Tag Archives: #Fed

All the PIGS in Her Fief

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Said Madame Lagarde, ‘Well I guess
Things really are in quite a mess’
And so up we’ll step
To introduce PEPP
As we try to deal with the stress

The market’s response was relief
That Europe’s new central bank chief
Has realized at last
The time is long past
To help all the PIGS in her fief

Another day, another bunch of new programs! First, though, a quick observation about the overall situation right now. There is no panic in the streets (after all the streets are mostly empty due to shelter-in-home and self-quarantining) but there is panic in… Washington DC, London, Bonn, Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid, etc. And that panic emanates from the fact that all those elected politicians are facing the biggest crisis of all…they might not get reelected because of Covid-19. I believe it is the belated realization that their jobs are on the line that has seen a significant acceleration in the number of new programs being proposed and introduced around the world.

Central banks, which had borne the brunt of the heavy lifting, are starting to get help from fiscal policy actions, but those central banks are still on the front lines. To wit, in an unprecedented intermeeting action, last night the ECB unveiled a new QE program called the Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program (PEPP) which will authorize the purchase of €750 billion of public and private assets for the rest of the year, or longer if deemed necessary. This time they are including Greek government bonds, which the ongoing QE program would not touch due to the credit rating, they are ignoring the capital key, which means they can purchase far more Italian debt than Italy’s share of the Eurozone economy would dictate, and they are expanding the corporate purchases to non-financial CP. And the market liked what they heard with European government bonds rallying sharply pushing 10-year benchmark yields down by 47bps in Portugal, 71bps in Italy, 167bps in Greece and 45bps in Spain. Equity markets in Europe have stopped collapsing, but we still see pressure in Germany and the UK, while the PIGS are all higher. One other thing about Germany was the release of the IFO Expectations Index which fell to 82.0, its lowest point since the financial crisis in 2008. Certainly short-term prospects seem dire there.

And what about the euro you may ask? Well, it continues to slide, down 1.0% this morning, but is actually about middle of the pack in the G10. If you want to see real carnage, look no further than Norway, where the krone has fallen another 2.75% as I type, but that is only after it had been lower by nearly 7.5% at 6:00 this morning, which forced a response from the Norgesbank that they would be intervening if things got worse. Looking over price action during the past month, when oil prices collapsed from $53.78 to as low as $20.06 (currently $22.88), which has been a 57% decline, the worst performing currencies have been; MXN (-23.8%), RUB (-21.2%), NOK (-19.7%) and COP (-17.3%). Two caveats on this list are Norway was down much further earlier this morning, and Colombia hasn’t opened yet today, so has room for a further decline. The only positive I can take from this is that the correlation between the currencies of oil producers and the price of oil remains intact. At least we know what to expect!

But there was plenty of other activity as well. For instance, the RBA cut rates again, by 25bps, taking their base rate to a historic low of 0.25%. In addition they have implemented their first QE plan where they are targeting the yield on 3-year AGB’s at 0.25%. The problem is that the 10-year bond got hammered on the news with yields there jumping 23bps overnight, taking the move since Monday to 57bps. Look for the RBA to do more, and probably soon. And the Aussie dog dollar? Down a further 1% this morning, which takes the decline in the past month to 14.3% and it is now trading at levels not seen since 2003.

And let’s not forget South Korea, which is stepping into the market to buy KRW 1.5 trillion (~$1.1 billion) of government bonds, as it prepares both bond and stock stabilization funds to help support markets there. In other words, the government is going to be buying equities to stop the slide. The KRW response? -3.2%!

Japan would not be left out of this parade, buying a new record ¥201.6 billion of ETF’s last night while injecting ¥5.3 trillion yen in new liquidity to the money markets. Unfortunately, the Nikkei continued its decline, although fell only 1.0%, arguably an improvement over recent performance. The yen has no haven characteristics this morning, falling 1.50%, which is actually now the worst performing currency as NOK continues to rebound as I type on the back of Norgesbank activity.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the Fed has unveiled yet another program, this time to backstop money market funds, a key part of the US financial plumbing system, and one that when it broke in 2008 after Lehman’s bankruptcy, resulted in financial markets seizing up entirely. The fund is there to make liquidity available to funds to meet increased redemptions without having to sell their holdings. Instead, they will pledge them as collateral and receive cash from the Fed.

This note is too short to go through every action taken, but we continue to see other central bank rate cuts and we continue to see fiscal packages starting to get enacted. In fact, President Trump signed into law the latest yesterday, to support paid sick leave and increased unemployment benefits, and now Congress turns to the MOAS (mother of all stimuli) packages which may include helicopter money as well as bailouts of airlines and hospitality businesses that have been decimated by the virus response. Mooted price tag…$1.3 trillion, but my bet is it winds up larger than that.

Meanwhile, the dollar remains the single place to be. It has rallied against everything yet again as holding cash is seen as the only response to the current situation. And the cash everyone wants to hold is green. Foreign borrowers are scrambling and struggling as their local currencies collapse and swap spreads blow out. And domestic borrowers are wondering how they are going to repay or roll over their debt given the absolute collapse in economic activity.

For now, this is likely to continue to be the situation, as there is no obvious end in site. However, the growing sense of urgency in those national capitals leads me to believe that we are going to start to see much bigger fiscal packages and a newfound belief that printing money and giving it out is a better solution than allowing economic activity to seize up completely. As I said last week, the MMT proponents have won the day. It has just not yet been made explicit.

Good luck and stay safe
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Still Aren’t Buying

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The market continues to fear
The virus, as it’s become clear
Whatever they try
Recession is nigh
And coming worldwide late this year

But Jay and his friends keep on trying
To help us all so they’re supplying
A hundred beep cut
Which might aid somewhat
Investors, though, still aren’t buying

It is getting hard to keep up with all the policy actions being undertaken by the world’s central banks and governments as every nation tries to address the Covid-19 outbreak. By now, I am sure you are all aware that the Fed, in an unprecedented Sunday night move, cut the Fed funds rate by 100bps, back to the zero bound. But here is what else they did:

• They committed to QE4, which involves purchasing $500 billion in Treasury coupon bonds as well as $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities.
• They cut the interest rate at the discount window to 0.25% and will allow borrowings there for up to 90 days (it had been an overnight facility prior to this).
• And perhaps the most interesting thing, they cut bank reserve requirements to 0.0%, essentially allowing infinite leverage for banks to encourage them to lend.
• Finally, they reinstituted USD swap lines with other major central banks around the world to help everyone else get access to USD liquidity.

The Bank of Japan, meanwhile, pulled their monthly meeting forward to last night so they could act in concert with the rest of the world. With interest rates already negative, they did not touch those, but doubled their target for ETF and corporate bond purchases to ¥12 trillion and they introduced a new zero-rate lending program to help businesses hit by the pandemic. Kuroda-san also made clear there was more they can do if necessary.

The PBOC in a somewhat lukewarm response offered 100 billion yuan of liquidity via the medium-term lending facility at an unchanged rate of 3.15%. Given they are one of the few central banks with room to cut rates, that was somewhat of a surprise. It was also surprising given just how incredibly awful the economic data releases were last night:

Retail Sales -20.5%
Industrial Production -13.5%
Fixed Asset Investment -24.5%
Unemployment Rate 6.2%

The RBNZ cut its base rate by 0.75%, taking it down to 0.25%, and promised to maintain that rate for at least 12 months. They also indicated they would be starting QE if they needed to do anything else. (And to think, New Zealand historically had been considered a ‘high-yielder’!)

The Bank of Korea cut its base rate by 0.50%, taking it to 0.75% in an unscheduled emergency meeting. Analysts are looking for another 50bps at their regular meeting on April 9.

The RBA offered further liquidity injections via repurchase agreements (repos) extending their tenor and indicated it “stands ready” to purchase government bonds (i.e. start QE) with further announcements due Wednesday.

In addition, we saw the Philippines, Hong Kong, Turkey and Sri Lanka act last night. This is clearly a global effort, but one that has not yet gained traction amid the investment community.

Speaking of the investment community, equity markets worldwide are getting crushed, with Asia falling sharply and Europe in even worse shape, as all markets are down at least 6%. Meanwhile, US equity futures are limit down at -5.0% after Friday’s remarkable late day short-covering rally. Again, the only constant here is that volatility is extremely elevated!

Treasury yields have fallen sharply again, down 20bps as I type, but were lower earlier. Interestingly, other than Treasuries, Bunds and Gilts, the rest of the government bond markets have lost their appeal to investors. Instead, we are seeing them sold off alongside equity markets with French yields higher by 4bps, Italian yields +16bps and Greek yields +26bps. In fact, pretty much every other country is seeing yields rise today. I think part of this is the fact that as equity markets decline and margin calls come in, investors must sell the only thing that has any liquidity, and that is government bonds. This behavior could go on for a while.

And lastly, turning to the dollar, it is a mixed picture this morning. The haven currencies, JPY (+1.6%) and CHF (+0.7%) are doing what they are supposed to. The euro, too, has rallied a bit, up 0.5% in what arguably is a response to the dramatically lower US interest rate picture. But NZD and NOK are both lower by 1.5%, the former on the back of its surprise central bank actions while the krone is suffering because oil has collapsed 5.6% this morning amid the ongoing oil war. CAD and AUD, the other G10 commodity currencies are also under pressure, down 0.8% and 0.5% respectively.

Turning to the EMG space, the bright spot is Central Europe, which has seen gains in PLN, RON and BGN. But otherwise, these currencies are under pressure again, some more extreme than others. RUB is the leading decliner, -2.9%, along with oil’s decline, and MXN is also getting hammered, -2.6%. ZAR (-2.4%) and CZK (-1.8%) are the next in line, but basically all APAC currencies have suffered by at least 0.5%, and one can only imagine what will happen to LATAM when it opens. It is not likely to be pretty.

We do see some data this week, but it is not clear how important it will be. Arguably, these will be the last data points prior to the onset of the epidemic.

Today Empire Manufacturing 4.9
Tuesday Retail Sales 0.2%
  -ex autos 0.1%
  IP 0.4%
  Capacity Utilization 77.1%
  JOLT’s Job Openings 6.401M
Wednesday Housing Starts 1502K
  Building Permits 1500K
Thursday Initial Claims 219K
  Philly Fed 10.0
  Leading Indicators 0.1%
Friday Existing Home Sales 5.50M

Source: Bloomberg

At this point, the Fed has canceled their meeting this week, having acted yesterday, which means that we will be able to hear from Fed speakers as they try to massage their message. But the essence of the problem is this is not a financially driven crisis, it is a global health crisis, and all the central banks can do is adjust monetary policy. Fiscal policy adjustments as well as government actions directed at ameliorating the impacts of Covid-19 are much harder, especially in large democratic nations, and so I fear that it will be a number of weeks before things even begin to return to a semblance of normal. Only then will we learn how effective all this monetary policy action will be. In the meantime, I see further declines in equity markets and continued volatility. In fact, the only positive catalyst I could see coming up is the announcement of successful testing of a vaccine for Covid-19, and its immediate production. Alas, nobody knows when that will come.

In the meantime, while bid-ask spreads will be wider, and based on what we have seen in the CDS markets, credit spreads are wider as well, the FX market is still operating, and hedgers should be able to get most everything they need done.

Good luck
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Urgent Action

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Said Madame Lagarde urgent action
Is needed if we’re to gain traction
In putting a lid
On spreading Covid
Or we’ll have an ‘08 contraction

No sooner were those words reported
Than Governor Carney supported
A 50bp cut
(More than scuttlebutt!)
Thus, hoping recession is thwarted

Another day and another raft of new and important news driving markets. So far this morning, the biggest news has been the BOE’s surprise emergency rate cut of 0.50%, taking the base rate back down to 0.25%, its all-time low first reached during the financial crisis. Governor Carney, in his last official act, as he steps down on Sunday, explained that the idea behind the early cut (after all, the BOE has its regularly scheduled meeting in two weeks) was to show coordination with the government which will be releasing its budget for the new fiscal year later today. In addition, he explained, and was seconded by incoming Governor Andrew Bailey, that the BOE still had plenty of tools available to ease policy further if necessary.

In addition to the rate cut, they also restarted a targeted lending scheme that is designed to support bank lending to SME’s. As I type, we have not yet heard the nature of the budget package, but expectations are for a significant increase in spending focused on the National Health Service and small businesses. The market response has been positive for equities (FTSE 100 +0.8%), although Gilt yields have edged higher by 5bps. In the FX market, the pound’s initial reaction on the rate cut was to fall sharply, more than a penny, but it has since recouped all of that and then some and is currently higher by 0.2%.

Turning to Europe, Madame Lagarde led a conference call of EU leaders this morning and explained that if they don’t respond quickly and aggressively, the situation could devolve into the same type of financial crisis that the 2008 mortgage and credit crisis engendered with an equally deep recession. At the same time, Italian PM Conte is trying to get the rest of the EU to allow him to break the spending limits in order to rescue his country. With the entire nation on lockdown, economic activity is screeching grinding to a halt and the impact on individuals, who will not be able to get paid and therefore pay their bills, as well as small companies will be devastating. But remarkably, the EU has not yet endorsed the package, which is set to be as much as €25 billion. In the end, there is no question the package will be implemented even if the Germans are dragged along kicking and screaming. Italian stocks rallied on the announcement, +0.9%, while Italian BTP’s (their treasury bonds) rallied sharply with yields falling 16bps. The euro has also benefitted this morning, currently higher by 0.4%, although I think a lot of that is simply a rebound from yesterday’s sharp decline. After all, the single currency fell 1.5% yesterday.

Turning to the dollar itself, broadly speaking it is weaker overall, albeit not universally so. Versus its G10 counterparts, the dollar is on the back foot, which seems to reflect the fact that we are hearing of every other G10 country taking concrete action to fight Covid-19, while the US remains a little behind the curve. The $8 billion package passed last week is small beer in this economy, but the administration’s calls for a reduction in payroll taxes and federally supported sick leave pay has fallen on deaf ears in Congress. With Congress due to go on a one-week recess starting Thursday, it is hard to believe they will come up with something before they leave. This policy uncertainty is weighing on US assets with equity futures pointing lower as I type, on the order of 1.7%, and Treasuries rallying again with the 10-year yield falling by 10bps.

At this point, all eyes are on the Fed with market expectations still fully baked in for a 50bp rate cut one week from today. What is interesting is the number of pundits who are pointing to a speech given last summer by NY Fed President Williams, where he highlighted research showing that when policy space is limited (i.e. rates are already low), a central bank should be more aggressive to get an impact from their actions, rather than trying to hold onto what limited ammunition they have left. This has a number of economists around Wall Street calling for a 1.00% rate cut next week by the Fed, which would truly be a shock and awe move, at least initially. The problem for the Fed is that they don’t have the structure to create targeted lending facilities the way other central banks do, and they can only buy securities issued or guaranteed by the US government, so Treasuries and mortgages. While that law can be changed, it will not be done either quickly or without controversy. In other words, the Fed may find it has a more limited toolkit than they need in the short run. At this point, a 0.50% cut to Fed funds next week will not do very much, but more than that is likely to have a big market impact. In fact, I’m leaning toward the idea that they cut 1.00% next week to see if they can get a positive response and force the government to step up.

In the EMG bloc, only ZAR (-0.7%) and MXN (-0.65%) are under any real pressure this morning as both feel the weight of sinking commodity prices. While some others here are soft, the moves are modest (RUB -0.3%). On the positive side, INR is the leader, rising 0.7% in a catch-up move as the country was on holiday yesterday during the rally by other Asian currencies.

But as we look ahead to today, unless we get new news from the US administration, my sense is the dollar will remain under pressure overall. There is data upcoming as CPI will print at 8:30 (exp 2.2%, 2.3% core), but I don’t think anybody is paying attention. The market is still completely driven by comments and official actions, with longer term views sidelined.

Good luck
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All Stay at Home

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While yesterday was, for most, scary
It seems the moves were temporary
This morning we’ve seen
Our screens filled with green
On hopes of response monetary

Meanwhile, as the virus expands
And spreads across multiple lands
The word out of Rome
Is, ‘all stay at home’
And please don’t go round shaking hands!

What a difference a day makes! After what was a total obliteration of risk on Monday, this morning we have seen equity markets around the world rebound sharply as well as haven assets lose some of their luster. While net, risk assets are still lower than before the oil war broke out, there is a palpable sense of relief in trading rooms around the world.

But is anything really different? Arguably, the big difference this morning is that we have begun to hear from governments around the world about how they are planning to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic epidemic, and more importantly, that they actually do have a response. The most dramatic response is arguably from Italy, where the government has locked down the entire nation. Schools and businesses are closed and travel within as well as in and out of the country is banned save for a dire emergency. Given how badly hit Italy has been hit by Covid, nearly 500 deaths from more than 9,000 cases, and the fact that the case load is increasing, this should be no surprise. At the same time, given the demographics in Italy, only Germany and Japan have older populations, and given the fact that the virus is particularly fatal for elderly people, things are likely to continue to get worse before they get better. I have seen two different descriptions of how dire the situation is there, with both calling the health infrastructure completely overwhelmed. Look for Germany to impose more restrictions later this week as well, given the growing spread of the virus there.

But from a market perspective, what is truly turning things around is the discussion of combined monetary and fiscal response that is making the rounds. Last night President Trump explained the administration was considering payroll tax cuts as well as direct subsidies to hourly workers via increased support for paid sick leave. In addition, the market is certain the Fed will cut at least 50bps next week, and still essentially pricing in 75bps. So, the twin barrels of monetary and fiscal policy should go a long way to helping regain confidence. Of course, neither of these things will solve the problems in the oil patch as shale drillers find themselves under extraordinary financial pressure with oil prices still around $34/bbl. While that is a 10% rebound from yesterday, most of the shale drillers need oil to be near $45-$50/bbl to make a living. But there is very little the government can do about that right now.

And we are hearing about pending support from other governments as well, with the UK, France and Japan all preparing or announcing new measures. However, as long as the virus remains as contagious as it is, all these measures are merely stop-gaps. Lockdowns have serious longer-term consequences and there will be significant lost output that is permanently gone. Recession this year seems a highly likely event in many, if not most, G10 countries, so be prepared.

And with that as a start, let’s take a look around the markets. As I mentioned, equities rebounded in Asia (Nikkei +0.85%, Hang Seng +1.4%, Shanghai +1.8%) and are much higher in Europe (DAX +3.6%, CAC +4.4%, FTSE 100 +4.2%). Of course, that was after significantly larger declines yesterday. US futures are sharply higher as I type, with all three indices more than 4% higher at this time. Meanwhile, bond markets are seeing the opposite price action with 10-year Treasury yields rebounding to 0.71% after touching a low of 0.31% yesterday. Bunds have also rebounded 12bps to -0.74%, and more importantly, both Italian and Greek bonds have rallied (yields falling) sharply. Make no mistake, the bonds of those two nations are not considered havens in any language.

In the FX market, yesterday saw, by far, the most volatile trading we have experienced since the financial crisis in 2008-09. And this morning, along with other markets, much of that is reversing. So we are looking at the yen falling 2.4% this morning, by far the worst performer in the G10, but also seeing weakness in the euro (-0.85%), pound Sterling (-0.7%) and Swiss franc (-0.85%). On the plus side, NOK is higher by 1.05% and CAD has regained a much less impressive 0.35%.

Emerging markets have also seen significant reversals with MXN, yesterday’s worst performer, rebounding 1.8%, ZAR +1.65% and KRW +0.95%. On the downside, RUB is today’s loser extraordinaire, falling 3.5% after Saudi Aramco said they would increase production to a more than expected 12.3 million bbls/day. But the CE4 currencies, which rallied with the euro yesterday, are all softer this morning by roughly 0.8%.

The one thing that seems clear is that volatility remains the base case for now, and although market implied volatilities have fallen today, they remain far higher than we had seen just a week ago. I think there will also be far more market liquidity to be involved in this market as well.

On the data front, the NFIB Small Business Optimism report has already been released at 104.5, rising from last month and far better than expected. Now this survey covers February which means that there had to be at least some virus impact. With that in mind, the result is even more impressive. The thing is that right now, data is just not a market driver, so the FX markets have largely ignored this along with every other release.

Looking ahead to today’s session, the reversal of yesterday’s moves is clearly in place and unless we suddenly get new information that the virus is more widespread, or that there is pushback on support packages and they won’t be forthcoming, I expect this morning’s moves to continue a bit further.

Longer term, we remain dependent on the spread of Covid-19 and government responses as the key driver. After all, the oil news seems pretty fully priced in for now.

Good luck
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Gone Astray

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There once was a banker named Jay
Who, for a few weeks, had his way
Stock markets rose nicely
But that led precisely
To things that have now gone astray

Protagonists now can’t discern
What’s safe or what assets to spurn
Their hunt for more yield
Has finally revealed
That risk is attached to return

Apparently, when the Fed cuts rates, it is not a guarantee that stock prices will rally. That seems to be yesterday morning’s lesson in the wake of the Fed’s “surprise” 50bp rate cut. After a brief rally, which lasted about 15 minutes, the bottom fell out again as investors and traders decided that things were actually much worse than they feared. In addition, Chairman Jay did himself no favors by opening the kimono a bit and admitting that there was nothing the Fed could do to directly address the current issues.

This is a real problem for the global central bank community because the Fed was the player with the most ammunition left, and they just used one-third of their bullets with a disastrous outcome. Ask yourself what more the ECB can do, with rates already negative and QE ongoing. They have no more bullets left, just the whispering of sweet nothings from Madame Lagarde to Eurozone FinMins to spend more money. If the data turns further south in Europe, which seems almost guaranteed, I would look for a suspension of the Eurozone rules on financing and deficits. After all, Covid-19 was not part of the bargain, and this is clearly an emergency…just ask Jay. Japan? They are already printing yen as fast as they can to buy more assets, and will not stop, but are unable to achieve their goals.

Arguably, the only central bank left that matters, and that has room to move is the PBOC, which has already been active adding liquidity and trying to steer it to SME’s. But if the pressure continues on both the Chinese economy and its markets, they will do more regardless of the long-term debt problems they may exacerbate. We have clearly reached a point where every central bank is all-in to try to stop the current stock market declines. And you thought all they cared about was money supply!

So, what about a fiscal response by the major economies? After all, to a man, every central bank has explained that monetary policy is not the appropriate tool to address the current economic and market concerns. As Chairman Jay explained in his press conference, “A rate cut will not reduce the rate of infection. It won’t fix a broken supply chain. We get that, but we do believe that our action will provide a meaningful boost to the economy.” A cynic might conclude that central banks were trying to force the fiscal authorities’ collective hands, but in reality, I think the issue is simply that, at least in the G7, fiscal issues are political questions that by their very nature take longer to answer. Getting agreement on spending money, especially in the current fractious political environment, is extremely difficult short of a major crisis like the financial market meltdown in 2008. And for now, despite all the press, and some really bad data releases, Covid-19 has not achieved that level of concern.

Is that likely to change soon? My impression based on what we have seen and heard so far is that unless there is another significant uptick in the number of infections, and especially in the mortality rate, we are likely to see relatively small sums of money allocated to this issue. Of course, if economic activity is impeded by travel restrictions and supply chains cannot get back in business by the end of March, we are likely to have a change of heart by these governments, but for now, its central banks or bust.

So, this morning, after yesterday’s rout in US markets, things seem to have stabilized somewhat with most Asian equity markets flat to slightly higher, European markets ahead by about 1% and US futures currently sitting ~2% stronger. Part of the US showing is undoubtedly due to yesterday’s Super Tuesday primaries which showed former VP Joe Biden build on his recently recovered momentum to actually take a slight delegate lead. There is certainly some truth to the idea that part of the US markets’ recent malaise was due to a concern that Senator Sanders was poised to become the Democratic nominee, and that his policy platforms have been extremely antagonistic to private capital.

But despite the equity market activity, which on the whole looks good, there is no shortage of demand for Treasuries, which implies that there is still a great deal of haven demand. Yesterday, the 10-year yield breached 1.00% for the first time in its 150-year history, trading as low as 0.90% before rebounding ahead of the close. But here we are this morning with the yield down a further 5bps, back to 0.95%, and quite frankly there is nothing to indicate this move is over. In fact, futures markets are pricing in another Fed rate cut at their meeting 2 weeks from today, and another three cuts in total by the end of 2020! While German bunds have not seen the same demand, the rest of the European government bond market has rallied with yields everywhere falling between 1bp and 8bps. And don’t forget JGB’s, which have also seen yields decline 2bps, heading further into negative territory despite the BOJ’s efforts to steepen their yield curve. Certainly, a look at the bond market does not inspire confidence that the all clear has been sounded.

And finally, in the FX markets, the dollar remains under general pressure as the market continues to price in further Fed activity which is much greater than anywhere else. Yesterday’s cut took US rates to their narrowest spread vs. Eurozone rates since 2016, when the Fed was in the process of raising rates. It is no coincidence that the euro has recovered to levels seen back then as well. The thing about the dollar’s current weakness, though, is that it seems to be running its course. After all, if the interest rate market is pricing for US rates to fall back to the zero-bound, and there is no indication that the US will ever go negative, how much more room does the euro have to rally? While yesterday’s peak at just above 1.12 may not be the absolute top, I think we are much nearer than further from that point.

A quick look at the EMG bloc shows that today’s winners have largely centered in Asia as those currencies respond belatedly to yesterday’s Fed actions, although we have also seen commodity focused currencies like ZAR (+0.8%), MXN (+0.7%) and RUB (+0.5%) perform well on the rebound in oil and metals prices. I expect that CLP, BRL and COP will also open well on the same thesis.

While yesterday was barren in the US on the data front, this morning we see ADP Employment (exp 170K) and ISM Non-Manufacturing (54.9) as well as the Fed’s Beige Book at 2:00pm. Monday’s ISM Manufacturing data was a touch weak, but it is getting very difficult to read with the Covid-19 situation around. Was this weakness evident prior to the outbreak? I think that’s what most investors want to understand. Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Chinese auto sales plunged 80% in February and the Caixin PMI data was also disastrous, printing at 27.5.

For now, uncertainty continues to reign and with that comes increased volatility. We have seen that with a substantial rebound in the equity market VIX, and we have seen that with solid rebounds in FX option volatility, which had been trading at historically low levels but are now, in G7 currencies, back to levels not seen since December 2018, when equity markets were correcting and fear was rampant. My take there is that implied vols have further to rally as there is little chance we have seen the end of the current crisis-like situation. Hedgers beware!

Good luck
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Many a Penny

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The stock market had been for many
A place to make many a penny
But lately they’ve seen
Bright red on their screen
It’s best if they practice their zen (ny)

Meanwhile though the Fed seems quite clear
A rate cut will not soon appear
The market is stressing
And Jay will be pressing
For twenty-five quite soon this year

It’s not clear to me whether the top story is the dramatic decline in global stock markets or the increasing spread of Covid-19. Obviously, they are directly related to each other, and one would have to assume that the causality runs from Covid to stocks, but if you read the paper, stocks get top billing. Coming a close second is the bond market, where 10-year Treasury yields (1.20%) have hit new historic lows every day since Tuesday while discussion of other markets takes a back seat. And, oh yeah, it looks like Turkey and Russia might go to war in Syria!

As is often written, the two great drivers of financial markets are fear and greed. Greed leads to FOMO, which is a pretty solid description of what we have seen, at least in the US equity markets, since 2009. Fear, however, is what happens when excessive greed, also known as complacency, meets the notorious black swan, in this case, Covid-19. And historically, the longer the period of greed, the sharper is fear’s retaliation. With equity markets around the world having fallen by 10% or more this week, there is no question that we could have a session or two where things steady. And given what the futures market is now pricing with respect to central bank activity, it seems reasonable that the market will respond positively to those imminent actions. But I fear that there is a lot of excess in this market, and that stock prices everywhere can fall much further before this is all done.

Let’s look at futures market pricing for central banks this morning vs. last week and last month. This is the number of 25bp rate cuts priced by the end of 2020:

Country Feb 28 Feb 21 Jan 31
US 3.5 1.8 2.0
Canada 2.5 1.6 1.4
Eurozone (10 bps) 1.3 0.7 0.6
UK 1.5 0.8 1.1
Australia 2.1 1.5 1.5
Japan (10 bps) 1.3 0.8 0.8

Source: Bloomberg

Part of the difference is the fact that only the US and Canada have room for more than 2 cuts before reaching the zero-bound, but the market is screaming out for central banks to come to the rescue. This should be no surprise as central banks have been doing this since 1987 when Chairman Greenspan, the maestro himself, stepped in after Black Monday and said he would support markets. It is a little bit late for central bankers to complain that they cannot help things given their actions, around the world, for the past thirty years, which has really stepped up since the financial crisis in 2008. At this point, if equity markets crater this morning in the US (and futures are pointing that way with all three indices currently lower by 1.3%), I expect an “emergency rate cut” by the Fed before stock markets open on Monday. One man’s view.

So how about the dollar? What is happening there? Well, the dollar is having a mixed session this morning, stronger vs. a number of emerging market currencies, as well as Aussie and Kiwi, but weaker vs. the yen and Swiss franc, and a bit more surprisingly, vs. the euro. The euro is an interesting case, and a situation we have seen before.

Consider, if you were a hedge fund investor and looking to fund positions. Where would you seek to fund things? Clearly, the currency with the lowest interest rates is the place to start. Now, knowing the history of the Swiss franc, and the fact that it is not that large a market, CHF is likely not a place to be. But euros, on the other hand, were a perfect funding vehicle, hugely liquid and negative interest rates. And that is what we saw for months and months, hedge funds shorting euro and buying MXN, INR, ZAR and any other currency with real yield. Well, now in the panic situation currently engulfing markets, these positions are being closed rapidly, and that means that hedge funds are aggressively buying euros while selling those other currencies. Hence, the euro’s performance this week has been relatively stellar, +1.35%, although it has recently backed off its highs this morning and is now unchanged on the day.

And where did we see this before? Prior to the financial crisis in 2008, JPY was the only currency that had zero interest rates and was the funding currency of choice for the hedge fund community. Extremely large yen shorts existed vs. the same high yielding currencies of today. And when the crisis struck, hedge funds were forced to buy yen as well as dollars driving it much higher. This was the genesis of the yen as a haven asset, although its consistent current account surplus has done a lot to help the story since then.

As to the rest of the FX market today, yen is the top performer, +0.75%, and CHF is also ahead of the game, +0.2%, but the rest of the G10 is under pressure. The laggard is NZD (-1.1%) as the first Covid-19 case was identified there and markets anticipate the RBNZ to cut rates soon. In the EMG space, with oil crashing again (WTI -2.6%), it is no surprise to see RUB (-1.5%) and MXN (-1.0%) lower. But today’s worst performing EMG currency is IDR (-2.05%) after the first Covid cases were identified and talk of rate cuts there circulated. Interestingly, CNY has been a solid performer today, rising 0.3%, although remember, it is under tight control by the PBOC.

On the data front today we see Personal Income (exp 0.4%), Personal Spending (0.3%), Core PCE (1.7%), Chicago PMI (46.0) and Michigan Sentiment (100.7). While PCE had been the most important data in the past, I think all eyes will be on the Chicago and Michigan numbers, as they are forward looking. Also, of tremendous interest to the market will be tonight’s China PMI data, with estimates ranging from 30.0 to 50.0. My money is on the low side here.

Two things argue for a bounce in equities in the US today, first, simply the fact that they have fallen so much in such a short period of time and a trading bounce is due. But second, given their significant decline, portfolio rebalancing is likely to see buyers today, which can be quite substantial in the short run. But a bounce is just that, and unless we see dramatic central bank activity by Monday, I anticipate we are not nearly done with this move.

Good luck and good weekend
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Tough Sledding

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The Minister, Prime, has declared
Come June, the UK is prepared
To tell the EU
If no deal’s in view
He’ll walk. Sterling bulls should be scared!

Meanwhile as the virus keeps spreading
Investors have found it’s tough sledding
There’s no end in sight
For this terrible blight
Thus, risk assets, most holders keep shedding

While Covid-19 remains the top story across all markets, this morning we did get to hear about something else that mattered, the UK position paper on their upcoming negotiations with the EU regarding trade terms going forward. The EU insists that if a nation wants to trade with them, that nation must respect (read adhere) to the EU’s rules on various issues, notably competition and state aid, but also things like labor conditions. (Funnily enough, China doesn’t seem to need to adhere to these rules). However, Boris has declared, “At the end of this year we will regain, in full, our political and economic independence.” Those are two pretty different sentiments, and while I believe that this is just tough talk designed to level set the negotiations, which begin next week, there is every chance that the UK does walk without a deal. Certainly, that is a non-zero probability. And the FX markets have taken it to heart as the pound has suffered this morning with the worst G10 performance vs. the dollar, falling -0.3%.

In fact, it is the only currency falling vs. the dollar today, which some have ascribed to the dollar’s waning status as a haven asset. However, I would argue that given the dollar’s remarkable strength this year, as outlined yesterday, the fact that some currencies are rebounding a bit should hardly be surprising. Undoubtedly there are those who believe that as Covid-19 starts to be seen in the US, it will have a deleterious impact on the US economy, and so selling dollars makes sense. But remember, the US economy is the world’s largest consumer, by a long shot, so every other country will see their own economies suffer further in that event.

A more salient argument is that the US is the only G10 country (except Canada which really is too small to matter) that has any monetary policy room of note, and in an environment where further monetary policy ease seems a given, the US will be able to be more aggressive than anyone else, hence, lower rates leading to a softer dollar. While that is a viable argument, in the end, as the ongoing demand for Treasuries continues to show, people need dollars, and will buy them, even if they’re expensive. Speaking of Treasuries, the 10-year yield has now fallen another 4bps to 1.29%, a new all-time low yield. And you can’t buy Treasuries using euros or yen!

So as things shape up this morning, it is another risk-off session with most equity markets around the world in the red (Nikkei -2.3%, Kospi -1.1%, DAX -2.5%, CAC -2.4% FTSE 100 -2.2%) and most haven assets (CHF +0.55%, JPY, +0.3%, Gold + 0.4%) performing well. The Covid-19 virus and national responses to the infection continues to be the lead story pretty much everywhere. In fact, last night’s US Presidential press conference was seen to be quite the fiasco as President Trump was unable to convince anyone that the US is on top of the situation. And while I’ve no doubt that things here will not run smoothly, it is not clear to me that things are going to run smoothly anywhere in the world. Fast moving viral epidemics are not something that large governments are very good at addressing. As such, I would look for things to get worse everywhere before they get better.

Looking at some specific FX related stories, perhaps the biggest surprise this morning is the euro’s solid rally, +0.5%, which was underpinned by surprisingly strong Economic Sentiment data for the month of February. This is in spite of the fact that growth figures throughout the major economies on the continent have been turning lower and the unknown consequences of Covid-19. And the euro’s strength has been sufficient to underpin the CE4 currencies, all of which are up by even greater amounts, between 0.6% and 0.85%. Again, these are currencies that have been under pressure for the best part of 2020, so a rebound is not that surprising.

Elsewhere in the EMG bloc, we continue to see weakness in the commodity producers, with oil falling more than 2% this morning and base metals also in the red. MXN (-0.7%), CLP (-0.45%), RUB (-0.3%) and ZAR (-0.3%) remain victims of the coming economic slowdown and reduced demand for their key exports.

This morning’s US session brings us a lot of data including; Initial Claims (exp 212K), Q4 GDP (2.1%) and Durable Goods (-1.5%, +0.2% ex transport). Yesterday’s New Home Sales data was much better than forecast (764K), which given the historically low mortgage rates in the US cannot be that surprising. We also continue to hear from Fed speakers, with each one explaining they are watching the virus situation closely and are prepared to act (read cut rates) if necessary, but thus far, the economic situation has not changed enough to justify a move. It is comments like these that highlight just how much of a follower the Fed has become, unwilling to lead a situation.

Speaking of the foibles of the Fed, I must mention one other thing that serves to demonstrate how out of touch they are with reality. Economists from the SF Fed released a paper explaining that, as currently constructed, the Fed will not be able to achieve their inflation goals because in the next downturn, with rates so low, the public worries that the Fed will not be able to add more support to the economy (my emphasis). Now, I think about the Fed constantly as part of my job, but I am willing to wager that a vanishingly small number of people in this country, far less than 1%, think about the Fed at all…ever! To think that the Fed’s inability to hit their target has anything to do with public sentiment about their power is extraordinary, and laughable!

At any rate, today’s session looks set to continue the risk-off stance, with equity futures down 0.75% or so, and while the dollar has been under pressure overnight, I expect that will be short-lived.

Good luck
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Leavers Cheer

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The Governor, in his last meeting
Said data, of late, stopped retreating
There’s no reason why
We need to apply
A rate cut as my term’s completing

Yet all the news hasn’t been great
As Eurozone stats demonstrate
Plus Brexit is here
And though Leavers cheer
The impact, growth, will constipate

Yesterday saw a surprising outcome from the BOE, as the 7-2 vote to leave rates on hold was seen as quite a bit more hawkish than expected. The pound benefitted immensely, jumping a penny (0.65%) in the moments right (before) and after the announcement and has maintained those gains ever since. In fact, this morning’s UK data, showing growth in Consumer Credit and Mortgage Approvals, has helped it further its gains, and the pound is now higher by 0.2% this morning. (As to the ‘before’ remark; apparently, the pound jumped 15 seconds prior to the release of the data implying that there may have been a leak of the news ahead of time. Investigations are ongoing.) In the end, despite the early January comments by Carney and two of his comrades regarding the need for more stimulus, it appears the recent data was sufficient to convince them that further stimulus was just not necessary.

Of course, that pales in comparison, at least historically, with today’s activity, when at 11:00pm GMT, the UK will leave the EU. With Brexit finally completed all the attention will turn to the UK’s efforts to redefine its trading relationship with the rest of the world. In the meantime, the question at hand is whether UK growth will benefit in the short-term, or if we have already seen the release of any pent-up demand that was awaiting this event.

What we do know is that Q4 was not kind to the Continent. Both France (-0.1%) and Italy (-0.3%) saw their economies shrink unexpectedly, and though Spain (+0.5%) continues to perform reasonably well, the outcome across the entire Eurozone was the desultory result of 0.1% GDP growth in Q4, and just 1.0% for all of 2019. Compare that with the US outcome of 2.1% and it is easy to see why the euro has had so much difficulty gaining any ground. It is also easy to see why any thoughts of tighter ECB policy in the wake of their ongoing review make no sense at all. Whatever damage negative rates are doing to the Eurozone economies, especially to banks, insurance companies and pensions, the current macroeconomic playbook offers no other alternatives. Interestingly, despite the soft data, the euro has held its own, and is actually rallying slightly as I type, up 0.1% on the day.

It may not seem to make sense that we see weak Eurozone data and the euro rallies, but I think the explanation lies on the US side of the equation. The ongoing aftermath of the FOMC meeting is that analysts are becoming increasingly dovish regarding their views of future Fed activity. It seems that, upon reflection, Chairman Powell has effectively promised to ease policy further and maintain a more dovish overall policy as the Fed goes into overdrive in their attempts to achieve the elusive 2.0% inflation target. I have literally seen at least six different analyses explaining that the very modest change in the statement, combined with Powell’s press conference make it a lock that ‘lower for longer’ is going to become ‘lower forever’. Certainly the Treasury market is on board as 10-year yields have fallen to 1.55%, a more than 40bp decline this month. And this is happening while equity markets have stabilized after a few days of serious concern regarding the ongoing coronavirus issue.

Currently, the futures market is pricing for a rate cut to happen by September, but with the Fed’s policy review due to be completed in June, I would look for a cut to accompany the report as they try to goose things further.

Tacking back to the coronavirus, the data continues to get worse with nearly 10,000 confirmed cases and more than 200 deaths. The WHO finally figured out it is a global health emergency, and announced as much yesterday afternoon. But I fear that the numbers will get much worse over the next several weeks. Ultimately, the huge unknown is just how big an economic impact this will have on China, and the rest of the world. With the Chinese government continuing to delay the resumption of business, all those global supply chains are going to come under increasing pressure. Products built in China may not be showing up on your local store’s shelves for a while. The market response has been to drive the prices of most commodities lower, as China is the world’s largest commodity consumer. But Chinese stock markets have been closed since January 23, and are due to open Monday. Given the price action we have seen throughout the rest of Asia when markets reopened, I expect that we could see a significant downdraft there, at least in the morning before the government decides too big a decline is bad optics. And on the growth front, initial estimates are for Q1 GDP in China to fall to between 3.0% and 4.0%, although the longer this situation exists, the lower those estimates will fall.

Turning to this morning’s activity, we see important US data as follows:

Personal Income 0.3%
Personal Spending 0.3%
Core PCE Deflator 1.6%
Chicago PMI 48.9
Michigan Sentiment 99.1

Source: Bloomberg

Arguably, the PCE number is the most important as that is what is plugged into Fed models. Yesterday’s GDP data also produces a PCE-type deflator and it actually fell to 1.3%. If we see anything like that you can be certain that bonds will rally further, stocks will rally, and rate cut probabilities will rise. And the dollar? In that scenario, look for the dollar to fall across the board. But absent that type of data, the dollar is likely to continue to take its cues from the equity markets, which at the moment are looking at a lower opening following in Europe’s footsteps. Ultimately, if risk continues to be jettisoned, the dollar should find its footing.

Good luck and good weekend
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Another Cut’s Quite Apropos

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The Chair said, ‘inflation’s too low
And there’s something you all need to know
Lest prices soon rise
We’ll not compromise
Thus another cut’s quite apropos

There are a number of discussion topics in the market this morning so let’s get right to it.

First the Fed surprised exactly nobody yesterday afternoon by leaving policy unchanged, (except for a ‘technical’ adjustment to IOER, which they raised by the expected 5bps). However, the talk this morning is all about the tone of the statement and the ensuing press conference. In the end, it appears that the Fed is leaning slightly more dovish than they had seemed to be previously, with a still greater focus on inflation. Powell and friends appear to be increasingly concerned that inflation expectations are still declining, and are terrified of an ultimate outcome similar to the past two decades in Japan. As such, it appears they are getting set to move from an inflation target to a price level target. This means that if inflation runs below target for a period of time, as it has been doing ever since it was officially announced in 2012, they will be comfortable allowing it to run above target in order to make up ground. The conclusion is that the bar to raising rates is now impossibly high, at least assuming prices don’t follow the lead of Argentina or Venezuela. And if anything, especially with the impact of the coronavirus still just being discussed and modeled, the likelihood is for more rate cuts before the end of the year.

Speaking of the coronavirus, the WHO has suddenly figured out what the rest of the world has known for a week, this is a serious problem that is spreading quickly. The death toll is over 170 and the number of cases is quickly approaching 8000. The economic impact is growing as more and more companies halt activity in China, more flights are canceled to and from all cities in China, and fear spreads further. Last night, Taiwan’s stock market reopened for the first time in a week and fell 5.75%. Meanwhile the Taiwan dollar fell 1.0%. And the renminbi? Well onshore markets are still closed, and will be so through Monday, at least, but the CNH traded below 7.00 (dollar higher) in London early this morning and remains within basis points of that level as NY walks in. As I wrote on Monday, this will be the best indicator of sentiment as it is the only thing that can actively trade that reflects opinions on the mainland. It should be no surprise that the other Asian equity markets that were open also fell sharply (Nikkei -1.7%, Hang Seng -3.1%, KOSPI -1.7%) as investors just don’t know what to do at this stage. Fear remains the key driver, and will continue to be until there is some sense that the infection rate is slowing down. To date, that has not been the case.

And finally, the Old Lady just announced no change in the base rate, which according to the futures market had been a 50:50 chance. The pound’s response was an immediate pop and it is now higher by 0.4% on the day, making it the best performing G10 currency. Data early in the month prompted a number of dovish comments from three BOE members, including Governor Carney himself, but the data we have seen recently has shown much more positive momentum in the wake of PM Johnson’s December electoral victory. Clearly, a number of fears have receded and tomorrow is the big day, when the UK officially leaves the EU. The EU Parliament voted overwhelmingly to approve the deal, as the UK’s Parliament did last week. So the UK has reclaimed its total sovereignty and now must make its own way in the world. As I have said all along, while there is a risk that no trade deal is agreed by year end, I think the odds are vanishingly small that Boris will risk his current political strength by pushing things to that level. Come summer, a short delay will be agreed and eventually a deal will be signed. Meanwhile, the US will be seeking a deal as well. Overall, I like the pound throughout the year on the twin features of an increasingly weaker USD (QE related) and the positivity of the situation on the ground there.

And those are the three big stories of the morning. We did get some data, notably the German employment report which showed the Unemployment Rate remained unchanged at 5.0%, while the number of people unemployed fell by…2k. This was better than the expected 5k increase in unemployment, but can we step back for a moment and consider what this actually means. Do you know how many people are employed in Germany? I didn’t think so. But the answer is 41.73 million. So, this morning’s data, showing a net change of 7k vs. expectations represents exactly a 0.0167% improvement. In other words, IT DOESN’T MATTER. And I think we need to consider this issue on a regular basis. So much is made of a number being better or worse than expected when most of the time it is well within the margin of error of any estimate. Nonetheless, the euro has edged higher this morning, by just 0.15%, but my goodness it has been stable of late. And quite frankly, in the short term, barring a massive uptick in coronavirus cases which changes broad risk sentiment, I see no reason for it to do much. Ultimately, I still like the single currency to edge higher throughout the year on the back of my weaker dollar call.

This morning brings two more data points in the US, with Initial Claims (exp 215K) and Q4 GDP (2.0%) released at 8:30. However, unless the GDP number is significantly different from expectations, the market focus will remain on the coronavirus issue. Equity markets in Europe are under pressure (DAX -1.1%, CAC -1.4%) and US futures are pointing in the same direction, with all 3 indices leaning about 0.75% lower. Meanwhile, Treasury yields continue to fall with the 10-year now at 1.56%, its lowest level in three months. With no Fed speakers on the docket, today is a risk day, and that arrow is pointing lower. Look for EMG currencies to suffer, while the yen benefits.

Good luck
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Just Look What You’ve Wrought!

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On Monday it seems we all thought
That crises were sold and not bought
On Tuesday we learned
Those sellers got burned
Chair Powell; just look what you’ve wrought!

hubris: noun
hu·bris | \’hyü-brƏs \
Definition of hubris : exaggerated pride or self-confidence
Example of hubris in a sentence
//It takes remarkable hubris to survey the ongoing situation regarding the 2019-nCoV virus and decide that Monday’s 1.5% decline in the S&P 500 was a buy signal.

I saw a note on Twitter this morning that really crystalized the current market condition. All prices are based on flow, not value. It is a fool’s errand to try to determine what the underlying value of any financial asset is these days, as it has no relevance regarding the price of that asset. This is most evident in the equity markets, but is equally true in the currency markets as well. So for all of us who are trying to determine what possible future paths are for market movements, the primary focus should be on how favored they are, for whatever reason, compared to the rest of the investment universe. In fact, this is the key outcome of the financialization of the global economy. And while this is just fine, maybe even great, when flows are driving equity prices, and other assets, higher, it will be orders of magnitude worse going the other way.

But the bigger issue is the financialization of the economy. Prior to the financial crisis and recession of 2008-2009, there seemed to be a reasonable balance between finance and production within the global economy. In other words, financial questions represented a minority of the impact on how companies were managed and on how much of anything was produced. This balance, which I would have put at 80% production / 20% finance, give or take a nickel, was what underpinned the entire economics profession. Finance was simply a relatively small part of every productive endeavor with the goal of insuring production could continue.

But in the wake of that recession, the fear of allowing massively overpriced markets to actually clear resulted in central banks stepping in and essentially taking over. The initial corporate reaction was to take advantage of the remarkably low interest rates and refinance their businesses completely. The problem was that since markets never cleared, there was still a dearth of demand on an overall basis. This is what led to a decade of subpar growth. Remember, the average annual GDP growth in the decade following the GFC was about 1.5%, well below the previous decade’s 3.0%. At the same time, the ongoing shortening of attention spans, especially for investors, forced corporate management to figure out how to make more money. Unfortunately, the fact that slow GDP growth prevented an actual increase in profits forced senior management to look elsewhere. And this is when it quickly became clear that levering up corporate balance sheets, while ZIRP and NIRP were official policy, made a great deal of sense. If a company couldn’t actually make more money, it sure could make it seem that way by issuing debt and buying back stock, thus reducing the denominator in the key metric, EPS.

And that is where we are today, in an economy that continues to grow at a much slower pace than prior to the financial crisis, but at the same time allows ongoing growth in a key metric, EPS, through financial engineering.

Which brings me back to the idea of flow. It is financial flows that determine the future paths of all assets, so the more money that is made available by the central banking community (currently about $100 billion per month of new cash), the higher the price assets will fetch. Let me say that they better not stop providing that new cash anytime soon.

With that as a (rather long) preamble, today’s market discussion is all about the Fed. This afternoon at 2:00 we will get the latest communique and then Chairman Powell will meet the press at 2:30. Current expectations are for no policy changes although there seems to be a growing view that the ongoing coronavirus situation, and its likely negative impact on Chinese/global GDP growth, will force a more dovish hue to both the statement and the press conference. Remember, the Fed is currently going through a major policy review, similar to that of the ECB, as they try to determine what tools are best to manage the economy achieve their mandated goals going forward. Given that ongoing policy review, it would take a remarkable catalyst to drive a near-term policy change, and apparently a global pandemic doesn’t rise to that standard.

Oh yeah, what about that coronavirus? Well, the death toll is now above 130, and the number of cases is touching 10,000, far more than seen in the SARS outbreak of 2003. (And I ask, if so many are skeptical of Chinese economic data, why would we believe that this data is accurate, especially as it would not reflect China in a positive light?) At any rate, while the Hang Seng fell sharply last night, its first session back since last week, the rest of the global equity market seems pretty comfortable. And hey, Apple earnings beat big time (congrats), so all is right with the world!!

What will this do to flows in the FX market? Broadly speaking, the dollar continues to see small gains vs. its G10 brethren as US rates remain the highest around. Granted Canadian rates are in the same place, but with oil’s recent decline, and growing concern over the housing bubble in Canada’s main cities, it seems like the dollar is safer to earn those rates. At the same time, many emerging markets currently carry rates that are far higher than in the US, and what we saw yesterday was significant interest in owning those currencies, especially MXN, RUB, BRL and COP, all of which gained between 0.5% and 1.0% in yesterday’s session. While those currencies have edged lower this morning, the flow story remains the key driver, and if markets maintain their hubris, the carry trade will quickly return.

On the data front, yesterday’s US Consumer Confidence number was much better than expected at 131.6. This morning we saw slightly better than expected GfK Consumer Confidence in Germany (9.9 vs. 9.6 exp) and better than expected French Consumer Confidence (104 vs 102). That is certainly a positive, but it remains to be seen if the spread of the coronavirus ultimately has a negative impact here. Ahead of the Fed, there is no important US data, so we are really in thrall to the ongoing earnings parade until Chairman Powell steps up to the mic. As to the dollar, it continues to perform well, and until the Fed, that seems likely to continue.

Good luck
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