Tag Archives: #Powell

Akin to Caffeine

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There once was a time in the past
Where weakness in growth, if forecast
Resulted in prices
That forewarned a crisis
And traders sold what they’d amassed

But nowadays weakness is seen
As something akin to caffeine
‘Cause central bank measures
Will add to their treasures
It’s like a brand new cash machine

Chinese growth data was weak last night, falling to its lowest quarterly rate in the twenty-seven years that China has measured growth on a quarterly basis. The outcome of 6.2%, while expected, confirms that the ongoing trade situation with the US is having an increasingly negative impact on GDP worldwide. Naturally, not unlike Pavlov’s dogs, the market response was to rally on the theory that the PBOC would be adding more stimulus soon. After all, every other central bank in the world (save Norway’s) is preparing to ease policy further as growth worldwide continues to slow down. And so far, the Pavlovian response of buying stocks on bad news continues to be working as evidenced by the fact that equity markets throughout Asia rose. However, the magnitude of that rise has been quite limited, with gains of between 0.2% and 0.4% the norm. in fact, that market response is actually a bad sign for the central banks, because it demonstrates that the effectiveness of their policies is expected to be much less than in the past. Diminishing returns is a normal outcome for the repeated use of anything, and monetary policy is no different. The implication of this outcome is that despite the growing certainty that the Fed, ECB, BOJ, PBOC, BOE and more are going to ease policy further, equity markets seem unlikely to benefit as much as they have in the past. And if when a recession finally arrives, look for a change of heart in the equity community. But in the meantime, party hearty!

Speaking of further policy ease, it seems the market is chomping at the bit for next week’s ECB meeting, where there are two schools of thought. The conservative view is that Signor Draghi will sound quite dovish and indicate a 10bp cut is coming in September. But that is not nearly as exciting a view as the more aggressive analysts are discussing, which is a 20bp cut next week and the introduction of QE2 in September. Interestingly, despite all this certitude about ECB rate cuts, the euro is actually slightly higher this morning (albeit just 0.1%). It appears that traders are betting on the fact that if Draghi is aggressive, the Fed will have the opportunity the following week to match and outperform the ECB. Remember, the Fed has 250bps of rate cuts before it reaches ZIRP while the ECB is already negative. Despite the recent academic work explaining that negative rates are just fine and helping the situation, it still seems unlikely that we are going to see -2.0% anywhere in the world anytime soon. Ergo, the relative policy stance implies the Fed will ease more and the dollar will suffer accordingly. Just not today. Rather, today, the dollar is little changed overall, with some gains and some losses, but few large moves.

And those have been the real stories of note over what was a very quiet weekend. This week we see a fair amount of data, including Retail Sales, but more importantly, we hear from five more Fed speakers, including Chairman Powell tomorrow, in a total of nine speeches.

 

Today Empire Manufacturing 2.0
Tuesday Retail Sales 0.2%
  -ex autos 0.2%
  IP 0.2%
  Capacity Utilization 78.2%
  Business Inventories 0.3%
Wednesday Housing Starts 1.262M
  Building Permits 1.30M
  Fed’s Beige Book  
Thursday Initial Claims 216K
  Philly Fed 5.0
  Leading Indicators 0.1%
Friday Michigan Sentiment 98.5

Given the importance of the consumer to the US economy, the Retail Sales data is probably the most important data point. Certainly, a weak outcome will result in rate cut euphoria, but it will be interesting to see what happens if there is a strong print. But otherwise, this seems more like a week where Fed speakers will dominate, as we hear from NY’s John Williams twice, as well as a mix of other governors and regional presidents. In the end, though, Powell’s comments are key, as I expect he will be looking to fine tune his message from last week’s congressional testimony.

It remains clear that the Fed has the most room to ease policy, and as long as that is the case, the dollar should remain under pressure. However, given the fact that the US economy continues to outperform the rest of the developed world, I don’t anticipate the dollar’s decline to be extreme, a few percent at most.

For today, there is precious little else to really drive things, so look for more of the recent choppiness that we have observed in markets, with no real directional bias.

Good luck
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Soon On the Way

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Said Brainerd and Williams and Jay
A rate cut is soon on the way
Inflation’s quiescent
And growth’s convalescent
So easing will help save the day

We have learned a great deal this week about central bank sentiment from the Fed, the ECB, the BOE, Sweden’s Riksbank as well as several emerging market central banks like Mexico and Serbia. And the tone of all the commentary is one way; easier policy is coming soon to a central bank near you.

Let’s take a look at the Fed scorecard to start. Here is a list of the FOMC membership, voting members first:

Chairman Jerome Powell                – cut
Vice-Chair Richard Clarida             – cut
Lael Brainerd                                    – cut
Randal Quarles                                 – cut
Michelle Bowman                            – ?
NY – John Williams                           -cut
St Louis James Bullard                    – cut
Chicago – Charles Evans                  – cut
KC – Esther George                           – stay
Boston – Eric Rosengren                 – cut

Non-voting members
Philadelphia – Patrick Harker       – cut
Dallas – Robert Kaplan                    – ?
Minneapolis – Neel Kashkari         – cut 50!
Cleveland – Loretta Mester            – stay
Atlanta – Rafael Bostic                    – stay
Richmond – Thomas Barkin          – stay

While we have not yet heard from the newest Governor, Michelle Bowman, it would be unprecedented for a new governor to dissent so early in their tenure. In the end, based on what we have heard publicly from voting members, only Esther George might dissent to call for rates to remain on hold, but it is clear that at least a 25bp cut is coming at the end of the month. The futures market has priced it in fully, and now the question is will they cut 50. At this point, it doesn’t seem that likely to me, but there are still two weeks before the meeting, so plenty can happen in the interim.

But it’s not just the Fed. The ECB Minutes were released yesterday, and the telling line was there was “broad agreement” that the ECB should “be ready and prepared to ease the monetary policy stance further by adjusting all of its instruments.” It seems pretty clear to me (and arguably the entire market) that they are about to ease policy. There are many analysts who believe the ECB will wait until their September meeting, when they produce new growth and inflation forecasts, but a growing number of analysts who believe that they will cut later this month. After all, if the Fed is about to cut based on weakening global growth, why would the ECB wait?

And there were the Minutes from Sweden’s Riksbank, which were released this morning and showed that their plans for raising rates as early as September have now been called into question by a number of the members, as slowing global growth and ongoing trade uncertainties weigh on sentiment. While Sweden’s economy has performed better than the Eurozone at large, it will be extremely difficult for the Riksbank to tighten policy while the ECB is easing without a significant adjustment to the krona. And given Sweden’s status as an open economy with significant trade flows, they cannot afford for the krona to strengthen too much.

Meanwhile, Banco de Mexico Minutes showed a split in the vote to maintain rates on hold at 8.25% last month, with two voters now looking for a cut. While inflation remains higher than target, again, the issue is how long can they maintain current policy rates in the face of cuts by the Fed. Look for rate cuts there by autumn. And finally, little Serbia didn’t wait, cutting 25bp this morning as growth there is beginning to slow, and recognizing that imminent action by the ECB would need to be addressed anyway.

In fairness, the macroeconomic backdrop for all this activity is not all that marvelous. For example, just like South Korea reported last week, Singapore reported Q2 GDP growth as negative, -3.4% annualized, a much worse than expected outcome and a potential harbinger of the future for larger economies. Singapore’s economy is hugely dependent on trade flows, so given the ongoing US-China trade issues, this ought not be a surprise, but the magnitude of the decline was significant. Speaking of China, their trade data, released last night, showed slowing exports (-1.3%) and imports (-7.3%), with the result a much larger than expected trade surplus of $51B. Additionally, we saw weaker than expected Loan growth and slowing M2 Money Supply growth, both of which point to slower economic activity going forward. Yesterday’s other important economic data point was US CPI, where core surprised at 2.1%, a tick higher than expected. However, the overwhelming evidence that the Fed is going to cut rates has rendered that point moot for now. We will need to see that number move much higher, and much faster, to change any opinions there.

The market impact of all this has generally been as expected. Equity prices, at least in the US, continue to climb as investors cling tightly to the idea that lower interest rates equal higher stock prices. All three indices closed at new records and futures are pointing higher across the board. The dollar, too, has been under pressure, as would be expected given the view that the Fed is going to enter an easing cycle. Of course, while the recent trend for the dollar has been down, the slope of the line is not very steep. Consider that the euro is only about 1% above its recent cyclical lows from late April, and still well below the levels seen at the end of June. So while the dollar has weakened a bit, it is quite easy to make the case it remains within a trading range. In fact, as I mentioned yesterday, if all central banks are cutting rates simultaneously, the impact on the currency market should be quite limited, as the relative rate stance won’t change.

Finally, a quick word about Treasury bonds as well as German bunds. Both of these markets were hugely overbought by the end of last week, as investors and speculators jumped on the idea of lower rates coming soon. And so, it should be no surprise that both of these markets have seen yields back up a decent amount as those trades are unwound. This morning we see 10-year yields at 2.13% in the US and -0.21% in Germany, well off the lows of last week. However, this trade is entirely technical and at some point, when these positions are gone, look for yields on both securities to head lower again.

This morning brings just PPI (exp 1.6%, 2.2% core) which is unlikely to have much impact on anything. With no more Fed speakers to add to the mix, I expect that we will continue to see equities rally, and that the dollar, while it may remain soft, is unlikely to move too far in any direction.

Good luck and good weekend
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Half Has Allure

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The Fed Reserve Chairman named Jay
Is tasked, market fears, to allay
He did it in spades
Explaining that trade
And Brexit, could possibly weigh

On growth in the US this year
And so he implied cuts were near
A quarter seems sure
But half has allure
Since price rises never appear

Every market story today is the same story; the Fed is going to cut rates at the end of the month. In fact, the only mystery at this point is whether it will be the 25bps that is currently fully priced in by the futures market, or if the Fed will jump in with a 50bp cut. Every market around the world has felt the impact of this story and will continue to do so until the actual cut arrives.

The knock-on effects have been largely what would be expected from a lower rate environment. For example, equity prices have risen almost everywhere, closing at new record highs in the US yesterday and trading in the green throughout Asia overnight and Europe today. The dollar has fallen back, much to President Trump’s delight I’m sure, giving up some of its recent gains with declines of 0.5% vs. the euro, 0.6% vs. the pound and 0.7% vs. the yen. Emerging market currencies have also rallied a bit with, for example, BRL rising 1.3%, ZAR 1.8% and KRW up 0.8%. Even CNY has rallied slightly, +0.25%, although as we already know, its volatility is managed to a much lower level than other currencies.

Bond markets, on the other hand, have not demonstrated the same exuberance as stocks, commodities (gold +2.0%) or currencies today as they had clearly anticipated the news last week. If you recall, Bunds had traded to new record lows last week, touching -0.41% before reversing course, and are now “up” to a yield of -0.31%. And 10-year Treasuries, after trading to 1.935% a week ago, have since reversed course, picking up nearly 12bps at one point, although have given back a tick this morning. In fact, many traders have been looking at the market technicals and see room for bond yields to trade higher in the short-term, although the long-term trend remains for lower yields.

But those are simply the market oriented knock-on effects. There will be other effects as well. For example, it is now patently clear that a new central bank easing cycle is unfolding. We already knew the ECB was preparing to cut, and you can be sure they will both cut rates and indicate a restarting of QE at their next meeting on July 25. Meanwhile, by that date, Boris Johnson is likely to be the new UK PM which means that the BOE is going to need to prepare for a hard Brexit in a few months’ time. Part of that preparation is going to be lower interest rates and possibly the restarting of QE there as well. In fact, this morning, Governor Carney was on the tape discussing the issues that will impact the UK in the event of a hard Brexit, including slowing growth, lower confidence and weakness in markets. Japan? Well, they never stopped easing, but are likely to feel a renewed sense of urgency to push harder on that string, especially if USDJPY starts to fall more substantially. And finally, of the major economies, China will also certainly be looking to ease monetary policy further as growth there continues to lag desired levels and the trade situation continues to weigh on sentiment. The biggest problem the PBOC has is they have no sure-fire way to cut rates without quickly reinflating the leverage bubble they have been working to reduce for the past three years.

And of course, away from the major central banks, you can be sure that we are going to see easier monetary policy pretty much everywhere else in the world. This is especially true throughout the emerging markets, the countries that have suffered the most from the combination of higher US rates and a stronger dollar.

The irony of all this is that, as RBA Governor Lowe pointed out two weeks ago when they cut rates, if everybody cuts rates at the same time, one of the key transmission mechanisms, a weaker currency, is likely to have far less impact because the relative rate structure will remain the same. This is the reason that the dollar is likely to come under pressure in the short-run, because the Fed has more room to cut rates than most other central banks. But in the end, if everybody reaches ZIRP, currency valuations will need to be decided on other criteria with macroeconomic performance likely to be a key driver. And in the end, the dollar still comes up looking like the best bet.

And that’s really it. Every story is about the Fed cutting rates and how it will impact some other country, market, company, policy, etc.. Brexit is hanging out there, but until the new PM is named, nothing is going to change. The trade talks have restarted, but there is no conclusion in sight. Granted, several individual currencies have suffered of their own accord lately, notably MXN which fell more than 2.0% on Monday after the FinMin resigned due to philosophical differences with President AMLO, and TRY, which fell a similar amount at the end of last Friday after President Erdogan fired the central bank president and replaced him with someone more likely to cut rates. But those are special situations, and in truth, a good deal of those losses have been mitigated by the Fed story. As I said, it is all one story today.

Looking ahead to today’s market, we see our only important data point of the week, CPI (exp 1.6%, 2.0% core) and we also get Initial Claims (223K). But Chairman Powell testifies in front of the Senate today, and we hear from Williams, Bostic, Barkin, Kashkari and Quarles before the day is through as well. Given the Minutes released yesterday indicated a majority of FOMC members were ready to cut this month, it will be interesting to see how dovish this particular group sounds today, especially in the wake of the Chairman’s comments yesterday. Overall, I think the bias will be more dovish, and that the dollar probably has a bit further to fall before it is all over.

Good luck
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Beggar Thy Neighbor

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A story that’s making the rounds
Although, it, so far, lacks real grounds
Is that the US
Might try to depress
The dollar ‘gainst euros and pounds

If so, that’s incredible news
And dollar bulls need change their views
But beggar thy neighbor
Does naught but belabor
The trade war, instead, it, defuse

The most interesting story that has started to gain traction is the idea that the Trump administration is considering direct intervention in the FX markets. While most pundits and investors focus on the Fed and how its monetary policy impacts the value of the dollar (which is completely appropriate), the legal framework in the US is that the Treasury is the department that has oversight of the currency. This means that dollar policy, such as it is beyond benign neglect, is formulated by the Secretary of the Treasury, not the FOMC. This is why the Treasury produces the report about other countries and currency manipulation every six months. Also, this is not a new situation, it has been the case since the abandonment of the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1971.

Since the Clinton Administration, the US policy has been a ‘strong dollar is in the US best interest’. This was made clear by then Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and has been an accepted part of the monetary framework ever since. The issue with a strong dollar, of course, is that it can be an impediment for US exporters as their goods and services may become uncompetitively priced. Now, during the time when the US’s large trade deficits were not seen as problematic, the strong dollar was not seen as an issue. Clearly, earnings results from multinational corporations were impacted, but the government was not running policy with that as a priority. However, the current administration is far more mercantilist than the previous three or four, and as we have seen from the President’s Twitter feed, dollar strength has moved up the list of priorities.

It is this set of circumstances that has analysts and economists pondering the idea that the Treasury may direct the Fed to intervene directly in the FX market, selling dollars. History has shown that when a country intervenes by itself in the FX market, whether to prevent strength or weakness, it has generally been a failure. The only times when intervention has worked has been when there has been a general agreement amongst a large group of nations that a currency is either too strong or too weak and that intervention is appropriate. The best known examples are the Plaza Accord and the Louvre Accord from the mid-1980’s, where the G7 first agreed that the dollar was overvalued, then that it had reached an appropriate level. The initial announcement alone was able to drive the dollar lower by upwards of 10%, and the active intervention was worth another 5%. The result was a longer term weakening of nearly 40% before it was halted by the Louvre Accord. But other than those situations, for the large freely floating currencies, intervention has been effective at slowing a trend, but not reversing one. And the current dollar trend remains higher.

If the US does decide to intervene directly, this will have an enormous short-term impact on the FX market (and probably all markets) as it represents a significant policy reversal. However, in the end, macroeconomic fundamentals and relative monetary policy stances are still going to drive the value of every currency. With that in mind, it could be a long time before those influences become dominant again. Of course, the other thing is that the history of beggar-thy-neighbor FX policy is one of abject failure, with all nations seeking the same advantage, and none receiving any. Certainly, this is something to keep on your radar.

Away from that story, the dollar is actually stronger this morning, with the euro having breached 1.12, the pound tumbling toward 1.24 and most currencies, both G10 and EMG on the back foot. In fact, this is the problem for the Trump administration on this front, the growth situation elsewhere in the world continues to deteriorate more rapidly than in the US. Not only did Friday’s employment data help support the dollar, but this morning we saw very weak UK and Italian Retail Sales data to add to the economic malaise in those areas. In fact, economists are now forecasting negative GDP growth in the UK for Q2, and markets are pricing in a 25bp rate cut by the BOE before the end of the year. Meanwhile, in the Eurozone, all the talk is about how quickly the ECB is going to restart QE, with new estimates it could happen as soon as September with amounts up to €40 billion per month. While that seems to be a remarkably quick reversal (remember, they just ended QE six months ago), with the prospect of an ECB President Lagarde, who has lauded QE as an excellent policy tool, it cannot be ruled out.

Pivoting to the trade story, the latest news is that senior officials will be speaking by phone this week and the chances of a meeting, probably in Beijing in the next few weeks are rising. The problem is that there are still fundamental differences in world views and unless one side caves, which seems unlikely right now, I don’t see a short-term resolution. What is more remarkable is the fact that the lack of any discernible progress on trade is no longer seen as an issue by any markets. Or at least not a major one. While equity markets have softened over the past two sessions, the declines have been muted and, at least in the US, indices remain near record highs. Bond yields have risen a bit, implying the worst of the fear has passed, although in fairness, they remain incredibly low. But most importantly, the dialog has moved on, with trade no longer seen as the key fundamental factor it appeared to be just two months ago.

Turning to this morning’s news, there is only one data point, JOLT’s Job Openings (exp 7.47M) but of much more importance we hear from Chairman Powell at 8:45 this morning, followed by Bullard, Bostic and Quarles later in the day. Powell begins his testimony to Congress tomorrow morning, but everyone will be listening carefully to see if he is going to try to walk back expectations for the July rate cut that is fully priced into the market. My money is on confirming the cut on the basis of continued low inflation readings. However, given that is the market expectation, there is no reason to believe the dollar will suffer on the news, unless he is hyper dovish. So, the current strong stance of the buck seems likely to continue for the rest of the day.

Good luck
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Some Real Fed Appeasing

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The jobs report Friday suggested
That everyone who has requested
Employment has found
That jobs still abound
And companies are still invested

The market response was less pleasing
At least for the bulls who seek easing
With equities falling
And yields, higher, crawling
Look, now, for some real Fed appeasing

We are clearly amidst a period of ‘good news is bad’ and ‘bad news is good’ within the market context these days. Friday was the latest evidence of this fact as the much better than expected Nonfarm Payroll report (224K vs. 160K expected) resulted in an immediate sell-off in equity and bond markets, with the dollar rallying sharply. The underlying thesis remains that weakness in the US (and global) economy will be sufficient to ensure easier monetary policy, but that the problems will not get so bad as to cause a recession. That’s a pretty fine line to toe for the central banks, and one where history shows they have a lousy record.

However, whether it is good or bad is irrelevant. What is abundantly clear is that this is the current situation. So, Friday saw all three major US indices fall from record highs; it saw 2-year Treasury yields back up 11bps and 10-year yields back up 8pbs; and it saw the dollar rally roughly 0.75%.

The question is, why were markets in those positions to begin with? On the equity side of the ledger, prices have been exclusively driven by expectations of Fed policy. Until the NFP report, not only was a 25bp rate cut priced into Fed funds for the FOMC meeting at the end of the month, but there was a growing probability of a 50bp rate cut. This situation is fraught with danger for equity investors although to date, the bulls have been rewarded. At least the bond story made more sense from a macroeconomic perspective, as broadly weaker economic data (Friday’s numbers excepted) had indicated that both the US and global economies were slowing with the obvious prescription being easier monetary policy. This had resulted in German bunds inverting relative to the -0.40% deposit rate at the ECB as well as US 10-year yields falling below 2.00% for the first time in several years. Therefore, stronger data would be expected to call that thesis into question, and a sell-off in bonds made sense.

And finally, for the dollar, the rally was also in sync with fundamentals as higher US yields, and more importantly, the prospect of less policy ease in the future, forced the dollar bears to re-evaluate their positions and unwind at least some portion. As I have been writing, under the assumption that the Fed does indeed ease policy, it makes sense that the dollar should decline somewhat. However, it is also very clear that the Fed will not be easing policy in a vacuum, but rather be leading a renewed bout of policy ease worldwide. And as the relative interest rate structure equalizes after all the central banks have finished their easing, the US will still likely be the most attractive investment destination, supporting the dollar, but also, dollar funding will still need to be found by non-US businesses and countries, adding to demand for the buck.

With this as a backdrop, the week ahead does not bring much in the way of data, really just CPI on Thursday, but it does bring us a great deal of Fed speak, including a Powell speech tomorrow and then his House and Senate testimony on Wednesday and Thursday. And don’t forget the ECB meeting on Thursday!

Today Consumer Credit $17.0B
Tuesday NFIB Small Biz 105
  JOLT’s Jobs Report 7.47M
Wednesday FOMC Minutes  
Thursday ECB Meeting -0.4%
  Initial Claims 222K
  CPI 0.0% (1.6% Y/Y)
  -ex food & energy 0.2% (2.0% Y/Y)
Friday PPI 0.1% (1.6% Y/Y)
  -ex food & energy 0.2% (2.3% Y/Y)

Remember, that on top of the FOMC Minutes to be released Wednesday afternoon, we will hear from seven different Fed speakers a total of thirteen times this week, including Powell’s testimony on Capitol Hill. Amongst this crowd will be the two most dovish members of the FOMC, Bullard and Kashkari, as well as key members Williams and Quarles. It will be extremely interesting to see how these speakers spin the jobs data relative to their seemingly growing bias toward easing. Much has been made of the idea of an ‘insurance’ rate cut, in order to prevent anything from getting out of hand. But Powell will also need to deal with the allegations that he is capitulating to President Trump’s constant demands for lower interest rates and more QE if he comes across as dovish. I don’t envy him the task.

Regarding the ECB meeting, despite continuing weakness in most of the Eurozone data, it feels like it is a bit too soon for them to ease policy quite yet. First off, they have the issue of what type of impact pushing rates even further negative will have on the banking system there. With the weekend news about Deutsche bank retrenching across numerous products, with no end of red ink in sight, the last thing Signor Draghi wants is to have to address a failing major bank. But it is also becoming clearer, based on comments from other ECB members (Coeure and Villeroy being the latest) that a cut is coming soon. And don’t rule out further QE. The ECB is fast becoming desperate, with no good options in sight. Ultimately, this also plays into my belief that despite strong rationales for the dollar to decline, it is the euro that will suffer most.

However, the fun doesn’t really start until tomorrow, when Chairman Powell speaks at 8:45am. So for today, it appears that markets will consolidate Friday’s moves with limited volatility, but depending on just how dovish Powell sounds, we are in for a more active week overall.

Good luck
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Not So Fast

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While everyone thought it was nifty
The Fed was about to cut fifty
Said Jay, not so fast
We’ll not be harassed
A quarter’s enough of a gift-y

Once again, Chairman Powell had a significant impact on the markets when he explained that the Fed is fiercely independent, will not be bullied by the White House, and will only cut rates if they deem it necessary because of slowing growth or, more importantly, financial instability. Specifically, he said the Fed is concerned about and carefully watching for signs of “a loss of confidence or financial market reaction.” In this context, “financial market reaction” is a euphemism for falling stock prices. If ever there was a question about the existence of the Fed put, it was laid to rest yesterday. Cutting to the chase, Powell said that the Fed’s primary concern, at least right now, is the stock market. If it falls too far, too fast, we will cut rates as quickly as we can. Later in his speech, he gave a shout out to the fact that low inflation seems not to be a temporary phenomenon, but that was simply thinly veiled cover for the first part, a financial market reaction.

There are two things to note about these comments. First, the Fed, and really every major central bank, continues to believe they are in complete control of both their respective economies and the financial markets therein. And while it is absolutely true this has been the case since the GFC ended, at least with respect to the financial markets, it is also absolutely true that the law of diminishing returns is at work, meaning it takes much more effort and stimulus to get the same result as achieved ten years ago. At some point, probably in the not too distant future, markets are going to begin to decline and regardless of what those central banks say or do, will not be deterred from actually clearing. It will not be pretty. And second, the ongoing myth of central banks being proactive, rather than reactive, is so ingrained in the central bank zeitgeist that there is no possibility they will recognize the fact that all of their actions are, as the axiom has it, a day late and a dollar short.

But for now, they are still in command. Yesterday’s price action was informed by the fact that despite the weakest Consumer Confidence data in two years and weaker than expected New Home Sales, Powell did not affirm a 50bp cut was on its way in July. Since the market has been counting on that outcome, the result was a mild risk off session. Equity prices suffered in the US and continued to do so around the world last night and Treasuries settled below 2.00%. However, gold prices, which have been rocking lately, gave up early gains when Powell nixed the idea of a 50bp cut. And the dollar? Well, it remains mixed at best. It did rally slightly yesterday but continues to be broadly lower than before the FOMC meeting last week.

We also heard from two other Fed speakers yesterday, Bullard and Barkin, with mixed results. Bullard, the lone dissenter from the meeting made clear that he thought a 25bp reduction was all that was needed, a clear reference to Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari’s essay published on Friday calling for a 50bp cut. However, Thomas Barkin, from the Richmond Fed, sounded far less certain that the time was right for a rate cut. He sounds like he is one of the dots looking for no change this year.

And the thing is, that’s really all the market cares about right now, is what the Fed and its brethren central banks are planning. Data is a sidelight, used to embellish an idea if it suits, and ignored if it doesn’t. The trade story, of course, still matters, and given the increasingly hardened rhetoric from both sides, it appears the market is far less certain of a positive outcome. That portends the opportunity for a significant move on Monday after the Trump-Xi meeting. And based on the way things have played out for the past two years, my money is on a resumption of the dialog and some soothing words, as that will help underpin stocks in both NY and Shanghai, something both leaders clearly want. But until then, I expect a general lack of direction as investors make their bets on the outcome.

One little mentioned thing on the data front is that we have seen every regional Fed manufacturing survey thus far released show significantly more weakness than expected. Philly, Empire State, Chicago, Richmond and Dallas have all fallen sharply. That does not bode well for economic growth in either Q2 or Q3, which, in a twisted way, will play right into the President’s hands as the Fed will be forced to cut rates as a response. Strange times indeed.

This morning, two data points are released; Durable Goods (exp -0.1%, +0.1% ex transports) and the Goods Trade Balance (-$71.8B). Look for weakness in these numbers to help perk of the equity market as anticipation will grow that more rate cutting is in the offing. And look for the dollar to suffer for the same reason.

Good luck
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Open and Shut

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Kashakari, on Friday, explained
For US growth to be sustained
The case for a cut
Was open and shut
Since then, talk of fifty has gained

As the new week begins, last week’s late trends remain in place, i.e. limited equity market movement as uncertainty over the outcome of the Trump-Xi meeting continues, continued demand for yield as investors’ collective belief grows that more monetary ease is on the way around the world, and a softening dollar vs. other currencies and commodities, as the prevailing assumption is that the US has far more room to ease policy than any other central bank. Certainly, the last statement is true as US rates remain the highest in the developed world, so simply cutting them back to the zero bound will add much more than the stray 20bps that the ECB, which is already mired in negative territory, can possibly add.

It is this concept which has adjusted my shorter-term view on the dollar, along with the view of most dollar bulls. However, as I have discussed repeatedly, at some point, the dollar will have adjusted, especially since the rest of the world will need to get increasingly aggressive if the dollar starts to really decline. As RBA Governor Lowe mentioned in a speech, one of the key methods of policy ease transmission by any country is by having the local currency decline relative to its peers, but if everyone is easing simultaneously, then that transmission channel is not likely to be as effective. In other words, this is yet another central bank head calling for fiscal policy stimulus as he admits the limits that exist in monetary policy at this time. Alas, the herd mentality is strong in the central bank community, and so I anticipate that all of them will continue down the same path with a minimal ultimate impact.

What we do know as of last week is there are at least two FOMC members who believe rates should be lower now, Bullard and Kashkari, and I suspect that there are a number more who don’t have to be pushed that hard to go along, notably Chairman Powell himself. Remember, if markets start to decline sharply, he will want to avoid as much of the blame as possible, so if the Fed is cutting rates, he covers himself. And quite frankly, I expect that almost regardless of how the data prints in the near-term, we are going to see policy ease across the board. Every central bank is too committed at this point to stop.

The upshot of all this is that this week is likely to play out almost exactly like Friday. This means a choppy equity market with no trend, a slowly softening dollar and rising bond markets, as all eyes turn toward Osaka, Japan, where the G20 is to meet on Friday and Saturday. Much to their chagrin, it is not the G20 statement of leaders that is of concern, rather it is the outcome of the Trump-Xi meeting that matters. In fact, that is pretty much the only thing that investors are watching this week, especially since the data releases are so uninteresting.

At this point, we can only speculate on how things will play out, but what is interesting is that we have continued to hear a hard line from the Chinese press. Declaring that they will fight “to the end” regarding the trade situation, as well as warning the US on doing anything regarding the ongoing protests in Hong Kong. Look for more bombast before the two leaders meet, but I think the odds favor a more benign resolution, at least at this point.

Turning to the data situation, the only notable data overnight was German Ifo, which fell to 97.4, its lowest level since November 2014, and continuing the ongoing trend of weak Eurozone data. However, the euro continues to rally on the overwhelming belief that the US is set to ease policy further, and this morning is higher by 0.25%, and back to its highest point in 3 months. As to the rest of the week, here’s what to look forward to:

Tuesday Case-Hiller Home Prices 2.6%
  Consumer Confidence 131.2
  New Home Sales 680K
Wednesday Durable Goods -0.1%
  -ex transport 0.1%
Thursday Initial Claims 220K
  Q1GDP 3.2%
Friday Personal Income 0.3%
  Personal Spending 0.4%
  Core PCE 0.2% (1.6% Y/Y)
  Chicago PMI 53.1
  Michigan Sentiment 98.0

Arguably, the most important point is the PCE data on Friday, but of more importance is the fact that we are going to hear from four more Fed speakers early this week, notably Chairman Powell on Tuesday afternoon. And while the Fed sounded dovish last week, with the subsequent news that Kashkari was aggressively so, all eyes will be looking to see if he is persuading others. We will need to see remarkably strong data to change this narrative going forward. And that just seems so unlikely right now.

In the end, as I said at the beginning, this week is likely to shape up like Friday, with limited movement, and anxiety building as we all await the Trump-Xi meeting. And that means the dollar is likely to continue to slide all week.

Good luck
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QE Will Soon Have Returned

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The ECB started the trend
Which helped the bond market ascend
Then yesterday Jay
Was happy to say
A rate cut he’d clearly portend

Last night from Japan we all learned
Kuroda-san was not concerned
That yields there keep falling
And if growth is stalling
Then QE will soon have returned

This morning on Threadneedle Street
The Governor and his staff meet
Of late, they’ve implied
That rates have upside
But frankly, that tune’s obsolete

This morning, every story is the same story, interest rates are going lower. Tuesday, Signor Draghi told us so. Yesterday Chairman Jay reiterated the idea, and last night, Kuroda-san jumped on the bandwagon. This morning, Governor Carney left policy unchanged, although he continues to maintain that interest rates in the UK could rise if there is a smooth exit from the EU. Gilt markets, however, clearly don’t believe Carney as yields there fall and futures markets are pricing in a 25bp rate cut by the end of the year.

But it is not just those banks that are looking to ease policy. Remember, several weeks ago the RBA cut rates to a new record low at 1.25%, and last night, Governor Lowe indicated another cut was quite realistic. Bank Indonesia cut the reserve requirement by 0.50% last night and strongly hinted that an interest rate cut was on its way. While Bangko Sentral ng Pilipanas surprised most analysts by leaving rates on hold due to an uptick in inflation, that appears to be a temporary outcome. And adding to the Asian pressure is the growing belief that the RBNZ is also set to cut rates right before Australia does so.

In fact, looking around the world, there is only one place that is bucking this trend, Norway, which actually increased interest rates this morning by 25bp to a rate of 1.25%. In fairness, Norway continues to grow strongly, estimated 2.6% GDP growth this year, and inflation there is running above the 2.0% target and forecast to continue to increase. And it should be no surprise that the Norwegian krone is this morning’s best performing currency, rallying 1.0% vs. the euro and 1.5% vs. the dollar.

But in the end, save Norway, every story is still the same story. Global GDP growth is slowing amid increased trade concerns while inflationary pressures are generally absent almost everywhere. And in that environment, policy rates are going to continue to fall.

The market impacts ought not be too surprising either. Equity investors everywhere are giddy over the thought of still lower interest rates to help boost the economy. Or if not boosting the economy, at least allowing corporations to continue to issue more debt at extremely low levels and resume the stock repurchase schemes that have been underpinning equity market performance. Meanwhile, bond market investors are pushing the central banks even further, with new low yield levels in many countries. For example, in the 10-year space, German bunds are at -0.31%; Japanese JGB’s are at -0.18%; UK Gilts yield 0.81%; and Treasuries, here at home, have fallen to 2.01% right now, after touching 1.97% yesterday. It is abundantly clear that the market believes policy rates are going to continue to fall, and that QE is going to be reinstated soon.

As to the FX markets, yesterday saw the beginning of a sharp decline in the dollar with the euro up nearly 1.0% since the FOMC announcement, the pound +0.5% and the yen +0.6%. This makes sense as given the global rate structure, it remains clear that the Fed has the most room to ease from current settings, and thus the dollar is likely to suffer the most in the short term. However, as those changes take effect, I expect that the dollar’s decline will slow down, and we will find a new short-term equilibrium. I had suggested a 3%-5% decline before settling, and that still seems reasonable. After all, despite the fall yesterday, the dollar is simply back to where it was a week ago, before all the central bank fireworks.

With the BOE out of the way, the rest of the morning brings us two data releases, Initial Claims (exp 220K) and Philly Fed (11.0). For the former, there is still real scrutiny there given the weak NFP number earlier this month, and estimates have been creeping slightly higher. A big miss on the high side will likely see rates fall further and the dollar with them. As to the latter, given the huge miss by the Empire Manufacturing print on Monday, there will be wariness there as well. A big miss here will become the second piece of news that indicates a more acute slowing of the US economy, and that will also likely see rates fall further.

In fact, that is the theme for now, everything will be an excuse for rates to fall until the meeting between President’s Trump and Xi next week, with all eyes looking for signs that the trade situation will improve. And one other thing to remember is that tensions in the Middle East are increasing after Iran claimed to have shot down a US drone. Both oil and gold prices are much higher this morning, and I assure you, Treasuries are a beneficiary of this story as well.

So, for the dollar, things look dim in the short and medium term, however, I see no reason for a prolonged decline. Hedgers should take advantage of the weakness in the buck to add to hedges over the next few weeks.

Good luck
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Lingering Issues

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Some pundits now have the impression
That we will soon be in recession
The data of late
Has spurred the debate
And could remove Powell’s discretion

Meanwhile, we just heard from Herr Draghi
That “lingering” issues made foggy
The future of growth
So he and Jay both
Will soon ease ere things turn too quaggy

Some days, there is far more to discuss than others, and today is one of those days. Markets are trying to digest all of the following information: weaker US data, weaker Eurozone data, dovish comments from Signor Draghi, confirmation the RBA is likely to cut rates again, increased likelihood that Boris Johnson will be the next PM in the UK, and increased tensions in the Middle East.

Starting at the top, yesterday’s Empire State Manufacturing survey printed at a much worse than expected -8.6, which represented a 26.4-point decline from May’s survey and the largest fall on record. It was a uniformly awful report, with every sub-index weak. While by itself, this report is generally second tier data, it is adding to the case that the US economy is slowing more rapidly than had previously been expected and is increasing market expectations that the Fed will act sooner rather than later. We will see how that turns out tomorrow.

Then this morning, the German ZEW Survey was released at -21.1, a 19-point decline and significantly worse than expected. This is seen as a potential harbinger of further weakness in the German economy adding to what has been a run of quite weak manufacturing data. Although auto registrations in the Eurozone ticked ever so slightly higher in May (by 0.04%), the trend there also remains sharply downward. All in all, there has been very little encouraging of late from the Continent.

Then Signor Draghi got is turn at the mike in Sintra, Portugal, where the ECB is holding its annual summer festivities, and as usual, he did not disappoint. He explained the ECB has plenty of tools left to address “lingering” risks in the economy and hinted that action may be coming soon. He expressly described the ability for the ECB to cut rates further as well as commit to keep rates lower for even longer. And he indicated that QE is still available as the only rules that could restrict it are self-imposed, and easily changed. Arguably, this had the biggest impact of the morning as Eurozone equities rocketed on the prospect of lower rates, bouncing back from early losses and now higher by more than 1.0% on the day across the board. German bunds have plumbed new yield depths, touching -0.30% while the euro, to nobody’s surprise, has weakened further, ceding modest early gains to now sit lower by -0.3%. This is proof positive of my contention that the Fed will not be easing policy in isolation, and that if they start easing, you can be sure that the rest of the world will be close behind. Or perhaps even ahead!

Adding to the news cycle were the RBA minutes, which essentially confirmed that the next move there will be lower, and that two more rate cuts this year are well within reason as Governor Lowe tries to drive unemployment Down Under to just 4.5% from its current 5.2% level. Aussie has continued its underperformance on the news, falling a further 0.1% this morning and is now back to lows last touched in January 2016. And it has further to fall, mark my words.

Then there is the poor old pound, which has been falling sharply for the past week (-1.75%) as the market begins to price in an increased chance of a no-deal Brexit. This is due to the fact that Boris Johnson is consolidating his lead in the race to be the next PM and he has explicitly said that come October 31, the UK will be exiting the EU, deal or no deal. Given the EU’s position that the deal on the table is not open for renegotiation, that implies trouble ahead. One thing to watch here is the performance of Rory Stewart, a dark horse candidate who is gaining support as a compromise vs. Johnson’s more hardline stance. The point is that any indication that Johnson may not win is likely to see the pound quickly reverse its recent losses.

And finally, the Middle East continues to see increased tensions as Iran announced they were about to breach the limits on uranium production imposed by the ill-fated six-nation accord while the US committed to increase troop deployment to the area by 1000 in the wake of last week’s tanker attacks. Interestingly, oil is having difficulty gaining any traction which is indicative of just how much market participants are anticipating a global economic slowdown. OPEC, too, has come out talking about production cuts and oil still cannot rally.

To recap, bond, currency and commodity markets are all forecasting a significant slowdown in economic activity, but remarkably, global stock markets are still optimistic. At this point, I think the stock jockeys are on the wrong side of the trade.

As to today, we are set to see Housing Starts (exp 1.239M) and Building Permits (1.296M) at 8:30. Strong data is likely to have little impact on anybody’s thinking right now, but weakness will start to drive home the idea that the Fed could act tomorrow. Overall, the doves are in the ascendancy worldwide, and rightly so given the slowing global growth trajectory. Look for more cooing tomorrow and then on Thursday when both the BOJ and BOE meet.

Good luck
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Constant Hyperbole

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On Wednesday the FOMC
Will offer their latest decree
Will Fed funds be pared?
Or will Jay be scared
By Trump’s constant hyperbole?

The one thing that’s patently clear
Is rates will go lower this year
And lately some clues
Show Powell’s new views
Imply NIRP he’ll soon engineer

Once again, market movement overnight has been muted as traders and investors look ahead to Wednesday’s FOMC meeting and Chairman Powell’s press conference afterwards. Current expectations are for the removal of the word ‘patient’ from the statement and some verbiage that implies rates will be adjusted as necessary to maintain the US growth trajectory. Futures markets are pricing just a 25% probability of a rate cut on Wednesday, but a virtual certainty of one at the July meeting in six weeks’ time. With that said, there are several bank analysts calling for a cut today, or a 50bp cut in July. The one thing that seems abundantly clear is that interest rates in the US have reached their short-term peak, with the next move lower.

However, in the Mariner Eccles building, they have another dilemma, the fact that Fed funds are just 2.50%, the lowest cyclical peak in history. It has been widely recounted that the average amount of rate cutting by the Fed when fighting a recession has been a bit more than 500bps, which given the current rate, results in two possibilities: either they will have to quickly move to use other policy tools, like QE; or interest rates in the US are going to go negative before long! And quite frankly, I expect that it will be a combination of both.

Consider, while the Fed did purchase some $3.5 trillion of assets starting with QE1 in 2009, the Fed balance sheet still represents just 19% of US GDP. This compares quite favorably with the ECB (45%) and the BOJ (103%), but still represents a huge increase from its level prior to the financial crisis. Funnily enough, while there was a great deal of carping in Congress about QE by the (dwindling) hard-money set of Republicans, if the choice comes down to NIRP (Negative Interest Rate Policy) or a larger balance sheet, I assure you the politicians will opt for a larger balance sheet. The thing is, if the economy truly begins to slow, it won’t be a choice, it will be a combination of both, NIRP and QE, as the Fed pulls out all the stops in an effort to prevent a downturn.

And NIRP, in the US, will require an entirely new communications effort because, as in Europe and Japan, investors will find themselves on the wrong side of the curve when looking for short term investments. Money market funds are going to get crushed, and corporate treasuries are going to have to find new places to invest. It will truly change the landscape, and it is not clear it will do so in a net positive way. But regardless, NIRP is coming to a screen near you once the Fed starts cutting, although we are still a number of months away from that.

With that in mind, the obvious next question is how it will impact other markets. I expect that the initial reaction will be for a sharp equity rally, as that is still the default response to rate cuts. However, if the Fed is looking ahead and sees trouble on the horizon, that cannot be a long-term positive for equities. It implies that earnings numbers are going to decline, and no matter how ‘bullish’ interest rate cuts may seem, declining earnings are hard to overcome.

Bonds, on the other hand, are easy to forecast, with a massive rally in Treasuries, a lagging rally in corporates, as spreads widen into a weakening economy, but for high-yield bonds, I would expect significant underperformance. Remember, during the financial crisis, junk bond yield spreads rose to 20.0% over Treasuries. In another economic slowdown, I would look for at least the same, which compares to the current level of about 5.50%.

Finally, the dollar becomes a difficult question. Given the Fed has far more room to ease policy than does the ECB, the BOJ, the BOE or the BOC, it certainly seems as though the first move would be lower in the buck. However, if the Fed is easing policy that aggressively, you can be sure that every other central bank is going to quickly follow. Net I expect that we could see a pretty sharp initial decline, maybe 5%-7%, but that once the rest of the world gets into gear, the dollar will find plenty of support.

A quick look at markets overnight shows that the dollar is little changed overall, with some currencies slightly firmer and others slightly softer. However, there is no trend today, nor likely until we hear from the Fed on Wednesday.

Looking at data this week, it is much less interesting than last week’s and unlikely to sway views.

Today Empire Manufacturing 10.0
Tuesday Housing Starts 1.239M
  Building Permits 1.296M
Wednesday FOMC Rates 2.50% (unchanged)
Thursday BOJ Rates -0.10% (unchanged)
  Initial Claims 220K
  Philly Fed 11.0
  Leading Indicators 0.1%
Friday Existing Home Sales 5.25M

As I said, not too interesting. And of course, once the Fed meeting is done, we will get to hear more from the various Fed members, with two speakers on Friday afternoon (Brainard and Mester) likely to be the beginning of a new onslaught.

Yes, the trade situation still matters, but there is little chance of any change there until the G20 meeting next week, and that assumes President’s Trump and Xi agree to meet. So, for now, it is all about the Fed. One last thing, the ECB has their Sintra meeting (their answer to Jackson Hole) this week, and it is likely that we will hear more about their thinking when it comes to easing policy further given their current policy settings include NIRP and a much larger balance sheet already. Any hint that new policies are coming soon will certainly undermine the single currency. Look for that beginning on Wednesday as well.

Good luck
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