Tag Archives: #trade dispute

The Doves Are Ascendant

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A recap of central bank actions
Shows sameness across all the factions
The doves are ascendant
And markets dependent
On easing for all their transactions

Yesterday’s markets behaved as one would expect given the week’s central bank activities, where policy ease is the name of the game. Stock markets rose sharply around the world, bond yields fell with the dollar following yields lower. Commodity prices also had a good day, although gold’s rally, as a haven asset, is more disconcerting than copper’s rally on the idea that easier policy will help avert a recession. And while, yes, Norway did raise rates 25bps…to 1.25%, they are simply the exception that proves the rule. Elsewhere, to recap, the three major central banks all met, and each explained that further policy ease, despite current historically easy policy, is not merely possible but likely going forward.

If there were questions as to why this is the case, recent data releases serve as an excellent answer. Starting in the US yesterday, Philly Fed, the second big manufacturing survey, missed sharply on the downside, printing at 0.3, down from last month’s 16.6 reading and well below expectations of 11.0. Combined with Monday’s Empire Manufacturing index, this is certainly a negative harbinger of economic activity in the US.

Japan’s inflation
Continues to edge lower
Is that really bad?

Then, last night we saw Japanese CPI data print at 0.7%, falling 0.2% from the previous month and a strong indication that the BOJ remains far behind in their efforts to change the deflationary mindset in Japan. It is also a strong indication that the BOJ is going to add to its current aggressive policy ease, with talk of both a rate cut and an increase in QE. The one thing that is clear is that verbal guidance by Kuroda-san has had effectively zero impact on the nation’s views of inflation. While the yen has softened by 0.2% this morning compared to yesterday’s close, it remains in a clear uptrend which began in April, or if you step back, a longer-term uptrend which began four years ago. Despite the fact that markets are anticipating further policy ease from Tokyo, the yen’s strength is predicated on two factors; first the fact that the US has significantly more room to ease policy than Japan and so the dollar is likely to have a weak period; and second, the fact that overall evaluations of market risk (just not the equity markets) shows a great deal of concern amongst investors and the yen’s haven status remains attractive.

Closing out our analysis of economic malaise, this morning’s Flash PMI data from Europe showed that while things seem marginally better than last month, they are still rotten. Once again, Germany’s Manufacturing PMI printed well below 50 at 45.4 with the Eurozone version printing at 47.8. These are not data points that inspire confidence in central bankers and are amongst the key reasons that we continue to hear from virtually every ECB speaker that there is plenty of room for the ECB to ease policy further. And while that is a suspect sentiment, there is no doubt that they will try. But once again, the issue is that given the current status of policy, the Fed has the most room to ease policy and that relative position is what will maintain pressure on the buck.

Away from the central bank story, there is no doubt that market participants have ascribed a high degree of probability to the Trump-Xi meeting being a success at defusing the ongoing trade tensions. Certainly, it seems likely that it will help restart the talks, a very good thing, but that is not the same thing as making concessions or coming to agreement. It remains a telling factor that the Chinese are unwilling to codify the agreement in their legal system, but rather want to rely on administrative rules and guidance. That strikes as a very different expectation, compared to the rest of the developed world, regarding what international negotiations are designed to achieve. When combined with the fact that the Chinese claim there is no IP theft or forced technology transfer, which are two of the key issues on the table for the US, I still have a hard time seeing a successful outcome. But I am no trade expert, so my views are just my own.

And finally, Brexit has not really been in the news that much lately, at least not on this side of the pond, but the Tory leadership contest is down to the final two candidates, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary. The process now heads to the roughly 160,000 active members of the Conservative Party, with Johnson favored to prevail. His stance on Brexit is he would prefer a deal, but he will not allow a delay past the current October 31, 2019 deadline, deal or no deal. It is this dynamic which has undermined the pound lately and driven its lagging performance for the past several months. However, this will take more time to play out and so I expect that the pound will remain in limbo for a while yet.

On the data front, we see only Existing Home Sales (exp 5.25M) this morning, but with the FOMC meeting now past and the quiet period over, we hear from two Fed speakers, Governor Brainerd (a dove) and Cleveland Fed President Mester (a hawk). At this point, all indications are that the Fed is leaning far more dovish than before, so it will be telling to hear Ms Mester. If she comes across as dovish, I would expect that we will see both stocks and bonds rally further with the dollar sinking again. Thus, a tumultuous week is ending with the opportunity for a bit more action. The dollar remains under pressure and I expect that to be the case for the foreseeable future.

Good luck
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Trumped

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A great nation in the Far East
Is seeing its growth rate decreased
Their trade has been ‘Trumped’
As exports have slumped
According to data released

There are two stories of note this morning as follows:

1. Chinese Trade data
2. Brexit vote tomorrow

While both of these stories have knock-on effects, they are the conversation drivers today.

Starting with China, last night’s data showed that both exports (-4.4%) and imports (-7.6%) fell much further than forecast with the resulting Trade balance expanding to a $57 billion surplus. Adding to the concerns was a -13% decline in vehicle sales there, so a trifecta of poor data. The short-term response has been for equity markets to sell off as concerns over slowing global growth mount. In Asia the Hang Seng fell -1.4% while Shanghai fell -0.7%. European equities are also suffering, with the Stoxx 600 down -0.8% amid universal weakness there, and US futures are pointing toward opening declines on the order of -0.8%.

Highlighting the risk sell off, Treasury yields have fallen 3bps, oil prices are down 1.5% and gold has climbed 0.6%. Finally, in the FX market, the yen is today’s leader, rising 0.45% as I type. However, while that describes today’s market movement, the narrative seems to be shifting slightly, toward the idea that a resolution of the trade conflict between the US and China is coming sooner than previously thought. Certainly, if growth in China is slowing more rapidly than expected, President Xi will be motivated to get a deal done, and with the ongoing tribulations in Washington, President Trump would love nothing more than to trumpet a victory on trade. So, it certainly makes sense that both sides will find a solution, but it must be remembered that there are a number of very difficult issues to address, notably the question of IP theft and forced technology transfer, which will not be easy to fudge. With that said, it is clear that a resolution to the trade fight will result in a significant risk-on atmosphere in global markets.

The other story is the imminent vote in the UK Parliament regarding PM May’s Brexit deal. As should be expected in any compromise, nobody is happy with the deal. However, in this case, given May’s weak underlying support (remember she is leading a minority government), it appears that the deal has extremely limited support, even from her own party. It is no longer a question of whether the vote will go against the government, (it will), but by how many votes will it lose. Apparently, anything on the order of 40-50 votes could be seen as close enough for PM May to go back to the EU and seek some minor tweaks in order to get the deal done. However, it is increasingly looking like the loss will be catastrophic, on the order of 100 votes, which will remove any possibility of a Brexit deal.

A ‘No’ vote will leave two possible outcomes, either a no-deal Brexit, something that is greatly feared by markets and politicians alike, or no Brexit at all! The second choice seems quite confusing, given the referendum results in 2016, but several months ago, the European Court of Justice ruled that the UK could unilaterally decide to remain in the EU. Of course, if that is the decision it seems likely to ignite an extraordinary political firestorm within the UK, given that a legal referendum called for Brexit. So, all eyes will be on London tomorrow, but for right now, traders seem to be falling into the no Brexit camp as the pound has rallied 0.3% this morning. I would argue, however, that a no Brexit outcome would see major government upheaval and have quite a negative impact on the UK economy and the pound in the short run.

Away from those stories, there is not much interesting discussion. Overall, the dollar is mixed this morning, with both AUD (-0.3%) and CNY (-0.15%) falling after the Chinese trade data, RUB (-0.45%) and CAD (-0.15%) softer on weakening oil prices and TRY (-1.10%) suffering the slings and arrows of US threats in the event the Turks attack the US-backed Kurds in Syria. On the plus side, it has mostly been the yen and the pound as described above. Net, the dollar is little changed on the day.

Turning to this week’s data, there is a decent amount highlighted by the Fed’s Beige Book on Wednesday.

Tuesday PPI -0.1% (2.5% Y/Y)
  -ex food & energy 0.2% (2.9% Y/Y)
  Empire Manufacturing 11.25
Wednesday Fed’s Beige Book  
Thursday Initial Claims 220K
  Philly Fed 10
Friday Capacity Utilization 78.5%
  IP 0.2%
  Michigan Sentiment 97.0

In addition, we hear from four more Fed speakers, including uber-dove Kashkari and NY Fed President Williams. However, the Fed speak is unlikely to have changed from the onslaught last week, meaning there will still be a dovish bias perceived by the market.

As for today, while risk has been reduced, it does not feel like a major rout, but rather a modest adjustment to positions. My sense is that the Brexit vote tomorrow will be the big story for the market, and we will likely bide our time for the rest of the day, at least in FX markets. As long as the narrative continues to focus on a dovish Fed, the dollar will remain under pressure, that is unless the focus turns to more disruptive possible outcomes, when fear really blossoms. However, I don’t see a good reason for that to occur in the short run, so the dollar is apt to stay soft for now.

Good luck
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Fear’s Been Replaced

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As talks with the Chinese progress
Investors are feeling less stress
Thus fear’s been replaced
By greed with great haste
Despite the Fed’s shrinking largesse

Following on Friday’s blowout jobs report in the US, the good news just keeps on coming. Yesterday and today, the market’s collective attention has been on the seeming positive vibes coming from the US-Chinese trade talks ongoing in Beijing. While there has been no announcement thus far, hints by US officials (Kudlow and Ross) point to genuine progress being made. One of the things that has been extensively covered by the press in this round of negotiations is the administration’s efforts to not merely agree to a deal, but to insure that the Chinese adhere to their promises. Historically, this has not always been the case, which has been a source of much of the friction between the two nations. However, it does appear that the Chinese economy is slowing more rapidly than President Xi would like to see, and that the pressure to get it growing again is increasing. Thus, it is not impossible to believe that a deal of some sort will be coming together over the next several months. If pressed, I would guess that March will not be enough time to agree everything, but that there will be an extension of the current tariff regime (rather than any further increases) based on the positive momentum.

If the market is correct in forecasting a successful round of trade negotiations, then that will certainly reinvigorate the global growth story to some extent. And based on recent data releases, the world needs some good news. In the latest example of weakening data, Eurozone Sentiment indicators all fell sharply across the board. This included Business Confidence, Consumer Confidence and Economic Sentiment amongst others. The weakness was prevalent across all the major Eurozone nations as the numbers fell to their lowest levels in roughly two years. Once again, this raises the question of how much policy tightening the ECB can impose in a softening economy. Euro bulls need more than Signor Draghi’s words to make the case for actual interest rate increases, but given recent economic data, that is all they have. With this in mind, it should be no surprise that the euro has ceded some of its recent gains, but in truth, its 0.2% decline this morning just doesn’t seem that impressive.

Looking elsewhere in the G10 space, the Brexit story continues to unfold as expectations grow for the Parliamentary vote on the deal to be held next Tuesday, January 15. As of this writing, those expectations remain for the deal to be voted down by Parliament, although there is a rearguard action that is trying to simultaneously prevent the UK from exiting the EU with no deal. It seems unlikely that if Parliament votes no on this deal that there will be any ability to change the deal in a substantive manner to garner the required approval. And the Irish border situation has not gotten any less intractable in the interim. At this point, I would estimate that the odds are 50:50 that Parliament eventually buckles amidst the fear of a no-deal Brexit. The thing is, for currency hedgers, given the likely asymmetry of the outcome on the pound’s value, with a no-deal resulting in a much larger decline than the rally resulting from a deal, expected value of the pound remains lower, and needs to be addressed with that in mind. In other words, make sure you are max hedged against long GBP positions.

And in truth, those are the only stories of note. With oil prices edging higher the past two sessions (although WTI remains below $50/bbl), both CAD and NOK have bucked the trend today and strengthened modestly. However, the rest of the G10 is softer vs. the dollar by about 0.15%-0.25%. In the EMG space, the dollar has shown a bit more bounce, rallying by 1.3% vs. TRY, 0.5% vs. BRL and 0.7% vs. both ZAR and KRW. But despite today’s gains, those currencies all remain much firmer on the week, as the dollar has been a key underperformer during the past several sessions’ risk-on sentiment. In fact, I would estimate that today’s movement is simply some profit taking rather than anything more fundamental.

With the government shutdown ongoing here, data releases are subject to delay, specifically Friday’s CPI numbers, though today’s JOLT’s Jobs report (exp 7.063M) is published by the Labor Department so it may be delayed as well. Given its relative unimportance, I don’t foresee that being an issue, but if the shutdown continues for a much longer time, certainly markets, if not the Fed, will have less timely information regarding economic performance, and that is likely to be a negative. In the meantime, a quick look at equity futures shows that hope springs eternal with both Dow and S&P futures pointing higher by 0.8%. At this point, it certainly seems like risk will continue to be embraced, which is likely to prevent any further dollar strength in the short run.

Good luck
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Naught But Fool’s Gold

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There once was a story, oft told
That growth round the world would be bold
But data of late
Has shown that the fate
Of that tale was naught but fool’s gold

Instead round the world what we see
Are signs that the future will be
Somewhat less robust
Than had been discussed
Since money is no longer free!

The dollar is strong this morning, rising vs. essentially every other currency after a series of weak data points from China and the EU reinforced the idea that global growth is slowing. As I type my last note of the year, the euro is lower by 0.65%, the pound -0.7% and Aussie has fallen -0.9%. In the emerging market space, the damage is generally less severe, with both CNY and BRL falling -0.4% while MXN and INR have both slipped -0.3%. There are two notable exceptions to this, however, as ZAAR has tumbled 1.5% and KRW fallen -0.8%. In other words, the dollar is in the ascendant today.

What, you may ask, is driving this movement? It started early last evening when China released some closely watched economic indicators, all of which disappointed and indicated further slowing of the economy there. Fixed Asset Investment rose just 5.9%, IP rose just 5.4% and Retail Sales rose just 8.1%. As Chinese data continue to fall below estimates, it increases the odds that the PBOC will ease monetary policy further, thus undermining the renminbi somewhat. But the knock on effect of weakening Chinese growth is that the rest of Asia, which relies on China as a key market for their exports, will also suffer. Hence the sharp decline in AUD and NZD (-1.0%), along with KRW and the rest of the APAC currencies. It certainly appears as though the trade tensions with the US are having a deleterious effect on the Chinese economy, and that may well be the reason that we have heard of more concessions on their part in the discussions. Today’s story is that corn purchases will be restarting in January, yet another rollback of Chinese trade barriers.

But it was not just China that undermined the global growth story; Eurozone data was equally dismal in the form of PMI releases. In this case, Germany’s Manufacturing PMI printed at 51.5, France at 49.7 and the Eurozone as a whole at 51.4. Each of these was substantially below expectations and point to Q4 growth in the Eurozone slowing further. While the French story is directly related to the ongoing gilets jaune protests, Germany is a bigger issue. If you recall, Q3 growth there was negative (-0.2%) but was explained away as a one-off problem related to retooling auto plants for emissions changes in regulations. However, the data thus far in Q4 have not shown any substantive improvement and now call into question the idea that a Q4 rebound will even occur, let alone offset the weak Q3 data.

Adding to the Eurozone questions is the fact that the ECB yesterday confirmed it was ending QE this month, although it has explained that it will be maintaining the size of the balance sheet for “an extended period of time” after its first interest rate rise. Currently, the market is pricing in an ECB rate hike for September 2019, but I am very skeptical. The fact that Signor Draghi characterized economic risks as to the downside rather than balanced should come as no surprise (they are) but calls into question why they ended QE. Adding to the confusion is the fact that the ECB reduced its forecasts for both growth and inflation for 2018 and 2019, hardly the backdrop to be tightening policy. In the end, much of this was expected, although Draghi’s tone at the press conference was clearly more dovish than had been anticipated, and the euro fell all day yesterday and has continued on this morning in the wake of the weak data. And this doesn’t even include the Italian budget mess where Italy’s latest figures show a smaller deficit despite no adjustments in either spending or taxes. Magical thinking for sure!

Meanwhile, the UK continues to hurtle toward a hard Brexit as PM May was rebuffed by the EU in her attempts to gain some conciliatory language to bring back to her Parliament. While I don’t believe in the apocalyptic projections being made about the UK economy come April 1st next year, I do believe that the market will severely punish the pound when it becomes clear there will be no deal, which is likely to be some time in January.

As to the US-China trade situation, this morning there is more fear of tariffs by the US, but the negotiation is ongoing. Funnily enough, my reading of the signs is that China is, in fact, blinking here and beginning to make some concessions. The last thing President Xi can afford is for the Chinese economy to slow sharply and put millions of young men out of work. Historically, excessive unemployed youth can lead to revolution, a situation he will seek to avoid at all costs. If it means he must spin some concessions to the US into a story of strengthening the Chinese economy, that is what he will do. It would certainly be ironic if President Trump’s hardball negotiating tactics turned out to be successful in opening up the Chinese economy and broadly pushing forward a more internationalist agenda, but arguably, it cannot be ruled out. Consider the ramifications on the political debate in the US if that were to be the case!! As to the market implications, I would expect that risk would be quickly embraced, equity markets would rally sharply as would the dollar, while expectations for the Fed would revert to tighter policy in 2019 and beyond. Treasuries, on the other hand, would fall sharply and yields on the 10-year would likely test their highs from early November. We shall see.

This morning brings Retail Sales (exp 0.2%, ex autos 0.2%), IP (0.3%) and Capacity Utilization (78.6%). Data that continues to show the US growing, especially in the wake of the weakness seen elsewhere in the world, should continue to underpin the dollar going forward. While I understand the structural issues like the massive budget and current account deficits should lead to dollar weakness, we are still in a cyclical phase of the market, and the US remains the best place to be for investment, so it remains premature to write off further dollar strength.

Good luck, good weekend and happy holidays to you all.

FX Poetry will return on January 2nd with forecasts for next year, and in regular format starting January 3rd.

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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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A deal Has Been Made

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The story is once again trade
As news that a deal has been made
Twixt Mex and DC
Helped traders agree
The dollar would slowly degrade

Right now, there are two essential stories that the market is following; the Fed and US trade negotiations. While Friday’s news was all about the Fed (with a small dose of PBOC), yesterday we turned back to trade as the key market driver. The announcement that a tentative agreement had been reached between the US and Mexico regarding NAFTA negotiations was hailed in, most quarters, as a positive event. It is beyond the scope of this discussion to opine on the merits of the actual negotiation, only on its market impact. And that was unambiguous. Equity markets rallied everywhere while the dollar continued its recent decline. In fact, the dollar has now fallen for seven of the past eight sessions and is trading back at levels not seen in four weeks. So much for my thesis that continued tighter policy by the Fed would support the buck.

But I think it is worth examining why things are moving the way they are, and more importantly, if they are likely to continue the recent trend, or more likely to revert to the longer run story.

Earlier this year, as the narrative evolved from synchronous global growth to the US leading the way and policy divergence, buying dollars became a favored trade, especially in the hedge fund community. In fact, it grew to be so favored that positioning, at least based on CFTC figures, showed that it was near record levels. And while the dollar continued to rally right up until early last week, everybody carrying that position was happy. This was not only because their view was correct, but also because the current interest rate market paid them to maintain the position, a true win-win situation.

In the meantime, another situation was playing out at the same time; the increasingly bombastic trade rhetoric, notably between the US and China, but also between the US and Mexico, Canada and Europe. With the imposition of tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports by the US, and the reciprocal tariffs by China, the situation was seen as quite precarious. While there was a mild reprieve when the US delayed imposing tariffs on imported European autos last month, a key issue had continued to be the ongoing NAFTA renegotiations. These stories, when highlighted in the press, typically led to risk-off market reactions, one of which included further USD strength.

So between the two stories, higher US rates and increasing risk on the trade front, there were two good reasons to remain long dollars. However, one of the oft-mentioned consequences of the stronger dollar has been the pressure it applies to EMG economies that were heavy dollar borrowers over the past ten years. Suddenly, their prospects dimmed greatly because they felt the double whammy of less inward investment (as USD investments became more attractive due to higher US rates) and a weaker currency eating up a greater proportion of local currency revenues needed to repay dollar debt and its interest. This led to increasing angst over the Fed’s stated views that gradual rate hikes were appropriate regardless of the international repercussions. This also led to significant underperformance by EMG equity markets as well as their currencies, forced the hands of several EMG central banks to raise rates to protect their currencies, and completely decimated a few places, notably Argentina and Turkey.

But that all started to change in earnest last Friday. While the dollar had been retracing some of its recent gains prior to the Jackson Hole meeting, when Chairman Powell hinted that he saw no reason that inflation would continue much beyond the Fed’s target level (although without the benefit of a rationale for that view), the market interpreted that as the Fed ‘s rate hiking trajectory would be shallower than previously thought, and that four rate hikes this year was no longer a given. In fact there are those who now believe that September may be the last rate hike for several quarters (I am not in the group!) Now adding to that the positive news regarding trade with Mexico, with the implication that there is an opportunity to avoid a truly damaging trade war, all of those long dollar positions are feeling far less confident and slowly unwinding. And my sense is that will continue for a bit longer, continuing to add pressure to the dollar. What is interesting to me is that the euro, for example, has retraced back above 1.17 so quickly (remember, it was trading at 1.13 just two weeks ago) and it is not clear that many positions have been cleared out. That implies that we could see further dollar weakness ahead as long as there is no other risk-off catalyst that arises.

The thing is, I don’t think this has changed the long run picture for the dollar, which I think will continue to outperform over time, as while the Fed may slow its trajectory, it is not stopping any time soon. And the reality is that the ECB is still well over a year away from raising rates, with Japan further behind than that. Meanwhile, the PBOC is actively easing as the Chinese economy continues to slow. In the end, the dollar remains the best bet in the medium term. But in the short run, I think the euro could well trade toward 1.19 before stalling, with other currencies moving a similar amount.

As to today’s session, there has been a decided lack of data from either Asia or Europe, and nothing really on the cards for the US. We remain in a lackluster holiday week, as US trading desks remain lightly staffed ahead of the Labor Day holiday next Monday. So to me, momentum is pointing to continued dollar weakness for now, and I expect that is what we will see for the rest of the week.

Good luck
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And what has happened as that angst has grown, and fears of a repeat of the EMG crisis of 1998-9 were raised?

 

Percent Twenty-Five

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The story, once more’s about trade
As Trump, a new threat, has conveyed
Percent twenty-five
This fall may arrive
Lest progress in trade talks is made

President Trump shook things up yesterday by threatening 25% tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports unless a trade deal can be reached. This is up from the initial discussion of a 10% tariff on those goods, and would almost certainly have a larger negative impact on GDP growth while pushing inflation higher in both the US and China, and by extension the rest of the world. It appears that the combination of strong US growth and already weakening Chinese growth, has led the President to believe he is in a stronger position to obtain a better deal. Not surprisingly the Chinese weren’t amused, loudly claiming they would not be blackmailed. In the background, it appears that efforts to restart trade talks between the two nations have thus far been unsuccessful, although those efforts continue.

Clearly, this is not good news for the global economy, nor is it good news for financial markets, which have no way to determine just how big an impact trade ructions are going to have on equities, currencies, commodities and interest rates. In other words, things are likely more uncertain now than in more ‘normal’ times. And that means that market volatility across markets is likely to increase. After all, not only is there the potential for greater surprises, but the uncertainty prevailing has reduced liquidity overall as many investors and traders hew to the sidelines until they have a better idea of what to do. And, of course, it is August 1st, a period where summer vacations leave trading desks with reduced staffing levels and so liquidity is generally less robust in any event.

Moving past trade brings us straight to the central bank story, where the relative hawkishness or dovishnes of yesterday’s BOJ announcement continues to be debated. There are those who believe it was a stealth tightening, allowing higher 10-year yields (JGB yields rose 8bps last night to their highest level in more than 18 months) and cutting in half the amount of reserves subject to earning -0.10%. And there are those who believe the increased flexibility and addition of forward guidance are signals that the BOJ is keen to ease further. Yesterday’s price action in USDJPY clearly favored the doves, as the yen fell a solid 0.8% in the session. But there has been no follow-through this morning.

As to the other G10 currencies, the dollar is modestly firmer against most of them this morning in the wake of PMI data from around the world showing that the overall growth picture remains mixed, but more troubling, the trend appears to be continuing toward slower growth.

The emerging market picture is similar, with the dollar performing reasonably well this morning, although, here too, there are few outliers. The most notable is KRW, which has fallen 0.75% overnight despite strong trade data as inflation unexpectedly fell and views of an additional rate hike by the BOK dimmed. However, beyond that, modest dollar strength was the general rule.

At this point in the session, the focus will turn to some US data including; ADP Employment (exp 185K), ISM Manufacturing (59.5) and its Prices Paid indicator (75.8), before the 2:00pm release of the FOMC statement as the Fed concludes its two day meeting. As there is no press conference, and the Fed has not made any changes to policy without a press conference following the meeting in years, I think it is safe to say there is a vanishingly small probability that anything new will come from the meeting. The statement will be heavily parsed, but given that we heard from Chairman Powell just two weeks ago, and the biggest data point, Q2 GDP, was released right on expectations, it seems unlikely that they will make any substantive changes.

It feels far more likely that this meeting will have been focused on technical questions about how future Fed policies will be enacted. Consider that QE has completely warped the old framework, where the Fed would actually adjust reserves in order to drive interest rates. Now, however, given the trillions of dollars of excess reserves, they can no longer use that strategy. The question that has been raised is will they try to go back to the old way, or is the new, much larger balance sheet going to remain with us forever. For hard money advocates, I fear the answer will not be to their liking, as it appears increasingly likely that QE is with us to stay. Of course, since this is a global phenomenon, I expect the impact on the relative value of any one currency is likely to be muted. After all, if everybody has changed the way they manage their economy in the same manner, then relative values are unlikely to change.

Flash, ADP Employment prints at a better than expected 219K, but the initial dollar impact is limited. Friday’s NFP report is of far more interest, but for today, all eyes will wait for the Fed. I expect very limited movement in the dollar ahead of then, and afterwards to be truthful.

Good luck
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Twixt Juncker and Trump

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The meeting today in DC
Twixt Juncker and Trump will be key
In helping determine
If cars that are German
Are hit with a new import fee

Markets overnight have been relatively muted as today’s big story revolves around EU President Jean-Claude Juncker’s meeting with President Tump in Washington. The agenda is focused on tariffs and trade as Juncker seeks to de-escalate the current trade policy differences. At this point, while most market participants would love to see signs that the US is backing off its recent threats, and that progress is made in adjusting the terms of trade, I don’t sense that there is a lot of optimism that will be the case. Remarkably, the US equity market has been able to virtually ignore the trade story, with only a few individual companies suffering due to direct impacts from the situation (or poor quarterly numbers), but that has not been true elsewhere in the world. Other equity markets have fared far worse in the wake of the trade battle, and I see no reason for those prospects to improve until there is a resolution. At the same time, while the dollar has fallen from its highs seen early last week, it remains significantly stronger than it was three months ago. In fact, during the recent escalation in Presidential rhetoric, while we saw a reaction last Friday, the reality is that there has been little overall movement.

While the value of the dollar clearly has an impact on trade, historically the reverse has been far less clear. In other words, although there have been knee-jerk reactions to a particular trade number that missed expectations, or similar to Friday’s movement, knee-jerk reactions to political statements about trade policy, generally speaking, trade’s impact on the dollar has been very hard to discern. Several months ago I highlighted the tension between short-term and long-term drivers of the dollar. On the short-term side, which is what I believe has been dominant this year, is monetary policy and interest rate differentials. These have clearly been moving aggressively in the dollar’s favor. On the long-term side is the US’ fiscal account, namely its current account deficit and trade deficit. Economic theory tells us that a country that runs significant deficits in these accounts will see its currency decline over time in order to help balance things. In fact, this has been the crux of the view that the dollar will fall in the long run. However, given the US’ unique situation as the global reserve currency, and the fact that so much global trade is priced in dollars as opposed to other currencies, there remains an underlying demand for dollars that is not likely to disappear anytime soon.

The point here is that if the current trade situation deteriorates further, with additional tariffs imposed on all sides, and growth slows correspondingly, it is still not clear to me that the dollar will suffer. In fact, most other countries will seek to weaken their own currencies in order to offset the tariffs, which means the dollar will likely continue to outperform. In other words, in addition to the US monetary policy benefit, it seems likely that the dollar will be the beneficiary of policy adjustments elsewhere designed to weaken other currencies. And ironically, in the current political situation, that is only likely to generate even more Presidential rhetoric on the subject. Quite frankly, I feel the dollar has potentially much further to climb as long as trade is the topic du jour.

Of course, that doesn’t mean it will rally ever day. In fact, today the dollar is very modestly softer vs. most of its counterparts. The biggest gainer has been CNY, which is firmer by 0.55% overnight, as China appears very interested in calming things down. But away from that move, most currency gains have been on the order of 0.1% or so. The most notable data overnight was the German IFO report, which declined for the eighth consecutive month and is now back to levels last seen in March 2017. While the ECB continues to look ahead to the ending of their extraordinary monetary policy, the economy does not seem to be cooperating with their views of a sustainable recovery. While I think there is very little chance that the ECB changes its stance on bond buying, meaning come December, they will be done, it remains an open question as to when they might start to raise rates. This is especially true given the potential for an escalating trade conflict between the US and the EU resulting in slower growth on both sides of the Atlantic. If that is the case, the ECB will have a much harder time normalizing policy. At this time, however, it is still way too early to make any determinations, and I suspect that tomorrow’s ECB meeting will give us very little new information.

Meanwhile, the market is still extremely focused on the BOJ meeting early next week, with varying views as to the potential for any policy shifts there. What does seem clear is there has at least been discussion of the timing of ending QE, but no decisions have been made. The problem for the BOJ is that after more than five years of aggressive bond buying, not only have they broken the JGB market, but they have not been able to achieve anywhere near the results they had sought. Given that the BOJ balance sheet is now essentially the same size as the Japanese economy (for comparison, in the US despite its remarkable growth during QE, it remains ~20% of the US economy), there are growing concerns that current policy may be doing more harm than good. Apparently there are limits to just how much a central bank can do to address inflation. As to the yen, if the market perception turns to the BOJ stepping back from constant injections of funds, it is very likely that the yen will find itself in great demand and USDJPY will fall steadily. I maintain my view that 100.00 is a viable target for the end of the year.

Today brings just New Home Sales data (exp 670K, a 2.8% decline from last month) but this is generally not a key figure for markets. Rather, today’s price action will be dependent on the outcome of the Trump-Juncker meeting and whatever comments follow at the press conference. A conciliatory tone by President Trump would almost certainly result in a stock market rally and modest dollar strength. Continued combativeness is likely to see stocks under pressure and the dollar, at least initially, falling as well.

Good luck
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Weaker Yuan Now Abided

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Apparently China’s decided
Their strong money stance was misguided
So look for, ahead
More easing instead
And weaker yuan now abided

Arguably, the biggest story in the FX markets overnight was the sharp decline in the Chinese yuan. For the first time in more than a year, the PBOC set the fixing rate for the dollar above 6.70, which seemed to signal a willingness to allow the currency to fall much further. As I type, the offshore version is trading near 6.80, having fallen 0.8% on the session. As I have discussed over the past months, even absent the trade situation, there are ample reasons to see the renminbi decline further. However, it now seems likely that the ongoing trade dispute with the US is starting to have a bigger impact on the Chinese economy (remember we already saw weak data last week) and that a simple response is to allow the currency to fall.

The trade dispute with the US has come at a bad time for China. They have been tightening liquidity standards for the past two years in an effort to reduce leverage in their economy and the housing bubbles that resulted. But now, the slower growth precipitated by that policy combined with restrictions on their exports is forcing that policy to be reconsidered. So far the PBOC has not actually cut rates, but they have reduced bank reserve requirements by one full percent and encouraged significantly more lending to SME’s. However, in the end, given their still mercantilist economy, a weaker currency is likely to be the best policy available for their conflicting goals of less leverage and strong growth. I’m beginning to think that 7.00 is a conservative estimate for USDCNY at year-end. What is abundantly clear is that there will be further weakness in the near term.

Meanwhile, Carney’s plan to raise rates
In August is in dire straits
The data keeps showing
That UK growth’s slowing
My bet now is he hesitates

This morning’s UK Retail Sales data was the last big data point of the week, and completed a picture of an economy that is not expanding quite so rapidly as had been previously thought. While things aren’t as dire as the Q1 data implied, Retail Sales fell -0.5% in Jun with the -ex fuel number -0.6%. Both were significantly lower than forecast and added to the softer inflation and wage growth data seen earlier this week. As such, none of this data really supports the idea that the BOE needs to raise rates next month, despite a clearly articulated desire by Governor Carney to do so. The problem he faces, along with many other central bankers, is that policy rates remain at emergency settings deep into a recovery, and the concern now is that they won’t have any policy tools available when the next downturn comes. In other words, they are out of ammo and need to reload, which means they need higher policy rates. But if the data don’t warrant that stance, they run the risk of causing a recession in order to be able to fight one. It is an unenviable position, but one that they brought upon themselves with their gigantic monetary policy experiment. When the softening data trend is added to the ongoing Brexit uncertainty, I have a hard time seeing a rationale for the BOE to move next month. The market continues to price a >70% probability, but I think that will ebb over the next few weeks.

One thing that is not surprising is that the pound has fallen below 1.30, down a further 0.6% this morning (and 2.0% on the week) and is now trading at its lowest level since last September. While it no longer appears that PM May is going to be ousted, it does seem as though the odds of the UK leaving the EU with no deal in place are growing shorter. I continue to look for the pound to fall further.

Away from those two stories, yesterday brought the second day of Chairman Powell’s Congressional testimony, this time to the House Financial Services Committee. The comment getting the most press has been “[the rate setting committee] believes that, for now, the best way forward is to keep gradually raising” rates. The idea is that the highlighted words are a strong indication that the Fed remains policy dependent, and so will carefully evaluate the situation at each meeting. That said, expectations remain that they will raise rates in September and December, and that data would need to be significantly worse, or the trade dispute clearly become a bigger problem, to change that view.

In the end, those Fed expectations should continue to support the dollar. In fact, the dollar has rallied pretty sharply across the board this morning, with the Dollar Index up 0.5%. That breadth of strength is indicative of the fact that the market continues to expect divergent monetary policies between the US and the rest of the world for now. We will need to see much weaker US data to change that view, and the dollar’s trajectory.

This morning brings the last data of the week, with Initial Claims (exp 220K), Philly Fed (21.5) and Leading Indicators (0.4%). We also hear from Fed Governor Randall Quarles, although given that we just got two days of Powell, it is hard to believe that he will be saying something different. While yesterday’s Housing data was disappointing, it was not enough to change any views on the US economy, especially given that Housing Starts is a known volatile series, and so easily dismissed. It is hard to view the current market and economic situation without concluding that the dollar’s rally has further to go. Hedgers keep that in mind, especially as you begin to look at your 2019 exposures.

Good luck
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