Tag Archives: #PM May

Sans Reason or Rhyme

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In England, the Minister Prime
Is serving, now, on borrowed time
No confidence reigns
As Brexit remains
The issue sans reason or rhyme

The biggest headline early this morning was the collection of a sufficient number of letters of no-confidence in PM May to force a vote in Parliament on the issue. Thus, later today, that vote will be held as the UK holds its breath. If she wins, it will likely strengthen her standing there, and potentially help her push through the Brexit deal that is currently on the table, despite its many flaws. If she loses, a leadership contest will begin and though she will remain PM, it will be only in an acting capacity without any power to move the agenda forward. One potential consequence of the latter outcome is that the probability of the UK leaving the EU with no deal will grow substantially.

With that in mind, the two best indicators of the likely outcome of the vote are the bookie market in the UK and the price of the pound. According to Ladbrokes, one of the largest betting shops in the UK, she is a 2:7 favorite to win the vote after starring at even money. In the FX market, the pound, after having fallen below 1.25 yesterday afternoon has rebounded by 0.4% thus far this morning. In other words, market sentiment is in her favor. Of course, if you recall, market sentiment was clearly of the opinion that Brexit would never occur, or that President Trump would never be president, so these measures are hardly perfect. At any rate, the vote is due to be completed by 3:00pm in NY, and results released shortly thereafter, so we won’t have long to wait. If she wins, look for the pound to continue this morning’s rally, with another 1% well within reason. However, a May victory in no way guaranties that the Brexit deal gets through Parliament. If she loses the vote, however, I expect that the pound will sell off pretty sharply, and that 1.20 could well be in the cards before the end of the year. It will be seen as a decided negative.

Away from the UK, the other big market news is the renewed enthusiasm over prospects for a US-China trade deal being achieved. Equity markets continue to rally on the back of a single phone call between the two nations that ostensibly discussed China purchasing more US soybeans and cutting tariffs on US made cars from 40% to 15%. While both of those are obviously good outcomes, neither addresses the issues of IP theft and Chinese subsidies to SOE’s. It feels a little premature to be celebrating an end to the trade conflict after the first phone call, but nobody ever claimed markets were rational. (Or perhaps they did, Professor Fama, and were just mistaken!) At any rate, after a volatile session yesterday, equities in Asia and Europe have all rallied on the trade news and US futures are pointing higher as well.

Meanwhile, the litany of other global concerns continues to exist. For example, there has been no resolution of the Italian budget issue, which has become even more fraught now that French President Macron has decided to expand the deficit in France in order to try to buy off the gilets jaunes protesters. This begs the question as to why it is acceptable for the French to break the budget guidelines, but not for the Italians to do so. Methinks there is plenty more drama left in this particular issue, and likely not to the euro’s benefit. However, the broad risk-on sentiment generated by the trade discussion has lifted the euro by 0.2% this morning, although it remains much closer to recent lows than highs. It would be hard to describe the market as having enthusiasm over the euro’s near-term prospects. And don’t forget that tomorrow the ECB will meet and ostensibly end QE. There is much discussion about how this will play out and what they will do going forward, but we will cover that tomorrow.

In India, the new RBI governor is a long-time Treasury bureaucrat, Shaktikanta Das, which calls into question the independence of that institution going forward. After all, the reason that the former head, Urjit Patel, quit was because he was coming under significant government pressure to act in a manner he thought unwise for the nation, but beneficial to the government’s electoral prospects. It is hardly comforting that a long time government minister is now in the seat. That said, the rupee continued yesterday’s modest rally and is higher by a further 0.4% this morning.

And those are really the big FX market stories for the day. Overall, the dollar’s performance today could be characterized as mixed. While modestly weaker vs. the euro and pound, it is stronger vs. NZD and SEK, with the latter down by 0.7%. As to the rest of the G10, they are little changed. In the EMG space, the dollar is modestly softer vs. LATAM names, but vs. APAC, aside from INR, it has shown modest strength. In other words, there is little uniform direction evident today as I believe traders are awaiting the big news events. So the UK vote and the ECB tomorrow are set to have more significant impacts.

On the data front, this morning brings CPI (exp 2.2% for headline and core), where a miss in either direction could have a market impact. At this time, Fed funds futures are pricing a ~78% chance that the Fed raises rates 25bps next week, but there is less than one rate hike priced in for 2019. My take continues to be that the market is overestimating the amount of tightening we will see from the ECB going forward, and as that becomes clearer, the euro will start its next leg lower. But for the rest of the day, I expect limited movement at least until the UK vote results are announced this afternoon.

Good luck
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Yikes!

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Said Powell, we’re now “just below”
The neutral rate, thus we’ll forego
Too many more hikes
The market said yikes!
And saw all key price metrics grow

If you wonder why I focus on the Fed as much as I do, it is because the Fed continues to be the single most important player in global financial markets. This was reinforced yesterday when Chairman Powell indicated that the current Fed Funds rate, rather than being “…a long way from neutral at this point,” as he described things on October 3rd, are in fact, “…just below” the neutral rate of interest. The implication is that the Fed is much closer to the end of their rate hiking cycle than had previously been anticipated by most market participants. And the market response was immediate and significant. US equity markets exploded higher, with all three major indices rising more than 2.3%; Treasury yields continued their recent decline, with the 10-year yield falling 4.5bps to levels not seen since mid-September; and the dollar fell sharply across the board, with the euro jumping 1% at one point, although it has since given back about 0.3% of that move. But it wasn’t just the euro that rallied, overnight we saw IDR and INR, two of the worst performing EMG currencies, each rally more than 1.0% as a more dovish Fed will clearly bring relief to what has ailed economies throughout the emerging markets.

It is abundantly clear that a more dovish Fed will have significant consequences for markets around the world. In this event we can expect the recent equity market correction to come to an end, we can expect the dollar to give back some portion of its recent gains, and we can expect Treasury yields to level off, especially in the front end, with fears over a yield curve inversion dissipating rapidly. However, is the Fed really changing its tune? Or is yesterday’s market reaction significantly overdone? Unfortunately, it is far too soon to judge. In fact, this will add further significance to the FOMC Minutes from the October meeting, which will be released at 2:00pm today. Remember, that meeting was held nearly four weeks after Powell’s ‘long way from neutral’ comments, so would reflect much more updated thinking.

Something else to keep in mind regarding the potential future path of interest rates is that we continue to see evidence that key sectors of the US economy are slowing down. Yesterday’s New Home Sales data reinforced the idea that higher mortgage rates, a direct consequence of Fed actions during the past two years, continue to take a toll on the housing sector as the print was just 544K, well below expectations and indicative of a market that is flatlining, not growing. We have also seen the trade data deteriorate further despite the president’s strenuous efforts at reversing that trend. In other words, for a data dependent Fed, there is a growing segment of data showing that rates need not go higher. While Powell was clear that there is no preset path of interest rates, the market is now pricing in just two more hikes, one in December and one in March, and then nothing. If that turns out to be the case, the dollar may well come under pressure.

Of course, FX is really about interest rate differentials, not merely interest rates. And while changes in Fed expectations are crucial, so are changes in other central bank actions. For example, early this morning we saw that Eurozone Consumer Confidence fell for the 11th straight month; we saw that Swiss GDP shrank -0.2% unexpectedly in Q3; and we saw that Swedish GDP shrank -0.2% unexpectedly in Q3. The point is that the slowing growth scenario is not simply afflicting the US, but is actually widespread. If Eurozone growth has peaked and is slipping, it will be increasingly difficult for Signor Draghi and the ECB to begin to tighten policy, even if they do end QE next month. The Swedes, who are tipped to raise rates next month are likely to give that view another thought, and the Swiss are certain to maintain their ultra-easy policy. In other words, the interest rate differentials are not going to suddenly change in favor of other currencies, although they don’t seem likely to continue growing in the dollar’s favor. Perhaps we are soon to reach an equilibrium state. (LOL).

On Threadneedle Street there’s a bank
That raised interest rates to outflank
Rising inflation
But now fears stagnation
If they walk the Brexit gangplank

The only currency that has not benefitted from the Powell dovish tone has been the British pound, which has fallen 0.5% this morning back toward the bottom of its recent trading range. The Brexit debate continues apace there and despite analyses by both the government and the BOE regarding the potential negative consequences of a no-deal Brexit (worst case is GDP could be 10% smaller than it otherwise would be with the currently negotiated deal) it seems that PM May is having limited success in convincing a majority of MP’s that her deal is acceptable. Interestingly, the BOE forecast that in their worst-case scenario the pound could fall below parity with the dollar, although every other pundit (myself included) thinks that number is quite excessive. However, as I have maintained consistently for the past two years, a move toward 1.10-1.15 seems quite viable, and given the current political machinations ongoing, potentially quite realistic. All told, the pound remains completely beholden to the Brexit debate, and until the Parliamentary vote on December 11, will be subject to every comment, both positive and negative, that is released. However, the trend remains lower, and unless there is a sudden reversal of sentiment amongst the politicians there, it is feeling more and more like a hard Brexit is in our future. Hedgers beware!

Quickly, this morning’s data brings Initial Claims (exp 221K), Personal Income (0.4%), Personal Spending (0.4%), and the PCE data (Headline 2.0%, Core 1.9%) as well as the FOMC Minutes at 2:00. Unless the PCE data surprises sharply, I expect that markets will remain quiet until the Minutes. But if we see softer PCE prints, look for equities to rally and the dollar to suffer.

Good luck
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Twixt Trade Adversaries

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A fortnight from now we will know
How Brexit is going to go
Can Minister May
Still carry the day?
Or will the vote, chaos, bestow?

Meanwhile, this week, in Buenos Aires
A meeting twixt trade adversaries
Has hopes running high
We’ll soon wave goodbye
To tariffs and their corollaries

The first thing you notice this morning in the FX markets is that the pound is under more pressure. As I type, it is lower by 0.7% as the flow of news from London is that the Brexit deal is destined to fail in Parliament. Perhaps the most damning words were from the DUP (the small Northern Irish party helping support PM May’s government), which indicated that they would not support the deal as constructed under any circumstances. At the same time, numerous Tories have been saying the same thing, and the general feeling is that there is only a small chance that PM May will be able to prevail. We have discussed the market reaction in the event of no deal, and nothing has changed in my view. In other words, if the Brexit deal is defeated in parliament in two weeks’ time, look for the pound to fall much further. In fact, it is reasonable to consider a move toward 1.20 in the very short term. Between now and the vote, I expect that the pound will be subject to every headline which discusses the potential vote outcome, but unless some of those headlines start to point to a yes vote, the pound is going to remain under pressure consistently.

Beyond Brexit, there are two other things that have the markets’ collective attention, Fed Chairman Powell’s speech tomorrow, and the meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi on Friday in Buenos Aires at the G20 gathering.

As to the first, the market narrative has evolved to the point where expectations for the Fed to raise rates at their December meeting remain quite high, but there are now many questions about the 2019 rate path. If you recall, after the September FOMC meeting, the consensus was moving toward four rate hikes next year. However, since then, the data has been somewhat less robust, with both production and inflation numbers moderating. Notably, the housing market has been faltering despite the lowest unemployment rate in more than 40 years. Ignoring the President’s periodic complaints about the Fed raising rates, the data story has clearly started to plateau, at least, if not roll over, and the Fed is quite aware of this fact. (Anecdotally, the fact that GM is shuttering 5 plants and laying off 15,000 workers is also not going to help the Fed’s view on the economy.) This is why all eyes will be on Powell tomorrow, to see if he softens his stance on the Fed’s expectations. Already the futures market has priced out one full rate hike for next year, and given there is still more than two weeks before the Fed meets again, Powell’s comments tomorrow, along with vice chairman Clarida today and NY Fed President Williams on Friday are going to be seen as quite critical in gauging the current Fed outlook. Any more dovishness will almost certainly be followed by a weakening dollar and rising equity markets. But if the tone comes across as hawkish, look for the current broad trends of equity weakness and dollar strength to continue.

And finally, we must give a nod to the other elephant in the room, the meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi at this weekend’s G20 meeting. Hopes are running high that the two of them will be able to agree to enough common ground to allow more formal trade talks to move ahead while delaying any further tariff implementation. The problem is that the latest comments from Trump have indicated he is going to be raising the tariff rate to 25% come January, as well as seek to implement tariffs on the rest of Chinese imports to the US. It seems that the President believes the Chinese are feeling greater pressure as their economy continues to slow, and they will be forced to concede to US demands sooner rather than later. And there is no question the Chinese economy is slowing, but it is not clear to me that Xi will risk losing face in order to prevent any further economic disorder. I think it is extremely difficult to handicap this particular meeting and the potential outcomes given the personalities involved. However, I expect that sometime in the next year this trade dispute will be resolved, as Trump will want to show that his tactics resulted in a better deal for the US as part of his reelection campaign.

And those are the big stories today. There are two data points this morning, Case-Shiller House Prices (exp 5.3%) and Consumer Confidence (135.9), but neither seems likely to have an impact on the FX market. However, as mentioned above, Fed vice-chairman Richard Clarida speaks first thing this morning, and his tone will be watched carefully for clues about how the Fed will behave going forward. My take here is that we are likely to hear a much more moderate viewpoint from the Fed given the recent data flow, and that is likely to keep modest pressure on the dollar.

Good luck
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Troubles Anew

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Though yesterday all seemed okay
Today, poor Prime Minister May
Has troubles anew
As two from her crew
Of cabinet ministers stray

As I wrote yesterday, it seemed odd to me that despite the headline news of a Brexit deal being reached, and ostensibly signed off by PM May’s cabinet, the market response was tepid, at best. Given that the Brexit story has been THE key driver of the pound for the past eighteen months, how was it that one of the biggest developments in the entire saga was met with a collective yawn by the market? One would have expected a sharp rally in the pound on the news of a Brexit deal being agreed. Instead, what we got was a pound that fell slightly after the announcement, seeming to respond to modestly softer inflation data rather than to the Brexit story.

Well, today we learned the answer to that question. The news this morning is that Brexit Minister, Dominic Raab, as well as Pensions Secretary Esther McVey, both resigned from the cabinet citing the PM’s Brexit deal. Both indicated that they could not support the deal in its current form given the relatively high probability that it will result in different treatment for Northern Ireland than for the rest of the UK, a de facto sovereign rift within the UK. While May remains in office, and there has not, as yet, been any official effort to dethrone her, it is also clear that the probability of this deal being passed by Parliament has fallen sharply. And along side that probability falling, so too has the pound fallen sharply, down 1.5% as I type. In truth, this outcome can be no real surprise given the intractable nature of the underlying problem. A nation is defined by its borders. Insisting that there be no border and yet two distinct nations has been an inherent dilemma during the entire Brexit process. One side has to concede something, and thus far neither side is willing to do so. It remains to be seen if one side does cave in. For now, however, the pound is likely to remain under pressure.

The other story on which FX traders have focused was the speech by Chairman Powell last evening, where in a subtle change in tone, he recognized potential headwinds to the US growth story. These include, slowing growth elsewhere in the world, trade friction and the lagged impact of the Fed’s own policy changes, as well as the diminishing impact of this year’s fiscal stimulus. While none of this is ‘new’ information, what is new is the communication that the Fed is paying close attention. It had seemed to some pundits that the Fed was on autopilot and ignoring the changes that were ongoing in the global economy. By his remarks, Powell made it very clear that was not the case. The market impact, however, is a belated recognition of that fact, and instead will respond to the information that they see. If financial conditions tighten sufficiently because the underlying growth situation is weaker, the Fed has made it clear they will adjust policy accordingly.

The result of these comments was a very mild softening in the dollar as traders and investors implicitly reduce the probability of further policy tightening. However, the movement has not been very significant. Since Monday’s dollar peak, it has drifted lower by about 1% in a relatively smooth manner. Certainly, yesterday’s US CPI data didn’t help the dollar as it printed slightly softer than expected. Combining that with the Powell comments has been plenty to help stop the dollar’s recent rally. The question, of course, is how will upcoming data and information impact things. At this time, the market is following a completely logical pattern whereby strong US data results in a stronger dollar and weak data the opposite. With that in mind, I would suggest that this morning’s data will be of some real importance to the FX market.

Here are expectations for today:

Initial Claims 212K
Philly Fed 20.0
Empire State Manufacturing 20.0
Retail Sales 0.5%
-ex autos 0.5%
Business Inventories 0.3%

In addition, Chairman Powell speaks again at 11:00 this morning, although it would be hard to believe that he will have something new to say versus his comments yesterday. In all, if today’s data shows signs of faltering US growth, I expect the dollar will slide a little further, whereas strong data should see the dollar retraces some of yesterday’s losses. As to the pound, absent another resignation, it has likely found a new home for now. However, it will be increasingly difficult for the pound to rally unless a new idea is formulated, or we hear soothing words from the EU. At this time, neither of those seems very likely.

Good luck
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Dashing Hopes

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Said Trump when he landed in London
Your Brexit deal needs to be undone
Because as it stands
We’ll never shake hands
On trade, dashing hopes ere they’ve begun

On Thursday, PM Theresa May has had yet another trying day. President Trump came to town and wasted no time skewering her recently outlined Brexit framework indicating that if the UK heads down her preferred road (you remember, trade in goods to remain within the EU umbrella, but services to be wide open) that the US would not be able to sign a free trade deal. Trump’s point, albeit indelicately made, is that a comprehensive trade deal with the UK will be impossible because the EU will be involved. And, as you may remember, Trump has several issues with the way the EU approaches trade. This was a terrible blow to May because she has clearly been counting on a deal with the US to help offset the changed status with the EU.

It should be no surprise that the pound did not take the news well and as I type, it is lower by 0.6% today and 1.7% this week. And this is despite the fact that Governor Carney virtually promised to raise rates at next month’s BOE meeting. We are still a long way from any resolution on the Brexit situation, and I continue to believe that uncertainty over the outcome will weigh on Pound Sterling. The pound remains some 12.5% below its levels prior to the Brexit vote two years ago. While it is still well clear of the lows seen at the beginning of last year (1.2000 or so) given my belief that there will be no Brexit deal signed, I expect that the market will return to those lows over time. Higher rates or not, confidence in the UK right now is somewhat lacking.

The other big news overnight was the Chinese data releases that showed that the trade surplus rose sharply to $41.6 billion with the US portion rising to a record $29 billion. This may be a timing issue with many companies anxiously shipping product ahead of the imposition of tariffs. But it also could simply reflect that the Chinese economy is slowing down, thus import growth is ebbing, while the US economy continues to power ahead and lead the global economy. In the end, I am certain that the Trump administration will look at these numbers and feel further justification in their stance on trade.

But on top of the trade data, Chinese Money Supply growth continues to ebb, a sign that economic activity on the mainland is slowing. Other indications of a Chinese slowdown are that the government’s campaign to reduce excess leverage seems to have gone into reverse. There have been several stories about how Beijing is now looking for local governments to insure they spend allocated money rather than worry about cutting back on new allocations. It seems that there is a growing fear that real GDP growth (not necessarily what is reported) is slipping more quickly than President Xi is prepared to accept. With this in mind, it is no surprise that the renminbi is under further pressure this morning, down 0.45%, and is now trading back at levels not seen since last August. And it has further to fall. I expect that we will be testing 7.00 before the year is over.

One last noteworthy item was yesterday’s CPI release, where headline CPI printed at 2.9%, its highest since 2012, and the ex food & energy number printed at 2.3%. What this tells us is that wage gains are barely keeping up with inflation, and so consumers are not really benefitting from the recent modest uptick we have seen there. We heard from both Chairman Powell and Philly President Harker yesterday and both indicated they were comfortable with the Fed’s current trajectory. Both also indicated that while the trade situation has not yet impacted the economy in any meaningful way, they could foresee how that might come about and cause the Fed to rethink their strategy. As of now, I remain in the four hikes this year camp, and will need to see a substantial change to the economic data to change that view.

Turning to the overnight FX performance, the dollar has continued its recent uptrend, rising against almost all its counterparts in both the G10 and the EMG. In fact, the dollar has risen every day this week, completely unwinding last week’s decline. There was a modest amount of data from the Eurozone, all pointing to the ongoing lack of inflation in the region, which continues to undermine the ECB’s case to normalize policy quickly. We also continue to see issues throughout emerging markets with TRY, for example, plummeting 6% this week as the market responds to President Erdogan’s cabinet moves. Remember, he installed his son-in-law as FinMin and ousted all the market friendly ministers in the cabinet. As I have written before, this currency has much further to fall.

Meanwhile, US equity markets continue to power ahead, well at least the big tech names continue to do so and that has been sufficient to drive the averages higher overall. However, market breadth continues to narrow which is always an ominous trend. Treasury yields have been stable in the 10-year space, but the 2-year continues to march higher and that spread is down to 26bps, edging ever closer to inversion. While I believe that the signaling effect this time is not quite the same due to the massive distortions in bond markets brought about by QE, I am in a minority view there.

In the end, the big trends remain intact, which means to me that the dollar is going to continue its march higher. Hedgers keep that in mind as you start to think about your 2019 hedging needs.

Today’s only data is Michigan Sentiment (exp 98.2) and then we hear from Atlanta Fed President Rafael Bostic. But given what we just heard from Harker and Powell (and Brainerd and Williams earlier in the week), there is no indication that the Fed is going to change its tune in the near future. The trend is your friend, and right now that trend is for the dollar to continue to rally.

Good luck and good weekend
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Now In Disarray

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The saga of Minister May
Improved not one whit yesterday
When Boris resigned
Pound Sterling declined
And her party’s now in disarray

The news from the UK continues to dominate market headlines as less than twenty-four hours after the resignation of the Brexit Minister David Davis, Boris Johnson, a Brexit hardliner and Foreign Minister also resigned from PM May’s cabinet. While PM May replaced both men quickly, the problem is one of appearances in that she seems to be losing control over her government. The market’s immediate reaction was to sell the pound (it fell 0.7% yesterday after the news and has maintained those losses) as concerns over a leadership challenge and potentially a new election were brought to the fore. However, since then, it seems things have quieted down a bit and there is even talk that this could be a Sterling positive as it may result in a softer Brexit with less economic impact. In the meantime, this morning’s data showed that GDP has been rebounding from Q1’s flat reading, with the monthly May reading rising 0.3% and although IP data was soft (-0.4% in May), Construction was strong (+1.6%) and it appears that Governor Carney will still have enough ammunition to justify a rate increase next month. The risk to that outlook is if a leadership challenge emerges in Parliament and PM May is deposed. In that event, market participants may take a dimmer view of the near future depending on who replaces her.

Away from the British Isles, however, there is less excitement in the G10 economies. The big US news remains political with President Trump naming Brett Kavanaugh to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. However, on the economic front, there has been precious little news or commentary. In fact, until Thursday’s CPI reading, I expect the US story to be benign unless something surprising happens in the Treasury auctions beginning today, where the US is raising $69 billion via 3yr, 10yr and 30yr auctions.

From Germany we saw the ZEW surveys disappoint with the Sentiment Index falling to -24.7, its lowest print since December 2011 during the European bond crisis. This has encouraged a reversal in the euro, which is down 0.3% this morning after a week of gains. As well, the other, admittedly minor, Eurozone data also pointed to modest Eurozone weakness, thus giving the overall impression that the recent stabilization on the continent may be giving way to another bout of weakness. However, we will need to see more important data weaken to confirm that outcome. Certainly, Signor Draghi is convinced that the worst is behind them, but he has always been an optimist.

In the emerging markets, Turkey has once again stolen the headlines as President Erdogan named his son-in-law as Minister of Finance and Economics, thus following through on his threat promise to take firmer control over monetary policy. In the cabinet reshuffle he also removed the last vestiges of central banking experience so I would look for inflation in Turkey to start to really take off soon, and the currency to fall sharply. And that is despite the fact that it fell 3% yesterday after the announcement. In fact, I would look for more moves of that nature and a print above 5.00 in the not too distant future.

But other than that, while the dollar is stronger this morning, it is not running away. The broad theme today seems to be modest profit taking by traders who had been running short dollar positions, and so a bit of further strength would be no surprise. On the data front, the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index was released earlier at 107.2, stronger than expected and still showing that small businesses remain confident in the economic situation for now. The JOLTs jobs report comes at 10:00 and should simply confirm that the employment situation in the US remains robust. My gut tells me that modest further dollar strength is on tap for today, but really, barring a political bombshell, I expect that things will be very quiet overall. It is the middle of summer after all.

Good luck
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