Tag Archives: #UK

Just How He Feels

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On Wednesday the Chairman reveals
To all of us, just how he feels
If dovish expect
Bulls to genuflect
If hawkish, prepare for some squeals

This is an early note as I will be in transit during my normal time tomorrow.

On Friday, the dollar continued its early morning rebound and was generally firmer all day long. The worst performer was the British pound, which fell more than 1.0% after Friday’s note was sent. It seems that the Brexit story is seen as increasingly tendentious, and much of the optimism that we had seen develop during the past three weeks has dissipated. While the pound remains above its lowest levels from earlier in the month, it certainly appears that those levels, and lower ones, are within reach if there is not some new, positive news on the topic. This appears to be an enormous game of chicken, and at this point, it is not clear who is going to blink first. But every indication is that the pound’s value will remain closely tied to the perceptions of movement on a daily basis. Hedgers need to be vigilant in maintaining appropriate hedge levels as one cannot rule out a significant move in either direction depending on the next piece of news.

But away from the pound, the story was much more about lightening positions ahead of the weekend, and arguably ahead of this week’s FOMC meeting. The pattern from earlier in the week; a weaker dollar along with higher equity prices around the world and higher government bond yields, was reversed in a modest way. US equity markets closed slightly softer, the dollar, net, edged higher, and 10-year Treasury yields fell 2bps.

The big question remains was the dollar’s recent weakness simply a small correction that led to the other market moves, or are we at the beginning of a new, more significant trend of dollar weakness? And there is no easy answer to that one.

Looking ahead to this week shows the following data will be released:

Tuesday Case-Shiller House Prices 6.2%
  Consumer Confidence 312.2
Wednesday New Home Sales 630K
  FOMC Decision 2.25%
Thursday Initial Claims 208K
  Goods Trade Balance -$70.6B
  Q2 GDP 4.2%
Friday PCE 0.2% (2.3% Y/Y)
  Core PCE 0.1% (2.0% Y/Y)
  Personal Income 0.4%
  Personal Spending 0.3%
  Chicago PMI 62.5
  Michigan Sentiment 100.8

So clearly, the FOMC is the big issue. It is universally expected that they will raise the Fed funds rate by 25bps to 2.25%. The real question will be with the dot plot, and the analysis as to whether the sentiment in the room is getting even more hawkish, or if the CPI data from two weeks ago was enough to take some of the edge off their collective thinking, and perhaps even change the median expectations of the path of rate hikes. I can virtually guarantee you that if the dot plot shows a lower median, even if it is because of a change by just one FOMC member, equity markets will explode higher around the world, the dollar will fall and government bond yields will rise. However, my own view is that the data since we have last heard from any Fed speaker has not been nearly soft enough to consider changing one’s view. Instead, I expect a neutral to hawkish statement, and a little pressure on equities.

But the big picture narrative does seem to be starting to change, and so any dollar benefit is likely to be short lived. Be ready to hear a great deal more about the structural deficits and how that will force the dollar lower. One last thing, tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports go into effect on Monday, which will only serve to add upward pressure to inflation data, and ultimately keep the FOMC quite vigilant. I remain committed to the idea that the cyclical factors will regain their preeminence, but it just may take a few weeks or months for that to be apparent. In the meantime, look for the dollar to slowly slide lower.

Good luck
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A Terrible Day

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The UK’s Prime Minister May
Last night had a terrible day
Her plans for a deal
Were seen as unreal
As hawks in the EU held sway

But elsewhere the market’s embraced
The concept that fear was misplaced
Instead, stocks they’re buying
And so, fortifying
The idea, for risk, they have taste

Arguably, the key headline this morning was the extremely poor reception British PM May received from her 27 dinner companions at the EU dinner last night. She continues to proffer the so-called Chequers deal (named for the PM’s summer residence where the deal was agreed amongst Tory members several weeks ago), which essentially says the UK will toe the EU line when it comes to manufactured and agricultural goods, but wants a free hand in services and immigration. French President Macron was quick to dismiss the notion as he remains adamant that leaving the EU should be seen as a disaster, lest any other nations (Italy are you watching?) consider the idea. At any rate, while the pound had been rallying for the past week, reaching its highest level since early July, that all came a cropper last night. The growing hope that a Brexit deal would be found has been shattered, at least for now, and it should be no surprise that the pound has suffered for it. This morning, it is leading the way lower, having fallen 0.6% from yesterday’s closing levels.

However, while the dollar is modestly firmer this morning across the board, my strong dollar thesis is being severely tested of late. We have seen the dollar fall broadly all week despite the resumption of the march higher in US yields. Or is it because of that movement that the dollar is falling? Let’s consider the alternatives.

Several months ago I wrote about the conflicting cyclical and structural aspects of the market that were impacting the dollar’s value. The cyclical factors were US growth outpacing the rest of the world and the Fed tightening monetary policy faster than any other central bank. This combination led to higher US rates and a better investment environment in the US than elsewhere, and consequently, an increase in dollar buying for global investors to take advantage of the opportunities. Thus higher short-term interest rates led to a higher US dollar, along with a flatter yield curve.

On the other hand, the structural questions that hang over the US economy consist of the impact of late cycle fiscal stimulus in the form of both tax cuts and increased spending. The fact that this was occurring at the same time the Fed was reducing the size of its balance sheet meant that at some point, it seemed likely that increased Treasury supply would find decreased demand. The growing budget and current account deficits would in turn pressure the dollar lower while the excess Treasury supply would push long-term yields higher ending up with a weaker dollar and a steeper yield curve.

Starting in April, it became clear that the cyclical story was the primary market driver, with strong US growth pushing up short-term rates as well as US corporate earnings. Investors flocked to the US to take advantage with the dollar rallying sharply while US equity markets significantly outperformed their foreign counterparts. This was especially notable in the EMG space, where a decade of QE had forced funds to the highest yielding assets they could find, which happened to be those EMG markets. But now that there was an alternative, those funds were quick to return to the US, driving EMG equity markets lower and hammering those currencies as well. There was also a great deal of concern that if the divergence in markets continued, it could result in much more significant losses elsewhere that would eventually come back to haunt US markets.

But a funny thing happened last week, US CPI printed lower than expected. Now you might not think that a 0.1% miss on a number would be that important, but essentially what that signaled to markets was that the Fed would be more likely to ease back on the pace of tightening, thereby slowing the rise in the short-term interest rate structure. It also indicated that US growth may not be as robust as had been previously thought, and therefore, opportunities here, while still excellent, needed to be weighed against what was going on elsewhere in the world. At the same time, elsewhere in the world we have seen continued central bank rhetoric about removing policy accommodation, with ECB President Draghi’s press conference seen as mildly hawkish, while the BOJ seems to be in stealth taper mode. We have also seen the trade situation get pushed to the back of the collective market’s mind as the US imposed a lower tariff rate than expected on Chinese goods, and has not yet moved forward on any other tariffs.

But wait, there’s more!, after four months of selling off, EMG assets have suddenly started to look like they represent a ‘value’ play, with the first buyers tentatively dipping their toes back into those markets. And finally, remember that the speculative long dollar position has been building for months and reaching near record levels. Adding it all up leads to the following conclusion: there is room for the dollar to continue this decline in the medium term. Continued fund movement into EMG markets combined with the reduction of the long dollar positions will be more than sufficient to continue to drive the dollar lower.

That combination is what has taken place this week, and despite the break today, it seems quite viable that we will continue to see this pattern for a bit longer. In the end, I don’t think that the market will completely ignore the cyclical dollar prospects, but for now, the broad structural story is holding sway. Add to this the idea that market technicians are going to get excited about selling dollars because it has reached levels below the 50-day and 100-day moving averages, and thus is ‘breaking out lower’, and we could be in for a couple of months of dollar weakness. If this is true, while individual currencies could still underperform, like the pound if the Brexit situation collapses, it is entirely possible that Chairman Powell could find himself in the best position he could imagine, continuing to remove policy ease while the dollar falls, thus ameliorating the President’s concerns. But it’s not clear to me that is such a good thing overall. We shall see.

Good luck and good weekend
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Money More Dear

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Next week, though it’s certainly clear
The Fed will price money more dear
The dollar’s incurred
Some selling and spurred
More weakness than seen since last year

The dollar remains under pressure this morning with a number of stories having a separate, but a cumulative impact on the buck. For example, overnight we learned that New Zealand’s GDP grew 1.0% in Q2, higher than the expected 0.7% outcome, and sufficient to get investors and traders to consider that the RBNZ, which just last month promised to maintain record low interest rates until at least 2020, may wind up raising rates sooner than that. A surprise of this nature usually leads to currency strength and so it is this morning with NZD higher by 0.8%.

Or consider the UK, where Retail Sales data surprised one and all by rising 0.3% in August (3.3% Y/Y), a much better performance than expected. This was enough to overcome the ongoing Brexit malaise and drive the pound higher by 0.7% and back to its highest level in two months. In truth, this is somewhat surprising given the quite disappointing outcome from the EU meeting Wednesday night in Brussels. Rather than more positive remarks about the viability of a deal being completed, we heard more of the hard-core negativity from the French and Irish, basically saying if the UK doesn’t cave, then there will be no deal. This is certainly not a welcome outcome, especially since there are only 190 days until Brexit will occur, deal or no. Meanwhile, PM May continues to fight a rearguard action against the avid pro-Brexiters in her party in order to retain her position.

Logically, I look at the situation and believe there is no real chance of a satisfactory deal being agreed on time. Frankly, the Irish border issue is intractable in my view. But given that this is entirely about politics, and the Europeans and British are both famous for kicking the can down the road, I suspect that something along the lines of a pure fudge, with neither side agreeing anything, will be achieved in order to prevent a complete disaster. However, there is a very real probability that the UK will simply leave the EU with no deal of any sort, and if that is the case, the initial market reaction will be for a sharp sell-off in the pound.

Interestingly, despite the fact that the little Eurozone data released was on the soft side, the euro has managed to continue its recent rally and is higher by 0.4% as I type. This seems more of a piece with the general dollar weakness that we have witnessed the past two sessions than anything else.

Another potential conundrum is US interest rates, where 10-year Treasury yields jumped to 3.08% yesterday, their highest level since early May, and now gathering momentum for the breakout that many pundits have been expecting for a while. Remember, short Treasury futures are one of the largest positions in the market. This thought process has been led by two concurrent features; the Fed continues to raise short term rates while the Treasury, due to increased fiscal policy stimulus and a growing budget deficit, will be forced to increase the amount of debt issued. When this is wrapped up with the fact that the Fed is reducing the size of its balance sheet, thus removing the one true price-insensitive bid from the market, it seemed a recipe for much higher 10-year yields. The fact that we remain at 3.08% nine months into the year is quite surprising, at least to me. But it is entirely possible that we see a much more aggressive sell-off in Treasuries going forward, especially if the Fed tweaks their message next week to one that is more hawkish.

In this context, let me give a concrete example of just how important the central bank message really is. This morning, Norgesbank raised interest rates in Norway by 25bps, as was universally expected. This was the first time in 7 years they raised rates, and are doing so because the economy there is expanding rapidly while inflation moves closer to their target. But in their policy discussion, they reduced the forecast pace of future interest rate hikes, surprising everyone, and the result was a sharp decline in NOK. Versus the euro it fell more than 1%, which translated into a 0.7% decline vs. the dollar. The point is the market is highly focused on the policy statements as well as the actual moves.

This is equally true, if not more so, with regard to the Fed. Current expectations are that the Fed will raise rates 25bps next week and another 25bps in December. Where things get cloudier is what next year will look like, and how fast they will continue to tighten policy. It is for this reason that next week’s meeting is so widely anticipated, because the Fed will release its updated dot plot, the effective forecasts of each Fed member as to where Fed funds will be at various points in the future. If the dot plot implies higher rates than the last iteration in June, you can expect the dollar to benefit from the outcome. Any implication of a slower pace of rate hikes will certainly undermine the dollar.

In the end, the mixture of new information has been sufficient to push the dollar lower by 0.3% when looking at the broad dollar index. Interestingly, despite its recent weakness, it remains within the trading range that has defined its movement since it stopped appreciating in April. Frankly, I expect this range trading to continue unless the Fed significantly changes its tune.

This morning brings a bit more data with Initial Claims (exp 210K) and Philly Fed (17.0) due at 8:30 while Existing Home Sales (5.35M) are released at 10:00. Yesterday’s housing data was mixed with New Home Sales rising more than expected, but Building Permits plunging. And remember that both of those data points tend to have a great deal of volatility. With that in mind, looking at the longer term trend shows that while Housing Starts seem to be rebounding from a bad spot, the trend in Permits is clearly downward, which doesn’t speak well for the housing market in the medium term.

In the end, as I wrote yesterday, continued modest dollar weakness seems the most likely outcome for now, but I suspect that we are coming to the end of this soft patch, and that the dollar will find its legs soon. I remain confused as to why there is so much bullishness attached to the Eurozone economy given the data continues to underperform. And there is no indication that the ECB is going to suddenly turn truly hawkish. Current levels strike me as attractive for dollar buyers.

Good luck
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Rate Hikes to Condone

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Today’s UK data has shown
The pace of price rises has grown
Surprising most folks
And likely to coax
Mark Carney, rate hikes to condone

The British pound is outperforming today, currently up 0.35%, as the market responds to a higher than expected inflation reading released this morning. CPI printed at 2.7%, well above the 2.4% consensus view and perhaps signaling that UK inflation, after a summer reprieve, is set to return to its post-Brexit peak of 3.1%. This has traders increasing their estimates of rate activity by the BOE, starting to price in tighter policy despite the ongoing uncertainty created by Brexit. As such, it should not be too surprising that the pound is firmer.

But the pound is by no means alone in its performance characteristics this morning, with the dollar weaker against virtually all comers. In fact, only two of the G10 bloc has suffered today, CHF (-0.45%) and JPY (-0.1%), the two haven currencies. The implication is that risk-taking is back. Certainly equity markets have been holding up their end of that bargain, with US markets strong performance yesterday feeding into strength throughout most of APAC last night led by Shanghai’s 1.1% gains and the Nikkei’s 1.0% rally. European shares, however, have seen a less positive reaction, as they are up at the margin, but only a few basis points, with some markets, notably Italy, actually suffering. (Italy, however, is feeling the effects of the imminent budget deadline with no cogent plan in place and significant differences between the government’s election promises and the fiscal restraint imposed by the EU.) But the other haven asset of note, US Treasuries, has also sold off, with the 10-year yield now trading at 3.05%, its highest level since late May. All told, despite the ongoing trade tensions, it seems that market participants are increasingly comfortable adding to their risk profiles.

More proof of this concept comes from the huge leveraged debt financing completed yesterday by Blackstone Group, where they borrowed $13.5 billion to purchase 55% of a Thompson-Reuters data company called Refinitiv (who comes up with these names?) At any rate, despite ratings of B- by S&P and Caa2 by Moody’s, and a leverage ratio of between 7x and 8x of EBITDA, the deal was massively oversubscribed with yields printing at, for example, 8.25% for 8-year unsecured notes, down from an initial expectation of 9.00%. High leverage, covenant lite debt is all the rage again. What could possibly go wrong?

But I digress. Back in the currency world, the dollar’s weakness has manifested itself in the EMG bloc as well as G10. For example, despite a softer than expected inflation reading from South Africa, where the headline fell to 4.9% while core fell to 4.2%, the rand is firmer by 1.8% this morning. The story here is confusing as some pundits believe that the central bank may be forced to raise rates in order to help protect the rand, which despite today’s rally is still lower by 10% this year. We have seen this type of behavior from Russia, India and Indonesia, three nations where domestic concerns have been outweighed by their currency’s weakness. However, there is a large contingent that believe the SARB will stay on the sidelines as they seek to encourage growth ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for the middle of next year.

It is not just the rand, however, that is showing strength today, but a broad spectrum of EMG currencies. These include MXN (+0.35%), INR (+0.45%), TRY (+1.5%), RUB (+0.5%) and HUF (+0.25%); as wide a cross-section as we are likely to see. In other words, this has much more to do with broad trends than specific data or stories. And with that in mind, it is hard to fight the tape.

It has become increasingly clear that most markets have made peace with the idea that the trade situation is not going to improve in the short run. Next week the US will impose 10% tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports and the administration is already preparing its list for an additional $267 billion of goods to be taxed. No economist believes that this will enhance the pace of growth; rather the universal assumption is that global growth will slow amid this process. And yet investors and traders have simply decided to ignore this outcome, with a large contingent explicitly declaring that they believe these are simply negotiating tactics and that there will be no long-term impact. While I hope they are correct, I fear this is not the case, and that instead, we are going to see this process carry on for an extended period of time, driving up prices and inflation and forcing the Fed to tighten policy more than currently priced by markets. If I am correct, then the likelihood of a significant repricing of risk is quite large. But again, that is only if I am correct.

As to today’s session, we see our first real data of the week with Housing Starts (exp 1.23M) and Building Permits (1.31M) as well as the reading on the Current Account (-$103.5B). But with risk-on today’s theme, these data would have to be drastically weak, sub 1.0M, to have an impact. Instead, it appears that the dollar will remain under pressure today, and perhaps through the rest of the week into next as the market awaits the Fed rate hike next week, and more importantly the statement describing their future views. Until then, this seems to be the theme.

Good luck
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Opted To Stay

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The BOE banker named Mark
Whose bite pales compared to his bark
Has opted to stay
To help PM May
Get through a time sure to be stark

It has been a relatively docile FX market in the overnight session with traders awaiting new information on which to take positions. With that in mind, arguably the most interesting news has been that BOE Governor, Mark Carney, has agreed to extend his term in office for a second time, establishing a new exit date of January 2020. This is a relief to Chancellor Phillip Hammond, who really didn’t want to have a new Governor during what could turn out to be a very turbulent time immediately in the wake of the actuality of Brexit, which occurs on March 31, 2019. This is actually Carney’s second extension of his term, as he agreed to extend it originally by one year in the immediate wake of the Brexit vote in 2016. The market response was positive, with the pound bouncing about 0.5% upon the news, but just around 7:00am, it has started to cede those gains and is now actually down 0.3% on the session.

Away from the Carney news, there is precious little new to discuss. Eurozone data was generally softer than expected with IP there falling a worse than expected -0.8% in July. This resulted in the Y/Y figure actually turning negative as well, indicating that growth on the Continent is starting to suffer. In fact, there is another story that explains the ECB economists (not the governing council) have lowered their growth forecasts for the Eurozone during the next three years on the basis of increased trade frictions, emerging market malaise and higher US interest rates driving the global cycle. It will be interesting to see how Signor Draghi handles this news, and whether it will force the council to rethink their current plan to reduce QE starting next month and ending it in December. We will get to find out his thoughts tomorrow morning at the 8:30am press conference following their meeting. If pressed, I would expect that Draghi will be reluctant to change policy, but the increasing dangers to the economy, especially those posed by the escalating trade tensions between the US and China, will be front and center in the discussion. In the end, the euro has fallen slightly on the day, down 0.2%.

Otherwise, it is hard to get overly excited about the market this morning. Emerging market currencies are having a mixed session with INR rebounding, finally, after indications that the RBI is going to address the ongoing rupee weakness with tighter policy and perhaps increased market intervention. TRY is firmer by about 0.9% this morning as the market awaits tomorrow’s central bank news. Current market expectations are for a 300bp rate hike to address both the weakening currency and sharply rising inflation. However, we cannot forget President Erdogan’s distaste for higher interest rates as well as his control over the economy. In fact, this morning he fired the entire governing board of the Turkish sovereign wealth fund and installed himself as Chairman. I am skeptical that the Bank of Turkey raises rates anywhere near as much as the market anticipates. Meanwhile, yesterday saw the Brazilian real fall 1.6% as the presidential election polls show that the left wing candidates are gaining ground on Jair Bolsonaro, the market favorite. Given the virtual certainty there will be a second round vote, and the fact that Bolsonaro, who leads the polls right now, is shown by every poll to lose in the second round, it seems the market is coming to grips with the idea that the politics in Brazil are going to move away from investor friendliness into a more populist scenario. I fear the real may have quite a bit further to fall over time. 5.00 anyone?

Beyond these stories, nothing else is really noteworthy. Looking ahead to today’s US data shows that PPI will be released at 8:30 with the headline number expected at +0.2%, 3.2% Y/Y, and the core +0.2%, 2.7% Y/Y. We hear from two Fed speakers, uberdove Bullard and dovish leaning Brainerd, and then at 2:00pm comes the Fed’s Beige Book.

In the end, the dollar remains strongly linked to Fed policy, and there is no evidence that Fed policy is going to change from its current trajectory. In fact, if anything, it seems more likely that policy tightening quickens rather than slows. Consider the fact that the mooted tariffs of $200 billion of Chinese goods will impact a significant portion of consumer products, and if tariffs on an additional $267 billion are in play, then virtually everything that comes from China will be higher in price. I assure you that inflation will be higher in that event, and that the Fed will be forced to raise rates even more aggressively if that is the case. My point is that the dollar is still going to be the big beneficiary of this process, and my view that it will continue to strengthen remains intact.

Good luck
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Realistic

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As far as the market’s concerned
The mood out of Brussels has turned
They’re quite optimistic
A deal is “realistic”
By early November, we’ve learned

Michel Barnier, the EU negotiator for Brexit has lately changed his tune. Last month, ostensibly at the direction of his political masters, he was playing hardball, shooting down every UK proposal as inadequate and saying there was no negotiating room on the EU’s positions. Not surprisingly, the pound came under pressure during this period, trading to its lowest level in more than a year and approaching the post-vote lows. But a funny thing happened during the past week, Europe suddenly figured out they didn’t really want a no-deal Brexit. The first inkling came from comments by German officials who indicated that compromises were available. That changed the tone of the negotiations and suddenly, as I mentioned last week, it seemed that a deal was more likely. Those comments last week helped the pound rally more than 1%. Then yesterday morning Barnier explained that a deal is both “realistic” and “possible” within 6-8 weeks. It should be no surprise that the pound rallied yet again on the news, jumping another 1% during the US session and maintaining those gains ever since.

Regular readers will know that I have been quite bearish on the pound for two reasons; first is the fact that I continue to see the dollar strengthening over the medium term as the Fed’s tighter monetary policy leads all developed nations and will continue to do so. But the other reason was that I have been quite skeptical that a Brexit deal would be agreed and that the initial concern over damage to the UK economy would undermine the currency. However, this change in tone by the EU over Brexit is almost certainly going to have a significant positive impact on the pound’s value vs. both the euro and the dollar. And even though any deal is likely to be short on details, I expect that we will see the pound outperform the euro for the next several months at least. So any dollar strength will be less reflected vs. the pound than the euro, while any dollar weakness should see the pound as the top performer. The thing is, the details of the deal still matter a great deal, and at some point in the future, the UK and the EU are going to need to figure out how they are going to deal with the Irish border situation, even if they have kicked that particular can further down the road for now.

While on the topic of the UK, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the employment situation there remains robust. Unemployment data was released this morning showing the Unemployment Rate remained at 4.0%, the lowest level since 1975, while wage growth accelerated to 2.9%. The latter potentially presages further inflation, as measured productivity in the UK remains quite soft at 1.5% per annum. If this continues, higher wages amid low productivity, the BOE may find itself forced to raise rates regardless of the Brexit situation. Yet another positive for the beleaguered pound. Perhaps the bottom is in after all.

However, away from yesterday’s news on the pound, the FX markets have been quite uninteresting in the past twenty-four hours. Arguably, the dollar is a touch stronger, but the movement has been minute. Even the emerging market bloc has been less active with perhaps the most notable feature the fact that INR continues to trade to new historic lows (dollar highs) every day. As to the group of currencies that has led the turmoil, TRY, ARS and ZAR, all of them are slightly firmer this morning as they continue to consolidate their losses over the past month. In addition, we hear from the central banks of both Argentina (today) and Turkey (tomorrow), with more attention focused on the latter than the former. Recall that Argentine interest rates are already the world’s highest at 60% and no move is anticipated. However, Turkey’s meeting is anxiously awaited as the market is looking for a 300bp rate hike to help stem rising inflation and the currency’s weakness. The problem is that Turkish President Erdogan has been quite adamant that he is strongly against higher interest rates and given his apparent control over the central bank, it is by no means assured that they will act according to the market’s expectations. Be prepared for another leg lower in the lira if the Bank of Turkey disappoints.

As to today’s session, the NFIB Small Business Index was released at 108.8, stronger than expected and a new record high for the release. Despite the trade concerns and the political circus in Washington, small businesses have never been more confident in their future. I will admit that this almost seems like whistling past the graveyard, but for now everything is great. Later this morning we see the JOLTs Job report (exp 6.68M), which should simply reconfirm that the employment situation in the US remains robust.

And that’s really it for today. Equity futures are flat although the 10-year Treasury is continuing its recent trend lower (higher yields), albeit at a slow rate. There is certainly no evidence that the Fed is going to change its path, but for today, it seems unlikely that we will see much movement in either direction beyond what has already occurred. Barring, of course, any surprising new comments.

Good luck
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Their Canard

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At last both the Germans and Brits
Realized, nations both, would take hits
If Brexit was hard
So now their canard
Is claiming, details, they’ll omit

The tone of the market changed early yesterday afternoon when a story hit the tape about Brexit indicating that both sides had moved closer to finding an agreement. While some might say this is simply a muddle-through effort (and I would be one of those) the facts seem to be that both sides are willing to move forward with far less specificity than had previously been demanded. In a nutshell, the prior stance had called for a Brexit agreement that was explicit as to the solutions for things like the Irish border issue when the UK leaves the EU. In essence, while both sides agree a transition period is necessary, the EU especially, was demanding to know the details of how things would eventually fall out. Of course, the UK couldn’t discuss those given the amount of internal dissention amongst the May government on the issue. But now, the Germans have said that those details could wait until after the March 2019 exit, and that the future trade agreement can be negotiated in more detail then. This opens the door for a more wishy-washy Brexit agreement, which is likely the only type that can be approved by both the UK Parliament and the EU’s 28 other members.

The market impact was immediate with the pound gapping higher by 1% when the story was released, and although it has given back a portion of those gains, it remains higher overall today. The euro, too, jumped at the same time, albeit not quite as far, with an immediate bump of 0.5%, most of which it has retained. The real question, though, seems to be; is this a temporary situation, or has there been a fundamental change in the FX market?

Certainly there is a valid argument that a positive turn in the Brexit negotiations should lead to further pound strength. After all, while the dollar has appreciated a solid 6% against a basket of currencies since April, the pound has fallen more than 10% over that time. It is not unreasonable to assume that the difference is attributable to the steadily deteriorating views on a positive Brexit outcome. If the Brexit situation becomes less fraught, then a rebound in the pound would be a natural outcome. While one day does not make a trend, we will watch this closely going forward.

But aside from the news on Brexit, the main theme in the markets continues to be the ongoing meltdown in EMG currency and equity markets. Yesterday saw some of the worst behavior we have witnessed in this move, and the term contagion was bandied about in many analyses. This morning, things have settled down a bit, and actually we are seeing several of the worst hit currencies claw back a small portion of recent losses. For example, ZAR, which had fallen nearly 6.0% yesterday, is higher by 0.75% this morning. MXN, which lost 2.5% yesterday at its worst, has since regained about half of that with 0.5% coming this morning. Meanwhile, both TRY and ARS, the leaders of the pack when it comes to collapsing currencies, are both higher by a bit over 1% this morning. Of course, relative to their 20+% declines in the past month, this is small beer. However, the point is that the market feels far more stable this morning than yesterday’s situation.

Despite this morning’s stability, though, the broader issues remain. I assure you that neither Turkey nor Argentina have solved their macroeconomic problems. Inflation remains rampant in both nations and will continue to do so for a while. India, Brazil and Indonesia still have large C/A deficits and the Fed has not yet changed its tune. They will raise rates by 25bps later this month, and the odds are still quite high they will do so again in December. This tells me that today’s price action is a breather as traders and investors prepare themselves for tomorrow’s payroll report. Remember, one of the things we learned from Powell’s Jackson Hole speech was that the Fed is closely watching the data and has concerns about an overheating economy. If tomorrow’s data shows higher than expected hourly earnings, or a dip to 3.7% Unemployment, those could well be the signals that add urgency to their tightening process.

Meanwhile, looking ahead to the rest of the US session, we get quite a bit of data as follows:

ADP Employment 190K
Initial Claims 214K
Nonfarm Productivity 3.0%
Unit Labor Costs -0.9%
Factory Orders -0.6%
ISM Non-Manufacturing 56.8

This week’s ISM data was very strong, and the Trade Deficit has blown out as US growth outpaces that of pretty much every other developed nation. So as far as the data story goes, there is no reason to believe that the Fed is going to pause in the near term, despite concerns over the shape of the yield curve. And given that stance, I remain a firm believer in the dollar’s potential. Until the Fed changes its tune, I see no reason to change mine.

Good luck
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Still No Solution

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On Wednesday it suddenly seemed
That Brexiteers might be redeemed
The EU’d just hinted
A deal could be printed
Like nothing initially dreamed

But subsequent comments made clear
No breakthrough was actually near
There’s still no solution
(Just feared retribution)
On solving the Irish frontier

Yesterday saw the British pound rocket around 10:00am when EU Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, hinted that there was a chance for a deal with the UK that was different than EU deals with its other near neighbors. The market heard this as the first real attempt at a compromise on the EU side, and so within minutes, the pound was 1.2% higher and back above 1.30 for the first time in almost a month. Certainly, if this is true, it marks a serious breakthrough in the talks and is quite positive. Everything we have heard from the UK so far is that they are willing to adhere to EU rules regarding the trade in goods, but are looking for a different deal in services. Prior to the Barnier comments, the EU had been firm in their stance that it was an all or none decision. Suddenly, it seemed like a deal could occur. On that basis, the pound’s rally certainly makes sense, as the prospects for a no-deal Brexit had lately been clearly weighing on the pound. Alas, subsequent comments by the EU have poured cold water on this thought process as Barnier has reiterated there is no ability to cherry-pick the preferred parts of EU policy. Interestingly, the pound has barely given back any of the gains it managed in the wake of the first statement, as it is actually down less than 0.1% as I type.

Given the data released earlier this morning, which was not all that positive (Consumer Credit declined more than expected, Mortgage Lending declined much more than expected and Mortgage Approvals fell more than expected) it seems hard to justify the ongoing strength of the pound. Two possible explanations are 1) the market had built up significant short positions in the pound and while yesterday’s sharp rally forced covering, nobody has looked to reinstate them yet, or 2) investors and traders continue to believe that the UK will get a special deal and so further weakness in the pound is not warranted. Occam’s Razor would suggest that the first explanation is the correct one, as the second one would seem to require magical thinking. And while there is plenty of magical thinking going around, financial markets are one place where it is difficult to retain those thoughts and survive. My gut tells me that once the Labor Day holiday has passed, we will see the pound start to sell off once again.

The other noteworthy story this morning is that there is even more stress in those emerging market currencies that have been feeling stressed during the past month. Today it is Argentina’s turn to lead the way lower, with the peso falling an impressive 7.5% after President Macri announced that he had asked the IMF to speed up disbursements of the $50 billion credit line. The market saw that as desperation, which is probably correct despite strenuous denials by the Argentine government. Meanwhile, the Turkish lira is down by 3.5% because…well just because. After all, nothing has changed there and until the central bank starts to focus monetary policy on solving the nation’s problems, TRY will continue to fall. Overnight we saw INR fall to a new historic low, down 0.4% and now pushing to 71.00, albeit not quite there yet. ZAR is under pressure this morning, down nearly 2% as its current account deficit situation is seen as a significant weight. And despite the positive of completing NAFTA negotiations with the US, MXN has fallen 0.5%. So while the dollar is generally little changed vs. its G10 counterparts, the stress in the EMG bloc remains palpable. Ultimately, I expect the dollar to resume its uptrend, but not until next week, after the holiday.

As to this morning’s data, after yesterday’s upward revision of Q2 GDP, all eyes are on the PCE data this morning. Expectations run as follows: Initial Claims (214K); Personal Income (0.3%); Personal Spending (0.4%); PCE (0.1%, 2.2% Y/Y); and Core PCE (0.2%, 2.0% Y/Y). Again, the biggest market reaction is likely to be caused by an unexpected outturn in Core PCE, which is the number most Fed members seem to regard as the key. A high print should support the dollar, as the implication will be the Fed may be forced to tighten more aggressively, while a low print should undermine the buck as traders back off on their estimates of how quickly the Fed acts. Remember, many traders and investors took Powell’s Jackson Hole speech as dovish, although I’m not so sure that is an accurate take.

At any rate, that pretty much sums up the day. I will be on vacation starting tomorrow and thus there will be no poetry until September 5th.

Thanks and have a good holiday weekend
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More Concerned

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More pressure has lately been felt
In China, despite Road and Belt
As growth there is slowing
And Xi Jinping’s knowing
He must change the cards he’s been dealt

So last night, the news that we learned
Was both sides have grown more concerned
Thus trade talks would start
While traders took heart
And short-sellers of yuan got burned

While the Turkey situation has not disappeared completely, the central bank there appears to be regaining some control over the lira through surreptitious rate hikes. Cagily, they have stopped offering one-week liquidity, which theoretically could be had for ‘just’ 17.75% and instead are forcing banks to fund at the more expensive overnight window. This amounts to an effective 300bp rate rise and has been a key reason, along with yesterday’s announced moves regarding short positions, as to why the Turkish lira has rebounded so sharply from its worst levels. This hasn’t changed the macroeconomic picture, nor can it address the ongoing political row between the US and Turkey, but it has been effective in cooling the ardor of traders to short the lira. We will continue to monitor the situation, but it appears, that for now, TRY will no longer be the primary topic in FX markets.

Which allows us to turn our attention to China, where last night it was announced that low level trade talks between the US and China would start later this month in Washington. That is clearly the best news we have heard on the trade front in months, and although the process for further tariffs continues apace in the US, and it seems highly likely that next weeks imposition of tariffs on $16 billion of Chinese goods would go ahead, traders took the news very positively. The FX response was to reverse the renminbi’s recent decline, which prior to the news had seen it trade above 6.95 and perilously close to the 7.00 level many analysts have targeted as critical in PBOC deliberations. But this morning, USDCNY has fallen 0.75%, quite a large move for the currency pair, as fears of further escalation in the trade war seem to have abated slightly. There is certainly no guarantee that these talks will amount to anything or bring about further discussions, let alone a solution, but for now, they have been extremely well received by markets. Not only did the yuan rally, but also the Shanghai Composite reversed its early weakness, having fallen 1.8% at the open, and closed lower by only 0.65%. Hong Kong shares, too, rebounded from early weakness to close only marginally lower. It is important to remember that one of the drivers of the Shanghai market had been much weaker than expected earnings from Tencent, the Chinese internet firm that owns WeChat, China’s answer to Facebook. But there is no question that the news about trade talks was a critical factor in the rebound.

With these two stories as the lead, it is not surprising that the dollar has ceded some of its recent gains and is a touch softer overall this morning. Other EMG currencies that had seen significant pressure like ZAR (+0.1%), MXN (+0.5%), and RUB (+0.3%) have at least stabilized, if not reversed course. Fear of contagion remains rampant amongst emerging market investors and I expect that they will only return to markets slowly. And of course, it is entirely possible that the measures taken by the various authorities will turn out to be insufficient to address what in many cases are structural problems, and the currency rout will resume. But for now, it feels like a modicum of calm has been restored.

Meanwhile, G10 currencies are also mildly firmer this morning, although the dollar remains near its recent highs. For example, while the euro is higher by 0.3%, it is still trading with a 1.13 handle. There has been very little Eurozone data to drive markets, but there have been several articles discussing the ongoing trauma in Italy and how concerns over the new government’s fiscal policies may still turn disastrous.

Looking toward the UK, Retail Sales data there was quite strong, rising 0.7% in July, well above expectations for a 0.2% rise. However, the benefit to the pound has been minimal, with it rising just 0.1% on the news. Brexit remains a huge cloud over the currency (and the economy) and every day there is no positive news means that there is that much less time to create a solution. You all know I foresee a hard Brexit, not so much on principle as much as because I fear the May government simply cannot decide how to proceed and is not strong enough to impose a decision.

The last noteworthy piece of news in this space comes from Oslo, where the Norgesbank left rates on hold, as expected, but also essentially cemented the idea that they will be raising rates in September, joining the growing list of countries that are beginning to remove the excess accommodation put in place as a response to the financial crisis. After all, the tenth anniversary of the Lehman bankruptcy, the time many hold as the starting point to the crisis, is coming up in less than a month!

This morning’s US data brings Housing Starts (exp 1.2M), Building Permits (1.28M), Initial Claims (217K) and Philly Fed (22). Yesterday’s data was pretty strong, with the Empire Mfg print higher than expected and productivity growth showing its highest outcome since Q1 2015. In all, there is nothing in the data that suggests the Fed is going to change its tune, and if the trade situation eases, it is even more likely the Fed remains steady. All in all, despite modest softness this morning, the dollar remains the best bet going forward.

Good luck
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Myriad Flaws

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The Turkish are starting to act
As dollars they try to attract
Restrictions imposed
Effectively closed
The method short-sellers had backed

But problems in Turkey remain
And although we’ve seen lira gain
The myriad flaws
In Turkey still cause
A major league capital drain

Much to my chagrin, I am forced to continue the discussion on the Turkish lira as it remains the driving force in FX conversations. Despite the fact that Turkey is a bit player on the world stage economically, the fear engendered by its recent policy actions and subsequent market gyrations continues to have spillover effects elsewhere around the world. The latest example is that the Indonesian central bank surprised most analysts last night and raised their policy rate by 25bps to 5.50% specifically to help fight further IDR weakness. The rupiah finds itself weaker by 1.2% this week, despite the rate hike, and nearly 5% since late June, which has included two rate hikes. Clearly, the market has evaluated the macroeconomic situation in Indonesia and sees too many similarities to Turkey, notably the significant amount of USD debt outstanding there. As long as the Fed continues to tighten policy, and there is no hint that they will be slowing down anytime soon, every emerging market with significant USD debt outstanding (besides Turkey and Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa and Argentina come to mind) will continue to see their currency under pressure.

The question of whether the Turkey situation is a harbinger of others remains the hottest topic in FX markets. Last night, the Bank of Turkey took a page from China’s activity book and attacked the forward FX market by reducing the limit on banks’ swap transactions to 25% of shareholder equity, down from the previous level of 50%. This had the effect of driving up short-term lira rates substantially, with the overnight rate touching 34.5%. It should be no surprise that the lira has continued yesterday’s rebound, rising a further 3% this morning, but that is well off the highs for the session, when it traded back below 6.00 briefly. The point is that despite not raising the base rate, the central bank there does have some tools to help address the situation, at least in the short term. However, there is very limited confidence that President Erdogan will allow the central bank the leeway deemed necessary to address the lira’s problems in the long run. This story is nowhere near over, although several days into it, the story is starting to get a little tired.

Turning away from Turkey, the dollar is having quite a good session. Versus its G10 counterparts, we have seen consistent strength to the tune of 0.2%-0.3%. Data has not been the driver as the only notable release has been UK inflation, where the headline came out at 2.5%, 0.1% higher than last month, but right on analysts forecasts. There has been a modest amount of Brexit conversation, but none of it has been positive, and at this point, every day without positive news is likely to weigh further on the pound. Meanwhile the euro is making a run at 1.1300, a level not traded since late June 2017, and unless we see some policy adjustments, it is hard to believe that the data is going to turn things in the near future.

Regarding the rest of the emerging markets, there has been some substantial weakness in ZAR (-3.3%), MXN (-1.2%), KRW (-1.3%) and RUB (-1.4%), none of which have released any economic data of note. This feels much more like contagion as traders seek proxies to short while the Turkish authorities use up their ammunition. But of more interest to me is CNY, which has fallen 0.4% this morning to 6.9250 or so. Many analysts have been confident that the PBOC would not allow the renminbi to weaken past the 6.90 level, as they are concerned over potential capital outflows. However, I have maintained that the renminbi has much further to fall. I believe the PBOC will continue to see the renminbi as the most effective release valve for the pressures that continue to build in the economy there. Remember, too, that the government imposed much stricter capital controls earlier this year and so they are feeling more and more confident that they will not have a repeat of the 2015-6 situation. In fact, the most recent data showed that FX reserves in China actually rose last month, surprising every analyst. The upshot is that there is further room for CNY to decline, and a move past 7.00 is merely a matter of time. In fact, it would not surprise me if it occurred before the end of August.

Turning to today’s data releases, we actually receive a great deal of new information as follows: Empire State Manufacturing (exp 20); Retail Sales (0.1%, 0.3% ex autos); Nonfarm Productivity (2.3%); Unit Labor Costs (0.3%); IP (0.3%); Capacity Utilization (78.2%); and finally Business Inventories (0.1%). While Retail Sales will garner the most attention, I will be watching ULC carefully as wage growth remains the watchword at the Fed. If that number surprises on the high side, that will serve to reinforce the idea that Chairman Powell is going to ignore the screams of the emerging markets for quite a while yet. In the end, nothing has changed with regard to the broad macroeconomic picture and the dollar ought to continue to see support across the board. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Good luck
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