Tag Archives: #tradetalks

Compromised

Posted on by

The punditry seemed quite surprised
That trade talks have been compromised
If President’s Xi
And Trump can’t agree
To meet, forecasts need be revised

What then, ought the future might hold?
It’s likely that stocks will be sold
And Treasuries bought
As safety is sought
Plus rallies in dollars and gold

Risk appetites have definitely diminished this morning as evidenced by yesterday’s US equity decline alongside a very weak showing in Asia overnight. The proximate cause is the news that President’s Trump and Xi are not likely to meet ahead of the March 1 deadline regarding increased tariffs on Chinese goods. And while trade talks are ongoing, with Mnuchin and Lighthizer heading to Beijing next week, it seems pretty clear that the market was counting on a breakthrough between the presidents in a face-to-face meeting. However, not unlike the intractable Irish border situation in the Brexit discussions, the question of state subsidies and IP theft forced technology transfer are fundamental to the Chinese economy and therefore essentially intractable for Xi. I have consistently maintained that the market was far too sanguine about a positive outcome in the near-term for these talks, and yesterday’s news seems to support that view.

Of course, eventually a deal will be found, it is just not clear to me how long it will take and how much pain both sides can stand. Whether or not Fed Chair Powell believes he capitulated to Trump regarding interest rates, it is clear Trump sees it in that light. Similarly, it appears the president believes he has the upper hand in this negotiation as well and expects Xi to blink. That could make for a much rockier path forward for financial markets desperate to see some stability in global politics.

The trade news was clearly the key catalyst driving equities lower, but we continue to see weakening data as well, which calls into question just how strong global growth is going to be during 2019. The latest data points of concern are Italian IP (-0.8%, exp +0.4%) and the German trade surplus falling to €13.9B from €20.4B in November. Remember, Germany is the most export intensive nation in the EU, reliant on running a significant trade surplus as part of its macroeconomic policy structure. If that starts to shrink, it bodes ill for the future of the German economy, and by extension for the Eurozone as a whole. While it cannot be too surprising that the Italian data continues to weaken, it simply highlights that the recession there is not likely to end soon. In fact, it appears likely that the entire Eurozone will be mired in a recession before long. Despite the ongoing flow of weak data, the euro, this morning, is little changed. After a steady 1.25% decline during the past week, it appears to have found a little stability this morning and is unchanged on the day.

In fact, lack of movement is the defining feature of the currency markets this morning as the pound, yen, Loonie, kiwi, yuan, rupee and Mexican peso are all trading within a few bps of yesterday’s levels. The only currency to have moved at all has been Aussie, which has fallen 0.25% on continued concerns over the growth prospects both at home and in China, as well as the ongoing softness in many commodity prices.

The other noteworthy items from yesterday were comments from St Louis Fed president Bullard that he thought rates ought to remain on hold for the foreseeable future. Granted, he has been one of the two most dovish Fed members (Kashkari being the other) for a long time, but he was clearly gratified that the rest of the committee appears to have come around to his point of view. And finally, the Initial Claims data printed at a higher than expected 234K. While in the broad scheme of things, that is still a low number, it is higher than the recent four-week average, and when looking at a chart of claims, it looks more and more like the bottom for this number is likely behind us.

A great deal has been written recently about the reliability of the change in the Unemployment rate as a signal for a pending recession. History shows that once the Unemployment rate rises 0.4% from its trough, a recession has followed more than 80% of the time. Thus far, that rate has risen 0.3% from its nadir, and if claims data continues to rise, which given recent numbers seems quite possible, the implication is a recession is in our future. The one thing we know about recessions is that the Fed has never been able to forecast their onset. Given the fact that this recovery is quite long in the tooth, at 115 months of age, it cannot be surprising that a recession is on the horizon. My concern is that the horizon is beneath our feet, not in the distance.

There is no US data to be released today although next week brings both inflation and manufacturing data. But for now, all eyes are on the deteriorating view of the trade situation, which is likely to keep pressure on equity markets (futures are currently pointing lower by 0.5%) while helping support the dollar as risk is continuously reduced.

Good luck and good weekend
Adf

 

Hitting Home

Posted on by

The current Fed Chairman, Jerome
Initially’d taken the tone
That interest rate hiking
Was to the Fed’s liking
Until hikes began hitting home

Then stock markets round the world crashed
And policymakers’ teeth gnashed
He then changed his mind
And now he’s outlined
His new plan where tightening’s trashed

It’s interesting that despite the fact that the employment report was seen as quite positive, the weekend discussion continued to focus on the Fed’s U-turn last Wednesday. And rightly so. Given how important the Fed has been to every part of the market narrative, equities, bonds and the dollar, if they changed their reaction function, which they clearly have, then it will be the focus of most serious commentary for a while.

But let’s deconstruct that employment report for a moment. While there is no doubt that the NFP number was great (304K, nearly twice expectations, although after a sharply reduced December number), something that has gotten a lot less press is the Unemployment Rate, which rose to 4.0%, still quite low but now 0.3% above the bottom seen most recently in November. The question at hand is, is this a new and concerning trend? If the unemployment rate continues to rise, then the Fed was likely right to stop tightening policy. Yet, most analysts, like politicians, want their cake and the ability to eat it as well. If the Fed has finished tightening because growth is slowing, is that really the outcome desired? It seems to me I would rather have faster growth and tighter policy, a much better mix all around. Now it is too early to say that Unemployment has definitely bottomed, but another month or two of rises will certainly force that to creep into the narrative. And you can bet that will include all the reasons that the Fed better start cutting rates again! Remember, too, if the Fed is turning from tightening to easing, I assure you that the idea the ECB might raise rates is absurd.

Now, with the Fed decision behind us, as well as widely applauded, and the payroll report past, what do we have to look forward to? After all, Brexit is still grinding forward to a denouement in late March, although we will certainly hear of more trials and tribulations before then. I was particularly amused by the idea that the British government has developed plans for the Queen to be evacuated in the event of a hard Brexit. WWII wasn’t enough to evacuate royalty, but Brexit will be? Not unlike Y2K (for those of you who remember that) while a hard Brexit will almost certainly be disruptive in the short run, I am highly confident that the UK will continue to function going forward. The fear-mongering that is ongoing by the British government is actually quite irresponsible.

And of course, there are the US-China trade talks. Except that this week is Chinese New Year and all of China (along with much of Asia) is on holiday. So, there are no current discussions ongoing. But markets have taken heart from the view that President’s Xi and Trump will be meeting in a few weeks, and that they will come to an agreement of some sort. The problem I see is that the big issues are not about restrictions as much as about protection of IP and forced technology transfer. And since the Chinese have consistently denied that both of those things occur, it is not clear to me how they can credibly agree to stop them. The market remains sanguine about the prospects for a trade reconciliation, but I fear the probability of a successful outcome is less than currently priced. While this will not dominate the discussion for another two weeks, be careful when it surfaces again.

Looking ahead to this week, while US data is in short supply, really just trade, we do see more central bank meetings led by the BOE (no change expected), Banxico (no change expected) and Banco do Brazil (no change expected). The biggest risk seems to be in Mexico where some analysts are calling for a 25bp rate cut to 8.00%. We also hear from six Fed speakers, including Chairman Powell again, although at this point, it seems the market has heard all it wants. After all, given Friday’s payroll report, it seems impossible to believe that any Fed member can discuss cutting rates. Not raising them is the best they’ve got for now.

Tuesday ISM Non-Manufacturing 57.1
Wednesday Trade Balance -$54.0B
  Unit Labor Costs 1.7%
  Nonfarm Productivity 1.7%
Thursday Initial Claims 220K
  Consumer Credit $17.0B

So, markets are in a holding pattern while they await the next important catalyst. The stories that have driven things lately, the Fed, Brexit and trade talks are all absent this week. That leads to the idea that the dollar will be impacted by equity and bond markets.

We all know that equity markets had a stellar January and the question is, can that continue? With bond markets also rallying, they seem to be telling us different stories. Equities are looking to continued strength in the economy, while bonds see the opposite. I have to admit, based on the data we continue to see around the world, it appears that the bond market may have it right. As such, despite my concerns over the dollar’s future given the Fed’s pivot, a reversal in equities leading to a risk off scenario would likely underpin the dollar. While it is very modestly higher this morning, it is fair to call it little changed. I think the bias will be for a softer dollar unless things turn ugly. If that does happen, make sure your exposures are hedged as the dollar will benefit.

Good luck
Adf

As Patient As Needed

Posted on by

More rate hikes? The Fed said, ‘no way!’
With growth slowing elsewhere we’ll stay
As patient as needed
Since now we’ve conceded
Our hawkishness led us astray

If you needed proof that central bankers are highly political rather than strictly focused on the economics and financial issues, how about this:

Dateline January 24, 2019. ECB President Mario Draghi characterizes the Eurozone economy as slowing more than expected yet continues to support the idea that interest rates will be rising later this year as policy tightening needs to continue.

Dateline January 30, 2019. Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell characterizes the US economy as solid with strong employment yet explains that there is no need to consider raising rates further at this time, and that the ongoing balance sheet reduction program, which had been on “autopilot” is to be reevaluated and could well slow or end sooner than previously expected.

These are certainly confusing actions when compared to the comments attached. Why would Draghi insist that policy tightening is still in the cards if the Eurozone economy is clearly slowing? Ongoing pressure from the monetary hawks of northern Europe, notably Germany’s Bundesbank, continues to force Draghi to hew a more hawkish line than the data might indicate. As to the Fed, it is quite clear that despite the Fed’s description of a strong economy, Powell has succumbed to the pressure to support the equity market, with most of that pressure coming from the President. And yet central bankers consistently try to maintain that they are above politics and cherish their independence. There hasn’t been an independent central banker since Paul Volcker was Fed Chair from 1979-1987.

Nonetheless, this is where we are. The Fed’s dovishness was applauded by the markets with equities rallying briskly in the US (1.5%-2.2% across the indices) and following in Asia (Nikkei and Hang Seng both +1.1%) although Europe has shown less pluck. But Europe has, as described above, a slowing growth problem. This is best characterized by Italy, whose Q4 GDP release this morning (-0.2%) has shown the nation to be back in recession, their third in the past five years! It should be no surprise that Italy’s stock market is lower (-0.6%) nor that it is weighing on all the European indices.

Not surprisingly, government bond yields around the world are largely lower as well. This reaction is in a piece with market behavior in 2017 through the first three quarters of 2018, where both stocks and bonds rallied consistently on the back of monetary policy actions. I guess if easy money is coming back, and as long as there is no sign of inflation, there is no reason not to own them both. Certainly, the idea that 10-year Treasury yields are going to start to break higher seems to be fading into the background. The rally to 3.25% seen last November may well mark a long term high.

And what about the dollar? Well, if this is the new normal, then my views on the dollar are going to need to change as well. Consider this, given that the Fed has tightened more than any other central bank, the dollar has benefitted the most. We saw that last year as the dollar rallied some 7%-8% across the board. But now, the Fed has the most room to ease policy in comparison to every other G10 central bank, and so if the next direction is easy money, the dollar is certain to suffer the most. Certainly, that was the story yesterday afternoon in NY, where the dollar gave up ground across the board after the FOMC statement. Against the euro, the initial move saw the dollar sink 0.75% in minutes. Since then, it has traded back and forth but is little changed on the day, today, with the euro higher by just an additional 0.1%. We saw a similar move in the yen, rallying 0.7% immediately, although it has continued to strengthen and is higher by another 0.35% this morning. Even the pound, which continues to suffer from Brexit anxiety, rallied on the Fed news and has continued higher this morning as well, up another 0.2%. The point is, if the Fed is done tightening, the dollar is likely done rallying for now.

Other stories have not disappeared though, with the Brexit saga ongoing as it appears more and more likely to come down to a game of brinksmanship in late March. The EU is adamant they won’t budge, and the UK insists they must. I have a feeling that nothing is going to change until late March, just ahead of the deadline, as this game of chicken is going to play out until the end.

And what of the trade talks between the US and China? Well, so far there is no word of a breakthrough, and the only hints have been that the two sides remain far apart on some key issues. Do not be surprised to see another round of talks announced before the March 2 tariff deadline, or an agreement to postpone the raising of tariffs at that time as long as talks continue. Meanwhile, Chinese data released overnight showed Manufacturing PMI a better than expected (though still weak) 49.5 while Non-Manufacturing PMI actually rose to 54.7, its best reading since September, although still seeming to trend lower. However, the market there applauded, and the renminbi continues to perform well, maintaining its gains from the last week where it has rallied ~1.5%.

The US data picture continues to be confused from the government shutdown, but this morning we are due to receive Initial Claims (exp 215K and look for a revision higher from last week’s suspect 199K) as well as New Home Sales (569K). Yesterday’s ADP Employment number was much better than expected at 213K, and of course, tomorrow, we get the payroll report. Given the Fed’s hyper focus on data now, that could be scrutinized more closely than usual for guesstimates of how the Fed might react to a surprise.

In the end, the market tone has changed to mirror the Fed with a more dovish nature, and given that, the prospects for the dollar seem to have diminished. For now, it seems it has further to fall.

Good luck
Adf

 

Will We Understand?

Posted on by

The current Fed Chairman named Jay
Will speak to us later today
The question at hand
Will we understand
The message that he will relay?

Meanwhile, nearby trade talks resume
Midst fears that a failure spells doom
For Trump and for Xi
They need victory
To help both economies boom

Three main stories continue to dominate the headlines; Brexit, the Fed and US-China trade talks. Given that all three remain unsettled, it should not be surprising that markets have shown little direction of late. This is evidenced by the fact that, once again, the dollar is little changed this morning against the bulk of its counterparts while both Treasury yields and equity prices remain rangebound.

Starting with the Fed, this afternoon at 2:00 the policy statement is released and then at 2:30 Chairman Powell holds his first of eight press conferences this year. We all know about the change in tone from Fed speakers since the December meeting where the Fed funds rate was raised 25bps to 2.50%. Since then, we have seen every Fed speaker back away from the previous narrative of slow and steady rate hikes to the new watchword, ‘patience’. In other words, previous expectations of two or three rate hikes this year have been moderated and will only occur if the data supports them. At this point, it seems pretty clear that the Fed will not raise rates in March, and likely not in June either, unless the data between now and then brightens significantly. As to the second half of the year, based on the slowing trajectory of global growth, it is becoming harder to believe they will push rates higher at all this year.

This is a significant change of expectations and will certainly impact other markets, notably the dollar. Given the view that any dollar strength was predicated on tighter Fed policy, the absence of such tightening should negatively impact the buck. But as I frequently point out, the dollar is a two-sided coin, and if the Fed is tightening less than expected, you can be certain that so is every other central bank, with the possibility of easing elsewhere coming into play. On a relative basis, I continue to see the dollar being the beneficiary of the tightest monetary policy around.

Moving to the trade talks, while hopes remain high, it seems expectations need to be moderated. The US is seeking major structural changes from China, including the reduction of subsidies for SOE’s and changes in terms for partnerships between US and Chinese firms. China built its economic model on those terms and seems unlikely to give them up. And that doesn’t include the IP theft issue, which the Chinese deny while the US continues to maintain is the reality. I think the best case scenario is that the talks continue and that any tariff increases remain on hold for another 90 days to try to achieve a settlement. But I would not rule out the chance that the talks break down and that higher tariffs are put into place come March 2nd. If the former occurs, I expect equity markets to rally on hope, while the dollar comes under modest pressure. However, if they break down, equities will suffer around the world and I expect to see safe havens, including the dollar, rally.

Finally, to Brexit, where yesterday Parliament voted to have PM May go back and reopen negotiations but did not vote to prevent a no-deal Brexit. This is what May wanted, but it is not clear it will solve any problems. The EU has been adamant that they will not reopen negotiations on the deal, although they seem willing to discuss the ‘political’ issues like the nature and timing of the backstop deal regarding Ireland. At this point, it seems May is playing chicken with her own party, as well as Labour, and trying to force them to vote for the current deal as the best they can get. But with time running out and the requirement that a unanimous vote of the EU is needed in order to delay the timeline, the chance of a no-deal Brexit is certainly increasing. The pound suffered yesterday after the vote, falling about 1%, although this morning it has bounced 0.25% from those levels. It is very clear that the market has ascribed a diminishing probability to a no-deal Brexit, but hedgers need to be careful. That probability is definitely not zero! And if it does come about, the pound will fall very sharply very quickly. A 10% decline is not unreasonable under those circumstances.

Away from those stories, this morning brings us the ADP Employment report (exp 178K) and we cannot forget that NFP comes on Friday. Eurozone data was generally soft, as was Japanese data, but that has all become part of the new narrative of a temporary lull in the global economy before things pick up again when the big issues (trade and Brexit) are behind us. The risk is those issues don’t resolve in a positive manner, and the slowdown is not as temporary as hoped. If global growth keeps deteriorating, all ideas on monetary policy will need to be reconsidered, which will have a direct impact on views of the future of the dollar, equity markets and bonds. So far, things haven’t changed enough to bring that about, but beware a situation where economic data continues to slide.

Good luck
Adf

If Things Go Very Wrong

Posted on by

Last year he thought growth would be strong
This year, “if things go very wrong”
It seems Signor Draghi
Just might restart QE
And rate hikes? They’ll ne’er come along!

Markets continue to bide their time ahead of tomorrow’s FOMC statement and the press conference by Chairman Powell. In addition, the Brexit saga continues with a series of votes scheduled today in Parliament that may help determine the next steps in that messy process. And of course, the next round of US-Chinese trade talks are set to begin tomorrow. So, there is plenty of potential news on the near-term horizon. But before I touch on those subjects, I wanted to highlight comments from ECB President Draghi yesterday speaking to EU lawmakers in Brussels. From the Bloomberg article this morning:

        The president of the European Central Bank blamed “softer external demand and some country and sector-specific factors” for the slowdown, but indicated he still has some confidence in the underlying strength of the economy.
       “If things go very wrong, we can still resume other instruments in our toolbox. There is nothing objecting to that possibility,” he told lawmakers in Brussels in response to a question on whether net asset purchases could be restarted. “The only point is under what contingency are we going to do this. And at this point in time, we don’t see such contingency as likely to materialize, certainly this year.”

Basically, he opened the door to reinstate QE, something which just two months ago would never have been considered. And while he tried to downplay the problems, it is clear there is growing concern in Frankfurt about Eurozone growth. Surprisingly, to me, the euro barely budged on the report, as I would have anticipated a sell-off. However, given the Fed is due to make its comments tomorrow, it appears that traders are waiting to see where Powell comes out on the hawkish-dovish spectrum. Because to me, Draghi’s comments were quite dovish. But essentially, the euro has been unchanged since trading opened in Asia yesterday, so clearly the market doesn’t see these comments as newsworthy.

Now, looking at the other three stories, there has been virtually no new information released since last week. Regarding the Fed, yesterday’s WSJ had an article that looked like a Fed plant discussing how unimportant the balance sheet issue was, and how the Fed sees no evidence that shrinking the balance sheet is having any impact on markets. That assessment is quite controversial as many investors and pundits see the balance sheet as a key issue driving recent market volatility. I expect we will hear more on Wednesday from Powell, but I also expect that now that Powell has shown he cannot withstand pressure from a declining stock market, that the pace of balance sheet reduction is going to slow. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it cut in half with a corresponding rally in both stocks and bonds on the news. In this event, the dollar should come under pressure as well.

As to Brexit, there still seems to be this disconnect between the UK and the EU in that the UK continues to believe that if Parliament votes to renegotiate parts of the deal, the EU will do so. Thus far, the EU has been pretty consistent that they like the deal the way it is and that there is not enough time to make changes. But from what I have seen this morning, it seems the most likely outcome is the ‘Malthouse proposal’ which will essentially do just that. Get support from Parliament to go back and change the Irish backstop arrangement. While I know that there is no desire for a hard Brexit, it strikes me that one cannot yet be ruled out.

Finally, on to the trade talks, we continue to get conflicting information from the US side as to where things stand, but ultimately the key issue is much more likely to be enforcement of any deal, rather than the deal itself. There is a great wariness that the Chinese will agree to something, and then ignore the details and go back to business as usual. Or perhaps create new and different non-tariff barriers to maintain their advantages. While the equity market continues to be positive on the process, I don’t see things quite so rosily. I think a deal would be great, but I don’t ascribe more than a 50% chance to getting one. However, I do expect that any tariff increases will be postponed for another round of talks to be enabled.

Beyond those stories, not too much of note is happening, which is evident by the fact that there has been almost no movement in the FX market, or any market for that matter. The G10 currencies are within pips of yesterday’s closing levels, and even EMG currencies are generally little changed. One exception is BRL, which has fallen -0.6% as ongoing news regarding the mining disaster and its impact on CRDV, a huge Brazilian mining conglomerate, seems to be generating a little angst. But otherwise, even this bloc of currencies is little changed. Equity markets are close to flat, as are bond and commodity markets. In other words, investors and traders are looking to the horizon and waiting for the big stories to play out. First in line is the Brexit voting, so perhaps later this afternoon we will see some movement, but I suspect that the FOMC is actually THE story of note for most people right now.

Good luck
Adf

 

A Market Doomsday

Posted on by

Last week it was Mario’s turn
To tell us what gave him heartburn
The risk which is growing
That Europe is slowing
Thus, negative rates won’t adjourn

This week eyes are on Chairman Jay
Whose last comments tried to defray
The idea the rates
That he regulates
Will e’er cause a market doomsday

As we begin the new week, the biggest weekend event was the reopening of the US Federal government, although apparently it could shut down again in three weeks. Funnily enough, while economists have calculated that each week the government was closed, GDP would be reduced by 0.1%, nobody seemed to care that much. I think if traders can explain an anomaly, they will ignore it in pricing. And certainly, a government shutdown is a big picture anomaly.

But all the other stories remain the same. Brexit is still unresolved with the next series of votes to be held tomorrow. It remains unclear exactly how things will play out, but it seems pretty clear that neither side wants a no-deal outcome. However, whether that means a vote to delay things, or acceptance of the deal that was roundly rejected just two weeks ago is completely uncertain. Of course, the third option is that they simply opt not to leave the EU, which is within their power. At this point, it seems the most likely outcome is a delay, as nobody likes the deal, and PM May has consistently indicated she would follow the vote to leave.

With that as the background, the pound is lower by -0.4% this morning, actually one of the larger movers in FX overnight. This appears to be short term profit taking by traders who have been accumulating long positions over the past month. But keep in mind that the big, long-term positions remain short pounds. So as long as there is no hard Brexit, which seems highly unlikely given both sides’ stated opposition to that outcome, there is room for the pound to rebound in the next months. However, I continue to like the dollar far better than the pound given the potential for future growth in both places. And while the Fed may not be aggressively tightening policy anymore, I don’t think we are that close to easing. Meanwhile, the BOE is watching the UK economy slow perceptibly, and cannot be serious about raising rates in the near term.

But this week is really about two things, the FOMC meeting and the trade talks with China. Looking at the latter first, both sides have made encouraging noises, but the key issues for the US remain IP theft and SOE support, neither of which have been adequately addressed. I know the equity market has been euphoric over every hint that the trade war would end, and tariffs would be removed, but I think they are way ahead of themselves. I fear there is, at best, a 50:50 chance that talks are concluded successfully before the March deadline. However, I think it likely that as long as the dialog remains open, the US postpones implementation of new, larger tariffs. As to the FX impact, you can be sure that the PBOC is going to prevent CNY from weakening in any substantial way until the talks are concluded one way or the other. But given the ongoing weak data in China, I continue to expect to see the renminbi weaken over time.

And finally, the Fed. On Wednesday Chairman Powell will have a press conference after the statement is released at 2:00 EST. (There is zero expectation that policy will change.) There has been a great deal of carping by Street economists that because Powell is not a PhD economist himself, he cannot adequately deliver the message. But I disagree. Instead, I would argue the reason there has been difficulty in articulating the Fed’s stance is that they don’t really know what to do. The current situation is unprecedented historically, between the size of the balance sheet and the level of interest rates relative to the growth trajectory of the economy. They have already had to change the way they manage interest rates, no longer adjusting balances in the market and instead paying interest on excess reserves. The upshot of that change is that there is no history for them to examine regarding potential outcomes. At the same time, to a wo(man), every Fed member is adamant that because Treasuries have behaved well, the balance sheet rundown is not having any impact on markets at all. To which I ask, if it’s not having an impact, why did they do it in the first place? Clearly the Fed thought that QE was going to help support the economy by supporting the stock market (you remember, the Portfolio Balance Channel). So how can they seriously believe that if the implementation of QE was stimulative, its reduction would not reverse that stimulus? It is arguments like this that frustrate investors and help chip away at the Fed’s credibility.

As to the markets today, the dollar is pretty well behaved, having stabilized after pretty substantial weakness on Friday. Other than the pound mentioned above, not much significant movement has been observed. Equity markets are softer around the world and US futures are pointing in the same direction. Treasury yields have not moved from Friday, and oil prices are slipping slightly. It is hard to characterize the market as anything other than confused.

On the data front, although the government shutdown has ended, all the data has not been collected, let alone collated, so I expect that we will start to see things during the week. Of course, Friday brings the payroll report, and that seems set to be released. There is nothing of note scheduled today, so I will wait to list things until tomorrow when there is more certainty as to what is coming and when. So, for today, there seems little reason for the dollar to do much unless something really negative occurs in equities. That’s not my base case, but you never know, especially as there are key earnings releases later this week (Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet) and any rumors could drive things. But overall, I expect a quiet session today.

Good luck
Adf

A Terrible Sight

Posted on by

The data from China last night
Described their economy’s plight
With trade talks ongoing
Their growth is still slowing.
For Xi, it’s a terrible sight

While the Martin Luther King holiday in the US will close markets and keep things quiet here, the rest of the world continues to be active. Equity markets in Europe are weak on the back of disappointing data from China. In fact, that has been the story of the day. Chinese GDP in Q4 was reported at 6.4% higher than Q4 2018, its slowest pace of growth since the financial crisis in 2009. And when considered on an annual basis, the 6.6% growth in calendar 2018 was the slowest pace of growth since 1990. Retail Sales and Industrial Production also continued their long-term downtrends, with no sign that things are set to reverse anytime soon. While the trade situation with the US is clearly weighing on the Chinese economy, they are also reaping the ‘benefits’ of the decades of increased leverage needed to achieve previous growth targets. The telling statistic I’ve seen is that ten years ago, one dollar of leverage bought $0.80 worth of additional growth. Today that number is ~$0.15 of additional growth for each new dollar of leverage. That is not the recipe for long term success!

In the meantime, despite the comments on Friday about China proposing a path to reduce the US trade deficit to zero over six years, it seems that substantive talks on protecting IP and preventing its forced transfer to local Chinese partners have gone nowhere. (In addition, the idea that reducing that trade deficit to zero would be net beneficial is not actually clear. (This article by Mike Ashton, @inflation_guy (https://mikeashton.wordpress.com/author/mikeashton/)  does an excellent job of describing potential outcomes.) At any rate, Friday’s good vibes are not nearly as apparent this morning.

Of course, the other storyline that has been nonstop is Brexit, with today the deadline for PM May to put forth her Plan B. It remains unclear as to what she can actually change to get Parliament to agree, but she will try for something. An interesting analysis I saw this weekend actually made the case that the risk of a no-deal Brexit was actually vanishingly small. The idea is that Parliament will vote to make that outcome illegal, meaning the government cannot accept that as an outcome. (Remember, Parliament and the government are not the same institution, similar to our legislative and executive branches in the US.) The alternatives are to delay the deadline in order to get a new referendum put together, or to unilaterally decide not to leave. The problem I have with that idea is that it seems a bit like Parliament declaring that recessions are illegal. As much as they would like to avoid having them, it is not clear they control the situation. Certainly, the FX market is coming around to that view as the pound has been rallying for five weeks (although there was virtually no movement overnight), but it seems to me that there is still a significant risk of a no-deal outcome, which given the recent rally, will almost certainly result in a sharp fall in the pound.

Away from those two stories, things remain remarkably dull in the FX world. The ongoing government shutdown in the US has had limited impact (arguably just that some data has not been released), while within the Eurozone, data continues to ebb and the political will to make changes of substance remains absent. Japan remains in stasis and there is virtually no possibility, in my view, that either the ECB or the BOJ tightens policy at all in 2019. In fact, I continue to believe that they will both seek to ease further at the margins.

What about the emerging market you may ask? Again, the story remains one of limited new news, at least news that is sufficient to drive market movement. Overall, investors and traders are wedded to the big picture stories like trade and Brexit, and we continue to see broad based moves accordingly.

The data story this week is unimpressive (largely due to the shutdown) with just two data points coming, tomorrow’s Existing Home Sales (exp 5.24M) and Thursday’s Initial Claims (218K). With the Fed meeting next week, they are now in their quiet period so there are no speakers on the docket. Arguably, the ECB meeting on Thursday is the biggest FX news of the week, but there is no expectation for anything new. I imagine the press conference will focus on the previous comments about tightening later this year in the context of the ongoing economic slowdown there, but we have a few days before we have to worry about that. In the end, the dollar is modestly higher this morning, but I expect it to see very limited movement in the holiday market.

Good luck
Adf

 

Little Trust

Posted on by

Investors and traders believe
The trade talks will shortly achieve
Solutions robust
Despite little trust
Since both sides are known to deceive

Risk is definitely back on this morning as equity markets around the world continue their recent rebound, Treasury and bund prices slide, and commodities climb higher. As to the dollar, it is modestly softer, except against the yen, which is the worst performer in the G10 today.

The primary driver of these moves remains the US-China trade talks, which seem to be going pretty well. If you recall, Monday, Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He made an appearance to demonstrate the importance of the talks to both sides’ negotiators, and the fact that they were extended an extra day, only ending today in Beijing, implies that positive momentum was building and neither side wanted to give that up. While the first reports are that there are still some areas of wide disagreement, there seems to be no doubt that progress has been made.

In addition to the trade story, the market continues to hear soothing words from various Fed speakers regarding the pace of further potential rate hikes. Yesterday, St. Louis Fed President Bullard was quite clear that he thought there was no reason to raise rates further at this time given the lack of measured inflation, although he remains comfortable with the continuing unwinding of the balance sheet. And Bullard is a voter this year, so market participants tend to give voters just a little more credence in their comments. Later this afternoon the Fed will release the Minutes of their December meeting, although I don’t expect them to be that useful. You may recall that it was that meeting’s statement and the ensuing press conference that kicked off the last leg of the equity market rout. Investors kept seeing signs of slowing growth while the Fed seemed oblivious, especially to activity elsewhere in the world. In fact, it was that meeting that convinced many (myself included) that the Fed was no longer in the put writing business.

How wrong we all were on that score. We have heard from a half dozen Fed speakers in the past two weeks, including some of the most hawkish (Mester), and to a (wo)man they all indicated that there was no urgency to raise rates, with some, like Bullard, questioning if there was even a need to do so at all. Clearly, the market has become far more comfortable that the Fed is not out to destroy the equity market, and recent price action is the result of that change of view. Given the change of tone since the meeting, it seems unlikely to me that the Minutes will teach us very much about the current state of Fed thinking. Instead, we still have another eight Fed speeches (including another Powell speech) between today and Friday, which will give us all much better information than three-week old data.

Other news of note includes the announcement overnight by the PBOC that they would be instituting a new bank lending program, the Medium Term Lending Facility (MTLF) which is designed to offer cheap bank funding for loans to SME’s without overly expanding the liquidity in the market. Remember, the Chinese are still trying to wring excess leverage out of some sectors of the economy, but are also feeling the effects of overall slowing economic growth so feel the need to address that. These loans appear quite similar to the ECB’s TLTRO’s, which were deemed a big success when they were being issued. Of course, the key concern there is now that those loans are coming up to maturity, banks need to replace that funding and that is not so easy in a market where global liquidity is drying up. Will the same thing happen in China? Quite possibly. My observation on extraordinary monetary policy is that it has proven much harder to remove than to implement.

At any rate, the market was cheered by that news, as well as the trade talks, and the renminbi continues to behave quite well, actually rallying a further 0.2% this morning. I still foresee a weaker currency over time, but thus far, the PBOC has prevented any substantive movement.

Brexit continues to fester in the background with PM May losing another vote in Parliament. This new bill now prevents Her Majesty’s Treasury from adjusting tax rates in the event of a no-deal Brexit. And yet, there is no indication that the deal on the table is going to pass, so it remains unclear just how that will work. Given the magnitude of the issue, waiting to the 11th hour to achieve agreement may be the only way to get it done. And so, I continue to expect a very late acceptance of the deal, although it is by no means clear that will be the case. One other noteworthy Brexit item is the potential impact it will have on Japanese companies, who have used the UK as their beachhead into the EU. PM Abe will be visiting PM May tomorrow to make sure she understands how important a trade deal is to those Japanese firms, and how important those Japanese firms are to the UK economy.

And otherwise, the currency market remains fairly dull for right now. Even EMG currencies are only showing modest movement overall, albeit generally stronger today. The thing is, market participants are so focused on the major issues, and by extension the major currencies, that there has been reduced activity elsewhere. As long as risk appetite remains robust, the dollar should remain under pressure along with the yen. And for today, that seems like the best bet.

Good luck
Adf