The ECB’s Christine Lagarde
Is finding that markets are hard
As bond yields keep climbing
She needs more pump priming
Or Europe will truly be scarred

Meanwhile in the US today
The 10-year sale gets underway
A sloppy result
Just might catapult
More QE, to Powell’s dismay

Markets have had a relatively uneventful evening as participants await some important new information.  The first clue will come this afternoon when the results of the US 10-year bond auction are released.  Remember, this interest rate is arguably the most important rate in the world, as it serves as the basis for trillions of dollars of debt in both the public and private sectors.  And while the on-the-run 10-year bond is probably the single most liquid security in the world, its recent volatility belies that statement.  In fact, this morning, ahead of the auction, we are seeing selling pressure with the yield rising 3.3 basis points to 1.56%, within spitting distance of its recent highs and up a pretty remarkable 65 basis points year-to-date.

The reason today’s auction of $38 billion is being so keenly watched is that two weeks ago, the 7-year note auction was flat out awful, with a long tail and low indirect interest.  This means that there wasn’t really that much demand, especially from investors, as opposed to the primary dealers who are forced to bid.  That auction served as the catalyst for the 15-basis point rise in the 10-year the last week of February.  You may recall that coincided with a 100-point decline in the S&P 500 and commensurate declines in equity markets around the world.

And that is why this is seen as so critical.  With the knowledge that the House is voting on the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill today, and it will certainly pass along a party-line vote, investors recognize that there is going to be a lot more issuance upcoming.  After all, the government will need to borrow a lot of money to fund that stimulus.  If this benchmark auction goes poorly, meaning it doesn’t generate substantial bidding interest outside the primary dealers, we could well be in for another sharp decline in equity markets as the bond market sells off further.  Remember, too, the Fed is in its quiet period so will not be able to make comments in order to support the market.

Yesterday saw an impressive rebound by equity markets around the world after a serious bout of selling almost everywhere.  A good result today is likely to help keep that going, but a poor auction will almost certainly show that yesterday was the proverbial “dead cat bounce.”  And folks, if the auction goes poorly, look for the dollar to make new highs against pretty much every currency, especially emerging market counterparts., but the G10 too.

Which brings us to the ECB and Madame Lagarde.  Today is the first day of the ECB’s March meeting and the market is putting pressure on them as well.  As Treasury yields have climbed, so too have European government bond yields, with, for instance, 10-year bund yields 30 basis points higher on the year, albeit still firmly in negative territory at -0.30%.  But the question being raised is why the ECB hasn’t been more active with its PEPP program during this yield rally.  After all, we have heard from a number of different ECB members that they are closely monitoring sovereign yields and they explicitly told us that was a key benchmark for them.  And yet, their net purchases through the PEPP have declined during the past several weeks to €14.8 billion a week, down from the more than €18 billion they had been purchasing previously.  So, clearly, they have the capacity to do more.  Why then haven’t they been more active?  At this point, nobody really knows, and you can be certain that at tomorrow’s press conference it will be a hot topic.

Of course, it may be that they want to leave themselves extra ammunition in the event the Treasury auction goes poorly and there is another bond market rout.  But that is a far more cynical stance than I would attribute to any central bank.  The risk for the ECB is that European sovereign yields begin to rise faster than Treasury yields both crimping economic support and simultaneously supporting the euro.  And the one thing we know is the ECB wants a weaker euro, in fact they desperately need a weaker euro to help their exporting economies as well as to try to stoke their much-desired inflation.  As Ricky Ricardo used to say, ‘Christine, you got some ‘splainin’ to do!’

So, as we await the results of the auction, let’s take a quick tour of the overnight price action.  The best description of markets is mixed, with modest overall activity.  In the equity space, the Hang Seng (+0.5%) led the way on the high side, while both the Nikkei and Shanghai were essentially flat on the session.  Australia’s ASX 200, meanwhile, fell 0.8%.  As I said, mixed.  The story is no different in Europe with the CAC (+0.6%) the leader with the DAX (+0.3%) doing fine but the FTSE 100 (-0.2%) slipping back a bit.  And so, it cannot be surprising that US futures are behaving in the same manner, with NASDAQ (-0.3%) suffering while DOW (+0.25%) is slightly higher and SPX futures are little changed.

Other than the Treasury market, the yield picture is also mixed, with major European bond markets +/- 0.5bps or less.  This looks like a market biding its time for the two big stories to come.  Intrigue continues to build in Japan where the results of the BOJ’s review will be announced at their meeting next week and we have heard from Kuroda-san that there will be no change in the 10-year yield curve target while a key deputy, Amamiya-san, has left the door open to a widening of that 0.20% range around 0.0%.

In the commodity world oil (+0.5%) is firmer, but just looking at the products, that modest rally is not universal.  Metals are mixed (that word keeps coming up) with copper and aluminum both higher while tin and zinc are lower.  Precious metals are modestly softer as well after a huge rally yesterday.

And finally, the dollar is the one thing not really mixed, but rather broadly higher this morning.  Against the G10, only NOK (0.0%) has managed to hold its own on the back of the oil rally, while CHF (-0.4%) and JPY (-0.3%) are both suffering on what appears to be their lagging interest rate performance.  In the EMG bloc, TRY (+0.5%) is the only gainer of note, however, its movement appears to be positioning related rather than fundamental.  On the downside, there is a broad range of weaker currencies across all three main geographies, although none is weaker by more than 0.3%.  Again, it appears that traders are biding their time for news.

On the data front, today is CPI day with expectations for a 0.4% M/M (1.7% Y/Y) headline rise and a 0.2% M/M (1.4% Y/Y) ex food & energy print.  Based on the past 9 months, I would expect the odds are for a beat on the high side as we have seen in 6 of those readings.  And then it’s the auction.  We remain in the Fed’s quiet period, so look for the dollar to meander this morning and take its cues from the auction like every other market starting at 1:00pm when the results are released.  My money is on a less than stellar auction, higher yields, lower stocks and a stronger dollar.  We shall see.

Good luck and stay safe
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