The point is, there is no risk asset that is not welcome in a portfolio today.  However, while the broad sweep of PMI data is certainly positive, it seems unlikely, given the market’s history of ignoring both good and bad data from this series, that this is the only catalyst.  In fairness, there was some other positive data.  For example, German Unemployment fell to 6.1%, a tick below last month and 2 ticks below expectations.  At the same time, Eurozone CPI was released at a slightly worse than expected -0.3% Y/Y in November, which only encourages the bullish view that the ECB is going to wow us next week when they unveil their latest adjustments to PEPP.

And perhaps, that is a large part of the story, expectations for ongoing central bank largesse to support financial markets continue to be strong.  After all, the buzz in the US is that the combination of Fed Chair Jay Powell alongside former Fed Chair Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary means that come January or February, the taps will once again open in the US with more fiscal and monetary assistance.  Alas, what we know is that the bulk of that assistance winds up in the equity markets, at least that has been the case to date, so just how much this new money will help the economy itself remains in question.

But well before that, we have a number of key events upcoming, notably next week’s ECB meeting and the Fed meeting the following week.  Focusing first on Frankfurt, recall that Madame Lagarde essentially promised action at their late October get together, and the market wasted no time putting numbers on those expectations.  While no rate cut is anticipated, at least not in the headline Deposit rate (currently -0.50%), the PEPP is expected to be increased by up to €600 billion with its tenor expected to be extended by an additional six months through the end of 2021.  However, before we get too used to that type of expansion, perhaps we should heed the words of Isabel Schnabel, the German ECB Executive Board member who today explained that while further support would be forthcoming, thoughts that the ECB would take the Mario Draghi approach of exceeding all expectations should be tempered.  Of course, the question is whether a disappointing outcome next week, say just €250 billion additional purchases, would have such a detrimental impact on the markets economy.  Remember, while Madame Lagarde has a great deal of political nous, she has thus far demonstrated a tin ear when it comes to market signals.  The other topic on which she opined was the TLTRO program, which she seems to like more than PEPP, and which she implied could see both expansion and even a further rate cut from the current -1.00%.

And perhaps, that is all that is needed to get the juices flowing again, a little encouragement that more money is on its way.  Certainly, the bond markets are exhibiting risk on tendencies, although yield increases of between 0.2bps (Germany) and 1.1bps (Treasuries) are hardly earth shattering.  They are certainly no indication of the reflation trade that had gotten so much press just a month ago.

And finally, the dollar, which is definitely softer this morning, but only after having rallied all day yesterday, so is in fact higher vs. yesterday morning’s opening levels.  The short dollar trade remains one of the true conviction trades in the market right now and one where positioning is showing no signs of abating.  Almost daily there seems to be another bank analyst declaring that the dollar is destined for a great fall in 2021.  Perhaps they are correct, but as I have repeatedly pointed out, no other central bank, certainly not the ECB or BOJ is going to allow the dollar to decline sharply without some action on their part to try to slow or reverse it.

A tour of the market this morning shows that CHF (+0.4%) is the leading gainer in the G10, although followed closely by SEK (+0.4%) and EUR (+0.35%).  Of course, if you look at the movement since Friday, CHF and EUR are higher by less than 0.1% and SEK is actually lower by 0.45%.  In other words, do not believe that the dollar decline is a straight-line affair.

Emerging markets are seeing similar price action, although as the session has progressed, we have seen more currency strength.  Currently, CLP (+0.9%), ZAR (+0.85%) and BRL (+0.8%) are leading the way here, all three reliant on commodity markets, which have, other than oil, performed well overnight.  The CE4 are also higher (HUF +0.6%, CZK +0.5%), tracking the euro’s strength, and Asian currencies had a fair run overnight as well, with INR (+0.5%) the best performer as a beneficiary of an uptick in stock and bond investments made their way into the country.

On the data front, today brings ISM Manufacturing (exp 58.0) and Construction Spending (0.8%), with the former certainly of more interest than the latter.  This is especially so given the PMI data overnight and the market response.  But arguably, of far more importance is Chairman Powell’s Senate testimony starting at 10:00 this morning, which will certainly overshadow comments from the other three Fed speakers due later.

Yesterday at this hour, with the dollar under pressure, it seemed we were going to take out some key technical levels and weaken further.  Of course, that did not happen.  With the dollar at similar levels to yesterday morning, and another dollar weakening sentiment, will today be the day that we break 1.20 in the euro convincingly?  As long as CNY remains strong, it is certainly possible, but I am not yet convinced.  Receivables hedgers, these are the best levels seen in two years, so it may not be a bad time to step in.

Good luck and stay safe
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Pandemic Support

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Til now the direction’s been clear
As Jay and Mnuchin did fear
If they didn’t spend
The US can’t mend
And things would degrade through next year

But now, unless there’s a breakthrough
It seems Treasury won’t renew
Pandemic support
Which likely will thwart
A rebound til late Twenty-Two

Just when you thought things couldn’t get more surprising, we wind up with a public disagreement between the US Treasury Secretary and the Federal Reserve Chair.  To date, Steve Mnuchin and Jay Powell have seemed to work pretty well together, and at the very least, were both on the same page.  Both recognized that the impact of the pandemic would be dramatic and there was no compunction by either to invent new ways to support both markets and the economy.  As well, both were appointed by the same president, and although their personal styles may be different, both seemed to have a single goal in mind, do whatever is necessary to maintain as much economic activity as possible.

Aah, but 2020 is unlike any year we have ever seen, especially when it comes to policy decisions.  The legalities of the alphabet soup of Fed programs (e.g. PMCCF, SMCCF, MMLF, etc.) require that they expire at the end of the year and must be renewed by the Treasury Department.  And in truth, this is a good policy as expiration dates on spending programs require continued debate as to their efficacy before renewal.  The thing is, given the rapid increase in covid infections and rapid increase in state economic restrictions and shutdowns, pretty much every economist and analyst agrees that all of these programs should continue until such time as the spread of the coronavirus has slowed or herd immunity has been achieved.  Certainly, every FOMC member has been vocal in the need for more fiscal stimulus as they know that their current toolkit is inadequate.  (Just yesterday we heard from both Loretta Mester and Robert Kaplan with exactly that message.)  But to a (wo)man, they have all explained that the Fed will continue to do whatever it can to help, and that means continuing with the current programs.

Into this mix comes the news that Secretary Mnuchin sent a letter to the Fed that they must return the funds made available to backstop some of the Fed’s lending programs, as they were no longer needed.  The Fed immediately responded by saying “the full suite” of programs should be maintained into 2021.

Let’s consider, for a moment, some of the programs and what they were designed to do.  For instance, the Primary Market Corporate Credit Facility and Secondary Market Corporate Credit Facility do seem superfluous at this stage.  After all, more than $1.9 trillion of new corporate debt has been issued so far in 2020 and the Fed has purchased a total of $45.8 billion all year, just 2.4%, mostly through ETF’s.  It seems apparent that companies are not having any difficulty accessing financing, at very low rates, in the markets directly.  In the Municipal space, the Fed has only bought $16.5 billion while more than $250 billion has been successfully issued year to date.  Mnuchin’s point is, return the unused funds and deploy them elsewhere, perhaps as part of the widely demanded fiscal policy support.  The other side of that coin, though, is the idea that the reason the market’s have been able to support all that issuance is because the Fed backstop is in place, and if it is removed, then markets will react negatively.

In fairness, both sides have a point here, and perhaps the most surprising outcome is the public nature of the spat.  Historically, these two agencies work closely together, especially during difficult times.  But as I said before, 2020 is unlike any time we have seen in our lifetimes.  There is one other potential driver of this dissension, and that could be that politically, the Administration is trying to get Congress to act on a new stimulus plan quickly by threatening to remove some of the previous stimulus.  However, whatever the rationale, it clearly has the market on edge, interrupting the good times, although not yet resulting in a significant risk-off outcome.

If this disagreement is not resolved before the next FOMC meeting in three weeks’ time, the market will be looking for the Fed to expand its stimulus measures in some manner, either by increasing QE purchases or by purchasing longer tenor bonds, thus weighing on the back end of the curve as well as the front.  And for our purposes, meaning in the FX context, that would be significant, as either of those actions are likely to see a weaker dollar in response.  Remember, while no other central bank is keen to see the dollar weaken vs. their own currency, as long as CNY continues to outperform all, further dollar weakness vs. the euro, yen, pound, et al, is very much in the cards.

So, with that as our backdrop, markets today don’t really know what to do and are, at this point, mixed to slightly higher.  Asia, overnight, saw further weakness in the Nikkei (-0.4%), but both the Hang Seng and Shanghai exchanges gained a similar amount.  European bourses have slowly edged higher to the point where the CAC, DAX and FTSE 100 are all 0.5% higher on the day, although US futures are either side of unchanged as traders try to figure out the ultimate impact of the spat.  Bonds are mixed with Treasury yields higher by 1 basis point, but European yields generally lower by the same amount this morning.  Of course, a 1 basis point move is hardly indicative of a directional preference.

Both gold and oil are essentially flat on the day, and the dollar can best be described as mixed, although it is starting to soften a bit.  In the G10 space, NZD (+0.45%) leads the way with the rest of the commodity bloc (AUD, NOK, CAD) all higher by smaller amounts.  Meanwhile, the havens are under a bit of pressure, but only a bit, with JPY and CHF both softer by just (-0.1%).  EMG currencies have seen a similar performance as most Asian currencies strengthened overnight, but by small amounts, in the 0.2%-0.3% range.  Meanwhile, the CE4 were following the euro, which had been lower most of the evening but is now back toward flat, as are the CE4.  And LATAM currencies, as they open, are edging slightly higher.  But overall, while there is a softening tone to the dollar, it is modest at best.

On the data front, there is none to be released in the US today, although early this morning we learned that UK Retail Sales were a bit firmer than expected while Italian Industrial activity (Sales and Orders) was much weaker than last month.  On the speaker front, four more Fed speakers are on tap, but they all simply repeat the same mantra, more fiscal spending, although now they will clearly include, don’t end the current programs.

For the day, given it is the Friday leading into Thanksgiving week, I expect modest activity and limited movement.  However, if this spat continues and the Treasury is still planning on ending programs in December, I expect the Fed will step in to do more come December, and that will be a distinct dollar negative.

One last thing, I will be on vacation all of next week, so there will be no poetry until November 30.

Good luck, good weekend, stay safe and have a wonderful holiday
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More Money They’ll Print

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While stock markets make all-time highs
The world’s central banks still advise
More money they’ll print
In case there’s a hint
That prices will simply not rise

In a chicken and egg type question, it is worth asking; is the fact that equity markets continue to rally (yet another all-time high was recorded yesterday, this time by the Dow) despite the fact that economies worldwide remain in chaos and operating at a fraction of their capacity, as governments impose another wave of lockdowns throughout Europe, the UK and many US states, logical?  Obviously, the link between those dichotomous outcomes is the support provided by the central banking community.  Perhaps the way to frame the question is, if markets have already seen past the end of the pandemic, and are willing to fund the business community right now, why do central banks feel they need to, not merely continue with their programs, but promise to increase them going forward?

This was made clear, yet again, when Fed Vice-Chair, Richard Clarida, explained that the FOMC is carefully evaluating the current situation and will not hesitate to use all available tools to help support the economy.  The punditry sees this as a code for an increase in the size of the asset purchase program, from the current $120 billion each month (split $80 billion Treasuries and $40 billion mortgages) to as much as $160 billion each month, with the new money focused on Treasuries.  At the same time, ECB Chief Economist, Philip Lane, explained that the central bank will provide enough monetary stimulus to make sure governments, companies and households have access to cheap credit throughout the coronavirus crisis.

And perhaps, that is the crux of the problem we face.  Despite investor optimism that the future is bright, and despite central banks’ proven inability to get funding to those most in need, namely individual households, those same central banks continue to do the only thing they know how to do, print more money, and by extension fund governments and large companies, who already have access to funding.  As the saying goes, the rich get richer.

The cycle goes as follows: central banks cut interest rates => investors move out the risk curve seeking returns => corporations and governments issue more debt at cheaper levels => an excess (and ultimately unsustainable) amount of debt outstanding.  Currently, that number, globally, is approaching 400% of GDP, and on current trends, has further to go.  The problem is, repayment of this debt can only be achieved in one of two ways, realistically, neither of which will be pleasant.  Either, inflation actually begins to rise sufficiently to diminish the real value of the debt or we get to a debt jubilee, where significant portions are simply written off.

If you were ever wondering why central banks are desperate for higher inflation, this is your answer.  While they are mostly economists, they still recognize that inflation is exactly the kind of debt destructive force necessary to eventually balance the books.  It will take time, even if they can manage the rate of inflation, but their firmly held belief is if they could just get inflation percolating, all that debt would become less of a problem.  At least for the debtors. Creditors may not feel the same excitement.

On the other hand, the debt jubilee idea is being bandied about in many forms these days, with the latest being the cancellation of student debt outstanding.  That’s $1.6 trillion that could be dissolved with the signing of a law.  Now, who would pay for that?  Well, I assure you it is not a free lunch.  In fact, the case could be made that it is this type of action that will lead to the central banks’ desired inflation outcome.  Consider, wiping out that debt would leave $1.6 trillion in the economy with no corresponding liabilities.  That’s a lot of spending power which would suddenly be used to chase after a still restricted supply of goods and services.  And that is just one small segment of the $100’s of trillions of dollars of debt outstanding.  The point is, there are still many hard decisions yet to be made and there are going to be winners and losers based on those decisions.  Covid-19 did not cause these issues to arise, it merely served as a catalyst to make them more widely known, and potentially, will push us toward the endgame.  Be prepared!

But that is all just background information to help us try to understand market activity a bit better.  Instead, let’s take a look at the market today, where yesterday’s risk appetite seems to have developed a bit of indigestion.  Overnight saw a mixed equity picture (Nikkei +0.4%, Hang Seng +0.1%, Shanghai -0.2%) with the magnitude of movements more muted than recent activity.  Europe, on the other hand, has been largely in the red (DAX -0.35%, CAC -0.3%, FTSE -1.15%) as apparently Mr Lane’s comments were not seen as supportive enough, or, more likely, markets are simply overbought after some enormous runs this month, and are seeing a bit of profit taking.  US futures are mixed at this point, with the DOW and S&P both down -0.5%, while the NASDAQ is up about 0.3%.  The biggest stock market story is S&P’s decision to add Tesla to the S&P500 index starting next month, which has helped goose the stock higher by another 10%.

Bond markets this morning are a tale of three regions.  Asian hours saw Australian and New Zealand bonds fall sharply with 10-year yields rising about 7 basis points, as the RBA’s YCC in the 3-year space is starting to really distort markets there.  However, in Europe, we are seeing a very modest bond rally, with yields slightly softer, about 1 basis point throughout the continent, and Treasuries have seen yields slip 1.5 basis points so far in the session. Clearly, a bit of risk-off attitude here.

FX markets, however, are not viewing the world quite the same way as the dollar, at least vs. its G10 counterparts, is somewhat softer, although has seen a more mixed session vs. EMG currencies.  Leading the way in the G10 is GBP (+0.5%) as stories make the rounds that a Brexit deal will be agreed next week.  Now, they are just stories, with no official comments, but that is the current driver.  Next in line is JPY (+0.3%) which perhaps we can attribute to a risk-off attitude, especially as CHF (+0.25%) is moving the same way.  As to the rest of the bloc, gains have been much smaller, and there has been absolutely zero data released this morning.

In the EMG bloc, EEMEA currencies have been the weak spot, with HUF (-0.5%) the worst performer, although weakness in PLN (-0.3%) and RUB (-0.25%) is also clear.  This story has to do with the Hungarian and Polish vetoes of the EU budget and virus recovery fund, as they will not accept the rule of law conditions attached by Brussels.  You may have heard about the concerns Brussels has over these two nations move toward a more nationalist viewpoint on many issues like immigration and judicial framework, something Brussels abhors.  On the positive side, BRL (+0.5%) has opened strongly, and CNY (+0.45%) led the Asian bloc higher overnight.  The China story continues to focus on the apparent strength of their economic rebound as well as the fact that interest rates there are substantially higher than elsewhere in the world and drawing in significant amounts of investor capital.  As to BRL, it seems the central bank has hinted they will be increasing the amount of dollars available to the market, thus adding to pressure on the dollar.

On the data front, yesterday saw a weaker than expected Empire Mfg number, but this morning is really the week’s big number, Retail Sales (exp 0.5%, 0.6% ex autos) as well as IP (1.0%) and Capacity Utilization (72.3%) a little later. On the Fed front, we have Chairman Powell speaking at 1:00, but not a speech, part of a panel, as well as another five Fed members on the tape at 3:00.  However, I anticipate the only thing we will learn is that the entire group will back up Vice-Chair Clarida regarding additional actions.

Despite the lack of risk appetite, the dollar is on its back foot this morning.  Ironically, I expect that we will see a rebound in risk appetite, rather than a rebound in the dollar as the session unfolds.

Good luck and stay safe
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Can’t Stop the Pain

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While central banks worldwide compete
To broaden their own balance sheet
They also complain
They can’t stop the pain
Lest more money reaches Main Street

Fiscal policy is the topic du jour as not only are there numerous stories about the ongoing theatrics in Washington, but we continue to hear virtually every member of the Fed calling for more fiscal stimulus.  Starting from the top, where in a speech on Tuesday, Chairman Powell excoriated Congress for not acting more quickly, and on through a dozen more speeches this week, there is one universal view; the Fed has done everything in its power to support the economy but it is up to the government to add more money to the mix to make up for the impact of the government shutting down businesses.  And while this is not just a US phenomenon, we hear the same thing from the ECB, BOE, BOC and BOJ, it appears that the market is coming to believe that the US is going to be the nation that acts most aggressively on this front going forward.

There is a conundrum here, though, as this view is seen as justification for a weaker dollar.  And frankly, I am confused as to the logic behind that view.  It appears there is a growing belief, based on polling data, that President Trump will lose the election, and that there will be a Democratic sweep taking back the Senate.  With that outcome in mind, investors expect a huge fiscal stimulus will quickly be enacted, perhaps as much as $4 trillion right away.  Now, if this is indeed the case, and if fiscal stimulus is what is required to get the economy growing again, and if the US is going to be the country taking the biggest steps in that direction, wouldn’t it make sense that the dollar would be in demand?  After all, if US data improves relative to that in Europe or elsewhere, doesn’t it stand to reason that the dollar will benefit?

Adding to this conundrum is the fact that we are hearing particularly dovish signals from other central banks (in addition to their calls for more fiscal stimulus) with the Bank of Canada the latest to explain that negative interest rates could well be appropriate policy if the government doesn’t spend more money.  So now, NIRP has the potential to become policy in virtually every G10 nation except the US, where the Fed has been consistent and explicit in saying it is not appropriate.  So, I ask, if US rates remain positive across the curve, while other nations all turn negative, is that really a dollar bearish signal?  It doesn’t seem so to me, but then I’m just a salesman working from home.

And yet, dollar weakness is certainly today’s theme, with the greenback lower vs. every one of its major counterparts today.  For example, the euro is higher by 0.4% this morning despite the fact that production data from the three largest economies point to a renewed slowdown in activity.  French IP has fallen -6.2% since August of last year, rising a less than forecast 1.3% on a M/M basis.  Monday, we saw German IP data fall -0.2% in August, taking its Y/Y results to -9.6%.  hardly the stuff of bullishness.  And while it is true that Italy’s data was better than expected (+7.7% in August, though still -0.3% Y/Y), looking at that suite of outcomes does not inspire confidence in the Eurozone economy.  And recall, too, that the ECB Minutes released Wednesday were clear in their concern over a rising euro, implying they would not allow that to come to pass.  But here we are, with the euro back at 1.1800 this morning.  Go figure.

The pound, too, seems to be defying gravity as despite much worse than forecast monthly GDP data (2.1% vs. 4.6% expected) and IP data (0.3% M/M, -6.4% Y/Y), the pound, which has been a strong performer lately, is slightly higher this morning, up 0.1%.  Again, this data hardly inspires confidence in the future economic situation in the UK.

But as they say, you can’t fight city hall.  So, for whatever reason, the current narrative is that the dollar is due to fall further because the US is going to enact more stimulus.  There is, however, one market which seems to understand the ramifications of additional stimulus, the Treasury market.  10-year Treasury yields, which had found a home near 0.65% for a long time, look very much like they are heading higher.  While this morning, bonds have rallied slightly with the yield declining 1.5 bps, we are still at 0.77%, and it seems only a matter of time before we are trading through this level and beyond.  Because, remember, if the narrative is correct and there is a huge stimulus coming, that’s $4 trillion in new paper to be issued.  That cannot be a positive for bond prices.

The European government bond market is also having a good day, with yields declining between 2 and 3 basis points everywhere.  At least here, if the ECB is to be believed, the idea of additional QE driving bond yields lower makes sense, especially since we are not looking at the prospect of multiple trillions of euros of additional issuance.

Looking at those two markets, it is hard to come up with a risk framework for today, and the equity markets are not helping.  Asian markets overnight were generally slightly softer (Nikkei -0.1%, Hang Seng -0.3%) but we did see Shanghai rally nicely, +1.6%, after having been closed all week long.  That seems like it was catching up to the week’s price action.  Europe, on the other hand is mixed, with strength in some markets (CAC +0.35%, FTSE 100 +0.45%) and weakness in others (DAX 0.0%, Spain -0.6%, Italy -0.3%).  I find it interesting that the UK and France, the nations that released the weakest IP data are the best performers.  Strange things indeed.  US futures, though, are pointing higher, somewhere on the order of 0.4%-0.5%.

And as I mentioned, the dollar is weaker across the board.  The best performers in the G10 are NZD (+0.6%) and NOK (+0.5%), with the former looking more like a technical rebound after some weakness earlier this week, while the krone has benefitted from its CPI data.  Earlier this year, as NOK weakened, Norwegian CPI rose sharply, to well over 3.0%, but it appears that the krone’s recent strength (it has rallied back to levels seen before the pandemic related market fluctuations) is starting to have a positive impact on inflation.

EMG currencies are also entirely in the green this morning with CNY (+1.35%) the biggest gainer.  In fairness, this appears to be a catch-up move given China had been closed since last Thursday.  But even CNH, which traded throughout, has rallied 0.7% this morning, so clearly there is a lot of positivity regarding the renminbi.  This also seems to be politically driven, as the assumption is a President Biden, if he wins, will be far less antagonistic to China, thus reducing sanctions and tariffs and allowing the country to resume its previous activities. But the whole bloc is higher with the CE4 showing strength on the order of 0.5%-0.7% and MXN, another politically driven story, rising 0.5%.  The peso is also assumed to be a big beneficiary of an impending Biden victory as immigration restrictions are expected to be relaxed, thus helping the Mexican economy.

And that’s really it for the day.  There is no data to be released and only one Fed Speaker, Richmond’s Barkin, but based on what we have heard this week, we already know he is going to call for more fiscal stimulus and not much else.  Also, as Monday is the Columbus Day holiday, look for things to slow down right around lunch, so if you have things to get done, get them done early.

Good luck, good weekend and stay safe
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The New Weasel Word

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The bulk of the FOMC
Explained their preferred policy
More government spending,
Perhaps never ending,
Is what almost all want to see

Meanwhile, ‘cross the pond, what we heard
Is ‘bove 2% is preferred
They’ll soon change their stance
To give growth a chance
Inflation’s the new weasel word

Another day, another central bank explanation that higher inflation is just what the doctor ordered to improve the economy.  This time, Banque de France’s Governor, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, explained that the current formulation used by the ECB, “below, but close to, 2%”, is misunderstood.  Rather than 2% being a ceiling, what they have meant all along is that it is a symmetrical target.  Uh huh!  I’ve been around long enough to remember that back in 1988, when the ECB was first being considered, Germany was adamant that they would not accept a central bank that would allow inflation, and so forced the ECB to look just like the Bundesbank.  That meant closely monitoring price pressures and preventing them from ever getting out of hand.  Hence, the ECB remit, was absolutely designed as a ceiling, with the Germans reluctant to even allow 2% inflation.  Of course, for most of the rest of Europe, inflation was the saving grace for their economies.  Higher inflation begat weaker currencies which allowed France, Italy, Spain, et.al. to continue to compete with a German economy that became ever more efficient.

But twenty-some years into the experiment of the single currency, and despite the fact that the German economy remains the largest and most important in the Eurozone, the inflationistas of Southern Europe are gaining the upper hand.  These comments by Villeroy are just the latest sign that the ECB is going to abandon its price stability rules, although you can be sure that they will never say that.  Of course, the problem the ECB has is similar to that of Japan and the US, goosing measured inflation has been beyond their capabilities for the past decade (more than two decades for the BOJ), so simply changing their target hardly seems like it will be sufficient to do the job.  My fear, and that of all of Germany, is that one day they will be successful in achieving this new goal and will not be able to stop inflation at their preferred level, but instead will see it rise much higher.  But that is not today’s problem.  Just be aware that we are likely to begin hearing many other ECB members start discussing how inflation running hot for a while is a good thing.  Arguably, the only exceptions to this will be the Bundesbank and Dutch central bank.

And once again, I will remind you all that there is literally no chance that the ECB will sit back and watch, rather than act, if the Fed actually succeeds in raising inflation and weakening the dollar.

Speaking of the Fed, this week has seen a significant amount of Fedspeak already, with Chairman Powell on the stand in Congress for the past three days.  What he, and virtually every other Fed speaker explained, was that more fiscal stimulus was required if the government wanted to help boost growth.  The Fed has done all they can, and to listen to Powell, they have been extremely effective, but the next step was Congress’s to take.  The exception to this thought process came from St Louis Fed President Bullard, who explained that based on his forecasts, the worst is behind us and no further fiscal stimulus is needed.  What makes this so surprising is that he has been one of the most dovish of all Fed members, while this is a distinctly hawkish sentiment.  But he is the outlier and will not affect the ultimate outcome at this stage.

Powell was on the stand next to Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, who made the comment with the biggest impact on markets.  He mentioned that he and House Speaker Pelosi were back to negotiating on a new stimulus package, which the equity market took as a sign a deal would be reached quickly.  We shall see.  Clearly, there is a great deal of angst in Congress right now, so the ability to agree on anything across the aisle is highly questionable.

With that in mind, a look at markets shows what had been a mixed opening is turning into a more negative session.  Overnight saw Asian equity markets with minimal gains and losses (Nikkei +0.5%, Hang Seng -0.3%, Shanghai -0.2%), but Europe, which had been behaving in a similar manner early in the session has turned sharply lower.  At this time, the DAX (-1.95%) and CAC (-2.0%) are leading the way lower, with the FTSE 100 (-0.8%) having a relatively better day.  At the same time, US futures turned from flat to lower, with all three indices now pointing to -0.6% losses at the open.

It is difficult to point to a specific comment or piece of news driving this new sentiment, but it appears that the bond market is in the same camp as stocks.  Treasury yields, while they remain in a narrow range, have slipped 1bp, to 0.65%, and we are seeing Bunds (-2bps) and Gilts (-3bps) also garner demand as havens are in play.  Apparently, central bank desire for inflation is not seen as a serious situation quite yet.

Commodity prices have turned around as well, with oil falling 2% from morning highs, and gold dropping 1%.  In other words, this is a uniform risk reduction, although I would suspect that gold prices should lag the decline elsewhere.

As to the dollar, it is starting to pick up a more substantial bid with EUR (-0.3%) and GBP (-0.35%) sliding from earlier levels.  NOK (-1.15%) remains the worst performer in the G10, which given the decline in oil prices and evolving risk sentiment should be no surprise.  But at this point in the day, the entire bloc is weaker vs. the buck.  EMG currencies, too, have completely reversed some modest early morning strength, and, once again, ZAR (-1.2%) and MXN (-1.0%) lead the way lower.  One must be impressed with the increased volatility in those currencies, as they start to approach levels seen in the initial stages of the Covid crisis.  For anyone who thought that the dollar had lost its haven status, recent price action should put paid to that notion.

On the data front, today brings Durable Goods (exp 1.4%, 1.0% ex Transport) and we hear from two more Fed speakers, Williams and Esther George.  While Williams is almost certain to repeat Powell’s current mantra of more fiscal support, Ms George is one of the more hawkish Fed members and could well sound more like James Bullard than Jay Powell.  We shall see.

This has been a risk-off week, with equity markets down across the board and the dollar higher vs. every major currency in the world.  It seems highly unlikely that the Durable Goods number will change that broader sentiment, and so the ongoing equity market correction, as well as USD rebound seems likely to continue into the weekend.  Remember, short USD positions are still the rule, so there is plenty of ammunition for a further short covering.

Good luck, good weekend and stay safe
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