Tag Archives: #Williams

Birds of a Feather

Posted on by

We all know that birds of a feather
Eventually will flock together
So, yesterday’s color
From Williams and Waller
Implied cuts are when and not whether

 

As I described yesterday morning, and have been observing since Chairman Powell’s Congressional testimony, all the members of the FOMC are on the same page.  Yesterday it was NY Fed president John Williams and Governor Chris Waller who explained that [Williams] “It is not really a story about a ‘last mile’ or some part that’s particularly sticky.”  [Different inflation measures are] “all moving in the right direction and doing that pretty consistently,” and [Waller] “The time to lower the policy rate is drawing closer.  Right now, the labor market is in a sweet spot.  We need to keep the labor market in this sweet spot.”

This is the same message Powell gave us in his testimony and on Monday.  It is what we have heard from Barkin, Kugler, Daly and Goolsbee so far this week and are likely to hear from Daly and Williams again today and Bowman and Bostic before they all go quiet ahead of the July 31st meeting.  While there are those who are calling for a cut at the July meeting (Goldman Sachs analysts explained their reasons and in this morning’s WSJ, pundit Greg Ip did the same), and, even though I think it is an interesting risk/reward opportunity, with less than a 5% probability currently priced into the market, I do not believe that the FOMC is going to cut even if next week’s PCE data is extremely soft.  

Consider, though, that between now and the September FOMC meeting, we will receive two more each of CPI, PCE and payroll reports as well as hear all the talk from the Jackson Hole Symposium.  If, and it’s a big if, the economy shows that it is slowing more rapidly than currently seems to be the case, I would not rule out a 50bp cut then, although that is clearly not my base case.

I think it says a great deal about the market’s narrative overall that the ECB is meeting as I write and will release their policy statement and actions, if any, shortly and it is not a top ten topic of conversation right now. There is no expectation of movement, and the market has lined up for a September cut there as well.  In other words, everything remains all about the Fed.

Well, the Fed and the US stock market.  Since its high print a week ago, the NASDAQ is down by 4% with some of its key constituents (NVDA -14.3%, MSFT -5.1%, GOOGL -5.6%) having fallen much further.  At the same time, the DJIA has rallied 3.7% as the new discussion is a rotation from growth to value stocks as the latter will ostensibly be better served by the Fed’s now-imminent rate cuts.  At least, that’s the story that has become the universal belief set.  It certainly sounds good and is logical so let’s go with it.  However, I guess the question we need to answer is, can it continue?  

Can it continue for another day or two?  Certainly, given positioning that exists and the fact this new idea has developed some momentum, it can go a bit further.  But is this the beginning of an entirely new trend?  Somehow, I do not see that being the case.  Remember, the Magnificent-7 story had evolved from an idea into a cult, not dissimilar to the Bitcoin story.  People believed and were rewarded for doing so.  Plus, they had the benefit of feeling like they were taking part in the cutting edge of technology and economic activity.  But buying the Dow Jones, the very definition of old-line manufacturing and traditional service companies, is not something that inspires that same fervor.  My take is this narrative will soon end.  The thing for which we must all watch out, though, is that investors have now seen that their golden stocks, specifically NVDA, can go down, and go down quickly.  The thing about momentum is that once it gets going in either direction, it can continue for quite a while.  Stay alert.

Ok, let’s see how all this has impacted markets elsewhere in the world.  In Asia, the Nikkei (-2.4%) continued its recent struggles even though the yen (-0.5%) has slipped a bit overnight.  But just like in the US, the momentum in the Nikkei seems to be pointing lower for now as it tracks the NASDAQ.  Meanwhile, Chinese stocks showed modest gains with the rest of the region showing wildly disparate outcomes, (Korea -0.7%, Taiwan -1.6%, India +0.8%, Indonesia +1.3%) so it is hard to take a consistent message from here.  However, European bourses are all in the green this morning as they resemble the DJIA far more than the NASDAQ.  Granted, the gains have been modest (CAC +0.5%, FTSE 100 +0.7%, DAX +0.2%) but that is better than the red they have been showing lately.  Lastly, US futures at this hour (7:15) are reverting to the DJIA under pressure while the NASDAQ futures are higher by 0.4%.

In the bond market, yields are edging higher, pretty much by 2bps across the board in both Treasuries and European sovereigns.  However, I would contend that price action here has been a mere consolidation over the past several sessions after a sharp decline in yields since the beginning of the month.  In truth, during the past 3 sessions, there has been no net movement.

Commodity markets are mostly little changed this morning as oil, which rallied yesterday on further inventory draws according to the EIA, is unchanged and gold and silver are also unchanged this morning.  The one outlier is copper (-1.8%) which is continuing its recent declines as it seems the market is calling into question the demand side of the story.  While supply is currently adequate, Chinese economic weakness has been a major drag on the perception of demand.  I suspect that will change over time, but right now, the chart looks awful.

Source: tradingeconomics.com

Finally, the dollar is rebounding a bit this morning with modest gains against most of its G10 counterparts, although other than the yen, those gains are on the order of 0.1% to 0.2%.  In the EMG bloc, it is basically the same story, very modest USD gains with no outliers of which to speak.  One broader picture comment is that there have been several analysts who have discussed the dollar selling off sharply recently and how that is a harbinger of the end of the dollar’s dominance as the world’s reserve currency.  To put things in context, using the DXY as our proxy (which is very imperfect), for the past year, the DXY has traded between 101 and 107 and this morning it is trading at 103.8.  This is neither the story of a major move in either direction, nor of a trend of any consequence.  In order for things to change, we will need to see the Fed change its policy at a much different pace than the rest of the world’s central banks, and that is not yet an obvious outcome.

On the data front this morning, we get the weekly Initial (exp 230K) and Continuing (1860K) Claims data as well as Philly Fed (2.9) and the Leading Indicators (-0.3%).  I think we already know what the Fed speakers are going to tell us, as per the opening monologue, so absent some new piece of news, today is shaping up to be a very dull one.  The summer doldrums are clearly here.

Good luck

Adf

Looks Askance

Posted on by

On Wednesday, twas John Williams chance
To help explain, though at first glance
Inflation is sinking
No Kool-aid, he’s drinking
So, at cuts, he still looks askance

And backing him up in this view
Was Retail Sales, which really grew
There’s no indication
That US inflation
Is going to fall down near two

The pushback by FOMC speakers continued yesterday as NY Fed president Williams was the latest to explain that although things were heading in the right direction, the committee was unlikely to cut rates anywhere nearly as quickly as the market is pricing.  Here are the money lines, “My base case is that the current restrictive stance of monetary policy will continue to restore balance and bring inflation back to our 2 percent longer-run goal. I expect that we will need to maintain a restrictive stance of policy for some time to fully achieve our goals, and it will only be appropriate to dial back the degree of policy restraint when we are confident that inflation is moving toward 2 percent on a sustained basis.” [Emphasis added]. Once again, the idea that the Fed is going to cut rates in March seems awfully remote, at least based on what they are telling us.

Now, it is entirely possible that the data starts to deteriorate more rapidly with growth clearly falling and Unemployment starting to rise more rapidly and if that were to occur, I think a March cut would not be impossible.  But then yesterday we saw a much better than expected Retail Sales print, (headline +0.6%, ex autos +0.4%) with the Y/Y growth up to 5.6% (nominal).  Data like that is not indicative of a collapse in economic activity.  The fact that much of it is reliant on a combination of massive fiscal stimulus and increased credit card debt does not mean the growth is false.  It merely sets up for weakness later.

In the end, the Fed funds futures market is backing away a bit further from that March rate cut with the probability reduced to 61% now from 70% just a week ago.  It can be no surprise that between the Williams comments and the stronger data, Treasury yields backed up 5bps and equity markets suffered a bit more, down about -0.5%.

To me, the key question is, at what point will the market accept that 6 rate cuts are not the most likely outcome this year?  Clearly, they are not ready to do so yet, although based on the equity market performance so far this year, there is a little bit of nervousness, at least, making its way through the investment community.  Analyzing the price action over the past month and considering the information that we have gotten since the last FOMC meeting, the outlier seems to be Powell’s dovishness at the press conference, not the macroeconomic data nor the commentary from other Fed speakers.  Of course, Powell’s voice is clearly the most important, but when both Waller and Williams, his two top lieutenants, reiterate that maintaining restrictive policy is the right move for now, I have to believe that the next FOMC statement is going to reiterate that stance.

What does all this say about the future?  Well, since everything is data dependent, or at least that’s what they tell us, then we need to continue to watch the data to help understand the reaction function.  The problem is that there is no consistency in the data.  For instance, in addition to yesterday’s strong Retail Sales data, we saw stronger than expected NFP and higher than expected CPI readings, all three being critical real data points.  On the flip side, we have seen weaker than expected ISM data, both manufacturing and services and Tuesday’s Empire State Manufacturing Index fell to -43.7, a level only exceeded by the Covid readings in early 2020.  In fact, that index has fallen more than 50 points in the past two months.  The upshot is that we continue to see negative survey data and solid real data.  So, I ask you, which set of data is the Fed watching more closely?

FWIW my assessment of the situation is as follows: the Fed is aware of the goldilocks narrative but has not bought into it at this stage, at least not Powell and his two key lieutenants, and they are the ones that matter. Whatever the survey data, if the hard data holds up, they are going to maintain policy right where it is.  While we know they care about surveys (look at their focus on inflation expectations), I think Powell is still very afraid of being Arthur Burns redux.  Right now, it looks like the outlier was the Powell press conference, not all the push back.  I changed my entire thesis based on that pivot and that may have been a mistake.  However, if we start to see weaker hard data, so Housing softens, PCE is soft, GDP misses expectations or something like that, look for goldilocks to make a return.  Otherwise, regardless of the survey data, I fear risk assets are going to have trouble as are bond markets which have priced in a lot of rate cuts.

Speaking of push back, we continue to hear ECB speakers on the same page as the Fed, rate cuts are not coming on the market’s current timeline.  June seems to be the earliest it will happen there unless the Fed cuts sooner.  I continue to believe given the very weak growth profile in Europe that Madame Lagarde is quite anxious to get started cutting rates, but she knows she cannot do so yet.  I imagine that Interpol will have an APB out on goldilocks pretty soon as they want to capture her and keep her in the public’s eye.

One other thing to mention away from the financial markets is what appears to be a further escalation of fighting in the Middle East.  Last night, Pakistan retaliated against Iran with missile strikes of their own, ostensibly killing Pakistani militants who were based in Iran.  Whatever the rationale may be for these moves, the one truism is that things in the Middle East are getting more dangerous and that is going to pressure oil prices higher.  We have seen that this morning, with small gains, but I would suggest that will be the direction of travel if this keeps up.

Ok, on to markets where yesterday’s lackluster US equity performance was largely ignored as Japanese stocks were just barely lower, Chinese and Hong Kong stocks finally rebounded a bit and the rest of APAC saw more gainers than losers.  European markets are firmer this morning, in what could well be a trading bounce as there was no data to encourage the process and US futures are firmer at this hour (7:30) by about 0.5%.

After yesterday’s continuation bounce in yields, this morning we are seeing a bit of a pullback with Treasury and most European sovereign yields lower by about 2bps.  The one outlier is Japan, where JGB yields picked up 3bps, although that could well be a delayed response to yesterday’s Treasury price action as the Japanese data overnight was quite soft (Machinery Orders and IP both falling in November) and not indicative of tighter policy in the future.

Aside from oil’s modest gains, gold has rebounded a bit this morning, up 0.5%, arguably on the increased tensions in Iran/Pakistan but the base metals are under pressure today.  Lately, it is very difficult to glean much information from the base metals as confusion over whether Chinese growth is real, and how overall growth is progressing seems to be keeping traders on the sidelines.

Finally, the dollar is backing off its highs from yesterday, but the movement has not been large, about 0.2% broadly across both G10 and EMG currencies.  The most noteworthy outlier is ZAR, where the rand has rallied 0.85% on the back of that gold strength.

On the data front today, Housing Starts (exp 1.48M), Building Permits (1.426M), Initial Claims (207K), Continuing Claims (1845K) and Philly Fed (-7) all show up at 8:30.  As well, Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic speaks twice today, early and late, so it will be very interesting to hear if he is going to push back further on the Powell pivot or agree with it.

Today brings both hard and survey data, so if it all lines up one way or the other, perhaps it will be a driver.  But my take is we will continue to see a mixed picture and so will be highly reliant on Fedspeak as after Bostic today, we get Daly and Barr tomorrow and then the quiet period.  I think a risk rebound is in order just because things have been weak.  But I am worried about the longer-term trend now that Powell is seeming more and more like the outlier, not the driver.

Good luck
Adf

Nirvana Sans Prayer

Posted on by 
The Fed has regaled us this week

With speakers who all tried to tweak

Their message on rates

And foster debates

On havoc their actions might wreak



Some told us their hiking was done

That, as to inflation, they’d won

But others explained

They’d not yet obtained

Relief from this price rising run



Now into this breech steps the Chair

Who later this morning will share

His views where they stand

And how he has planned

To reach rate nirvana sans prayer

As we enter the final month of 2023, the bulls are in the ascendancy.  The 60/40 portfolio, which had been declared obsolete last year and certainly behaved that way most of this year, just had its best month since 1985.  US equity markets rallied between 8%-10% and 10-year Treasury yields fell 40bps through the month.  In other words, the price of virtually everything went higher.  This includes gold (+3.0%), silver (+10.5%) and copper (+5.0%) with only oil (-7.5%) and the dollar (DXY -2.5%) as the losers in November.   

To what do we owe this remarkable performance across asset classes?  Or perhaps the question should be to whom do we owe this outcome?  My vote is for goldilocks!  Her story of everything winding up ‘just right’ remains the dominant market narrative.  This has been encouraged by a plethora of Fed, and other central bank, speakers harping on the fact that inflation readings continue to decline nicely, and although nobody is ready, yet, to begin cutting interest rates, there seems to be an implicit wink, wink, nod, nod that the market is sensing rate cuts are coming soon.  And maybe they are, but that is certainly not my base case.

However, my base case is not relevant here, the market viewpoint is the driver.  Interestingly, yesterday we heard from NY Fed President Williams and while he has been encouraged over the recent path of inflation readings, when asked about the market’s pricing of rate cuts early next year he explained, “he wasn’t losing any sleep over the issue.”  In other words, he is unconcerned with the market chatter and is focused on the data and his perception of the economy’s performance.  In fact, I believe that to be the case for all the FOMC members, despite the prevailing narrative that the Fed will never surprise the market if they can avoid doing so.

This brings us to this morning’s speech by Chairman Powell.  His is the last communication by a Fed member ahead of the FOMC meeting on the 13th.  At this point, it remains unknown if he will hew toward the idea that things look good and they have reached an appropriately tight level of monetary policy and financial conditions, or if he will try to continue with the higher for longer concept, highlighting that while progress has been made, the dangers of easing prematurely are grave and must be avoided at all costs.  The fact that Governor Waller, earlier this week, expressed that it might be appropriate for rates to decline in 3-4 months’ time has the equity and bond bulls pawing the ground and ready to charge again.  However, I would contend that Williams’s comments yesterday, indicating little concern over market pricing and greater concern that they finish the job to be just as important.  Powell clearly listens to both these gentlemen closely.  In the end, the one thing that Powell has explained time and again is that he will not make the Arthur Burns mistake of easing before inflation was well and truly dead.  It is this consistency in his communications that leads me to believe that the bulls are a bit ahead of themselves for today.

Remember, too, we will see the NFP report next Friday, and the November CPI report the day before the FOMC announcement, as well as a bunch of other data to help fill in some blanks.  In fact, yesterday’s PCE data, both headline and core, were right on expectations as was virtually everything else except Continuing Claims, which at 1927K, was the highest since early 2022, and another sign that the labor market is loosening up.  Countering that, though was a dramatically higher than expected Chicago PMI print of 55.8, pointing to strong growth.  Again, the data continues to lack a unifying direction at this stage.  And so, regardless of Powell’s comments today, the FOMC will still have much to digest before they decide.

As to how this will impact markets, my take is the following: goldilocks is still the predominant narrative which means that weaker economic data will be seen as bullish news for both stocks and bonds because it will cement the view that the Fed is not only finished but that cuts are coming soon.  Correspondingly, strong data will be much harder to swallow as it will renew concerns that the Fed is not done hiking yet.  But until Powell speaks this morning at 11:00, we are in the dark.

Reviewing the overnight activity shows that equity markets in Asia were mostly lower with the Hang Seng (-1.25%) continuing to feel the pressure of the weak Chinese property market.  The story is that China Evergrande has until Monday to avoid liquidation with further potential ramifications for other property developers.  Alas, President Xi has not been able to find a Chinese solution for taking on too much debt and blowing a bubble that does not include popping that bubble.  As to Europe, after a strong November in equity markets there as well, this morning is seeing gains across the board on the order of +0.7% while US futures are currently (8:00) ever so slightly softer, -0.2%.

In the bond market, after a rip-roaring month around the world as the prevailing narrative grew that the peak in inflation, and therefore, yields has been seen, this morning is starting off quietly.  The yield on the 10yr Treasury is higher by just 1bp and in Europe, we are actually seeing modest yield declines, 1bp-2bps, as investors respond to still weak PMI data across the continent.  While the uber-hawks on the ECB are unwilling to discuss rate cuts, given the slowing growth in the Eurozone and the fact that inflation readings there are declining much more rapidly than in the US, the market is quite confident that rate cuts are coming soon.

Oil prices are slightly softer this morning, -0.5%, which takes them right back to where they started the week.  However, they have fallen for the previous 5 weeks.  The OPEC+ meeting was something of a dud, with what appears to be a further production cut, but there was certainly no unanimity of action there.  Gold prices are unchanged on the day, maintaining most of their recent gains and copper prices (+0.6%) are actually edging higher again.  To the extent that copper is an accurate harbinger of future economic activity, it certainly seems that prospects are improving and a recession will be avoided.

Finally, the dollar, which has seen universal hatred based on the decline in 10yr Treasury yields as well as the narrative that the Fed is going to be cutting rates early next year, continues to hold its own.  In fact, it is slightly firmer in the past week overall, although we have seen a mix of movements depending on the currency.  Among the weakest has been the euro, which while it peaked above 1.10 earlier this week for a brief time, is now back below 1.09 as traders start to understand that whatever the Fed may do with interest rates, the ECB is going to be cutting sooner than the Fed.  At the same time, we have seen some strength in the commodity bloc over the past week, with AUD, NZD, CAD, NOK and ZAR all showing solid performances on the back of the recent commodity strength.  

And lastly, we cannot ignore the yen, the currency that everyone was certain was set for a major rally as the diverging paths of the Fed (imminent cuts) and the BOJ (ending QE and tighter money) would finally change the trend.  Oops!  While the yen is a bit stronger this week, about 0.8%, that barely covers the negative carry of the position and with 10yr JGB yields back in the 60bps range, there is really no evidence that Japan is actually preparing to tighten policy.  While I personally think they do need to start doing so as inflation has remained above their 2% target for more than a year, things work differently in Tokyo than elsewhere.  For hedgers, I have to believe that JPY puts are the best protection around, relatively inexpensive and allowing for any significant rallies in the yen without locking in bad rates.

Leading up to Powell’s speech this morning, we see ISM Manufacturing (exp 47.6) although after yesterday’s blowout Chicago PMI number, don’t be surprised to see a bit higher.  Canadian Employment data was just released, largely in line with expectations as the Unemployment Rate ticked up to 5.8% as forecast.  Again, we continue to see a mixed picture with regard to the future of the economy.  I think that is why we put so much stock into central bank speakers, but also why things remain so confused.  After all, they don’t have any better models or insight than the rest of us and are just winging it anyway!

Big picture is, if Powell is hawkish and pushing back on the narrative, I expect the dollar to edge back higher.  However, if he does not push back, look for another serious equity and bond rally and for the dollar to sink.

Good luck and good weekend

Adf

Five Percent

Posted on by 
The number one story today
Is that 10-year bond yields soon may
Trade to five percent
As bond bulls lament
Their theory’s no longer in play

As I write this morning at 6:45, 10-year Treasury yields are now trading at 4.95% having touched 4.98% a few hours ago.  This has become the biggest story of the day given the psychological impact of yields rising to that level and the fact 5.00% is such a big round number.  There is a lot of sentiment regarding round numbers in markets, so things like parity in EURUSD or $100/bbl in oil or even stock indices (e.g., S&P at 4000) take on a life of their own whether or not there is any fundamental driver of a particular situation.  But let’s face it, the market is all about psychology, so if people care, it matters. 

If (when) we trade through 5.00% will anything have changed?  Unlikely, but it is definitely today’s narrative.  It appears that the drivers are anticipation of yet more supply next week as well as continued confirmation that the Fed is going to maintain Fed funds at current levels for quite a while, even if there are no more rate hikes.  We also continue to hear stories of selling by major holders although I addressed that yesterday.  Certainly, part of the market zeitgeist is the idea that the continued strong US economic data are the seeds for ongoing inflation pressures leading to higher yields.  But in the end, the only thing of which we are sure is that demand for paper, despite the highest yields in more than sixteen years, is underwhelming.  At least relative to the supply of paper that is available and due to come soon.

For now, I expect that as yields continue to climb, we are going to see ongoing struggles in the equity market, dollar strength and commodity prices struggling.  Of course, gold continues to buck that trend as it is holding up extremely well in the face of higher yields. 

In the meantime, it is worth remembering the Fed stance, which clearly still matters.  

Said Waller, we’ll “wait, watch and see”
How things in the broad ‘conomy
Evolve before moving
And if they’re improving
More rate hikes will be the decree

Said Williams, the time’s not arrived
To alter the rates we’ve contrived
Though, progress we’ve made
We’re still quite afraid
That falling inflation’s short-lived

It is becoming abundantly clear from the comments by all the Fed speakers during the past two weeks that there will be no policy rate movement at the next meeting.  Of course, Chairman Powell has yet to offer his views, which are due today at noon.  However, it seems difficult to believe that this overwhelming agreement of a pause to, as Governor Waller put it, “wait, watch and see,” the evolution of the economy has not been approved by the Chairman.  Nonetheless, you can be sure that his words will be parsed especially carefully later today.

Of course, the data continues to show that the economy is not slowing down in any substantive fashion and the bond vigilantes are out in force.  After yesterday’s 8bp yield rally above 4.90%, this morning’s movement should be no surprise.  We also saw European sovereign yields explode higher yesterday with UK Gilts up 15bps and continental bonds up between 5bps and 10bps.  As I have been consistently writing, this move is nowhere near over.  One other thing that has not yet garnered much attention is that the Bund-BTP spread is now at 206bps after the Italian government just passed a financing bill that includes a 4.2% government deficit, well above the 3.0% EU limit and above the promises made when PM Meloni first entered office.  Concerns are growing that Italian finances may soon become a real problem, not just for Italy, but for Europe as a whole.

We should also discuss the JGB market where the 10-year yield is now at 0.85%, creeping ever closer to their new alleged line in the sand at 1.00%.  Recall, the BOJ is the only major central bank that is explicitly buying bonds and has promised to buy an unlimited amount to prevent yields from rising above that 1.00% level. In fact, 1.00% JGB yields is the only round number that has any true significance.

Ultimately, the current interest rate / yield story is the key driver across all markets.  In addition to the dramatic movement we have seen in bond markets, yesterday saw pronounced weakness in equity markets and strength in the dollar.  After falling more than -1.0% here, Asian markets fell even more sharply, between -1.5% and -2.0%.  European bourses are also under pressure this morning, but not quite to the same extent as they suffered somewhat yesterday in their afternoon sessions.  As to US futures, they are unchanged at this hour (7:15) awaiting Powell’s comments.

Oil prices (-1.25%) are backing off a bit from their recent rally after news that the administration has relaxed sanctions on Venezuela indicating that there will be a bit more supply available.  However, yesterday’s inventory data showed significant drawdowns and cannot be ignored as a fundamental driver which would imply higher prices going forward.  Gold, after another spike yesterday of more than 1% is creeping still higher this morning with the best explanation a growing concern over a much more uncertain future.  After all, if investors are losing their faith in Treasury bonds, and as evidenced by the ongoing selling pressure, that is one possible explanation, gold has always served as the ultimate safe haven.  As to the base metals, they are also firmer this morning, arguably on the back of still surprisingly strong US economic data.

Finally, the dollar is mixed this morning, with gains vs. the pound and the commodity bloc while the euro has managed to edge higher.  USDJPY remains stuck just below the 150 level as though someone is working very hard to prevent that level from trading again.  In fact, we have traded between 149.40 and 149.85 for the past week, an extremely tight range that looks quite artificial.  Do not be surprised if we finally breech the 150 level for a time and then see another bout of intervention by the MOF/BOJ driving it back down again.  Ultimately, though, if the BOJ maintains its current stance, the yen is going to trend weaker.  

A quick look at the EMG bloc shows that CNY is trading to its weakest point in more than a month as news that Country Garden, the erstwhile largest property developer in China, failed to make a coupon payment yesterday for the second time and is set to file for bankruptcy has raised concerns over the entire economic process there.  Elsewhere, IDR (-0.5%) fell during its session although I would expect some strength tonight as the central bank there surprised the market and raised their base rate by 25bps after the market closed.  In general, the EMG bloc has seen weakness across the board with the dollar ‘wrecking ball’ wreaking havoc for those companies and countries that need to service their USD debt.

On the data front we see Initial (exp 212K) and Continuing (1710K) Claims as well as the Philly Fed (-6.4) and then Existing Home Sales (3.89M).  In addition to Chairman Powell, we hear from six other Fed speakers, although with Powell speaking and the second in the lineup, I don’t imagine the other comments will matter much.  Remember, after tomorrow, the Fed enters its quiet period as well.

Looking at the totality of the situation, it would be shocking if Powell added anything new to the debate.  At this point, I expect that the bond market will remain the driver of everything.  I also expect that 10-year yields above 5.00% are coming soon to a screen near you and that the normalization of the yield curve will be completed before the end of the year.  Right now, the 2yr-10yr spread is down to -28bps and an eventual move to +50bps – +100bps would put us back in ‘normal’ territory.  In other words, 10-year yields could rise much further!  In that situation, I still like the dollar overall.  I will need to see something substantial change before the dollar’s bullish trend turns around.

Good luck

Adf

The Hard Way

Posted on by

The quarter has come to an end
And Brexit’s now just round the bend
Meanwhile Chairman Jay
Has learned the hard way
Experience is his best friend

It has been more than a week and the market continues to talk about the liquidity crunch that drove repo rates to 10.0% briefly. The Fed did respond, albeit somewhat slowly, and have seemingly been able to get things under control at this point. But in the WSJ this weekend there was a very interesting article asking, how could this have happened? After all, the Fed’s primary responsibility is to ensure that there is sufficient funding in the system. And I think for all market participants, this is a critical question. Since the Fed is essentially the world’s central bank, if they are losing control of the plumbing of the US money markets, what does that say about their ability to implement monetary policy effectively.

The back story revolves around actions that occurred shortly after John Williams was named NY Fed President, despite a complete lack of markets experience (he is a PhD Economist and Fed lifer, never having held a job in the private sector). In one of his first acts, he dismissed two key lieutenants, the head of the Markets Desk and the head of Financial Services, both of whom had been with the Fed for more than twenty years, and both of whom had intimate familiarity with market crises. After all, they were both in their roles during the Financial crisis, when Williams was one of a hundred economists working for the Fed’s Board of Governors. In other words, he has zero real world or market experience, and he fired the two most experienced market hands in his organization. While there has never been an explanation as to why he made that move, it clearly came back to haunt him, and the Fed at large, last week.

The issue for markets is now one of confidence. It doesn’t matter that things seem to be under control at this point, and all the talk of a standing repo facility being implemented to insure there is always sufficient liquidity are addressing the symptoms, not the cause. In addition, there is almost no question that the Fed is going to start rebuilding its balance sheet, as apparently, watching that paint dry was a bit more exciting than anticipated. But in the end, if market participants lose faith that the Fed can effectively manage its processes, then it will significantly change the overall atmosphere in markets. Remember, we have spent the last ten plus years being taught that central banks, and the Fed in particular, have one job, to protect financial markets. Two weeks ago, we realized that the ECB has basically run out of ammunition in its efforts to continue to address Europe’s problems. If the Fed has lost the knowhow regarding what is needed to manage the US financial system, that is a MUCH larger problem. I’m not saying they have, just that the repo market gyrations are an indication that they will have to work very hard to convince markets they are still in charge.

Turning to the market situation overnight, there has been very little of interest overall. In fact, the best way to describe things would be mixed. For example, the dollar is slightly firmer vs. the euro (+0.15%) but slightly weaker vs the pound (-0.15%). And the truth is, as I look across the board, that is a pretty good description of the entire FX market, modest gains and losses without any trend to note. European equity markets are little changed, US futures are the same and Asian markets were mixed (Nikkei -0.5%, Hang Seng +0.5%). Finally, bond markets have shown almost no movement with 10-year yields in the major bonds within 1 basis point of Friday’s levels.

As today is quarter end, it feels like most market participants have already straightened up their positions and are waiting for tomorrow to start anew. Meanwhile, we have seen a bunch of data, with the most noteworthy so far being the very slightly better than expected Chinese PMI data, with Manufacturing PMI printing at 49.8 vs. expectations at 49.6. So, while that is better than a further decline, it still points to contraction and slowing growth in China.

Looking ahead to today’s session and the week upcoming, though, there is a lot of new information on the way, including the payroll report on Friday.

Today Chicago PMI 50.0
Tuesday ISM Manufacturing 51.0
  ISM Prices Paid 50.5
Wednesday ADP Employment 140K
Thursday Initial Claims 215K
  Factory Orders -0.3%
  ISM Non-Manufacturing 55.1
Friday Nonfarm Payrolls 146K
  Private Payrolls 130K
  Manufacturing Payrolls 3K
  Unemployment Rate 3.7%
  Average Hourly Earnings 0.3% (3.2% Y/Y)
  Average Weekly Hours 34.4
  Participation Rate 63.2%
  Trade Balance -$54.5B

In addition to the payroll report, we have fourteen Fed speakers, essentially the entire FOMC, this week. My conclusion from this excessive schedule is that the Fed is very concerned that their message is not getting across effectively and that they feel compelled to clarify and repeat the message. However, given the wide disparity of opinions on the Board, my sense is this onslaught of speeches will simply add to the confusion. Chairman Powell has a tough road ahead to get his views accepted given what seem to be hardening positions on both sides of the argument. In fact, the only way the doves can win out, in my view, is if the economic data here starts to deteriorate significantly, but of course, that is not an outcome they seek either!

As to the dollar, there is nothing that has occurred anywhere to dissuade me from my ongoing bullish view. Until we see some more significant changes in the data, the dollar will remain top dog.

Good luck
Adf