Tag Archive: macro

Week Ahead: How Hard Will Officials Push Against the Easing of Financial Conditions?

2023-11-18

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2023-11-18

The combination of soft US price data and mostly weaker economic data lends credence to a new economic convergence. The economic news stream from Europe, Japan, and China is not particular inspiring. Rather the convergence is driven by the materialism of the long-anticipated slowdown of the world's largest economy. This new convergence is negative for the dollar. Our conservative working hypothesis continues to be that the US dollar's gains from...

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Week Ahead: Will Softer US Price Pressures and Weakness in Retail Sales Weigh on the US Dollar and Rates?

2023-11-11

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2023-11-11

The recent dollar gyrations seem tightly linked to US rates. The FOMC meeting and October jobs report saw the two-year Treasury yield drop 17 bp and the dollar was taken broadly lower. Indeed, against several currency pairs, it approached three standard deviations below its 20-day moving average. What seemed like a mild adjustment to the over-extended technical development turned into a rout after a weak reception to the US 30-year bond auction to...

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Week Ahead: Have the Markets Turned?

2023-11-04

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2023-11-04

An inflection point may have been reached last week. Despite, Chair Powell's insistence that the Fed did not adopt an easing bias and confirmed that there is still no talk of a cut, the market knows better. The implied yield of December 2024 Fed funds futures contract is about 4.45%, which is to say, the market is discounting not only the two cuts in the Fed's September projections, but a third cut, and the risk again (~60%), of a fourth cut. The...

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November 2023 Monthly

2023-10-28

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2023-10-28

November may be an in-between month. It will be a month of limited monetary policy actions and a period of heightened geopolitical tensions. Fiscal policy may be more interesting, with a Japanese supplemental budget, more measures expected from China, and a debate in Europe over the re-implementation of the Stability and Growth Agreement. In the US, the drama that played out in the House of Representatives could still leave the federal government...

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Week Ahead: Q3 US GDP to Underscore Divergence, while ECB and Bank of Canada Stand Pat

2023-10-21

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2023-10-21

The US dollar was mixed last week. One would have thought, based on the geopolitical tensions, the stronger than expected US economic data that resulted in upward revisions to Q3 GDP forecasts and a more than 30 bp surge in US 10-year yields, the greenback would have performed better. The Dollar Index fell by almomst 0.5% last week, its biggest weekly loss in three months. It is down so far this month. On the other hand, gold rallied 2.5% to extend...

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Week Ahead: Softness in US Real Sector, Key UK and Canadian Data, and China’s Q3 GDP

2023-10-14

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2023-10-14

The markets absorbed two shocks last week. The war in Israel that seems to know of no restraint underpinned oil prices and appeared to help boost gold and the Swiss franc, the only G10 currency to appreciate against the dollar. The other was the continued deluge of US Treasury supply, the coupon auctions that tailed and higher than expected PPI and CPI. Nevertheless, the US 10- and 30-year yields fell nearly 20 bp last week, snapping a six-week...

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Week Ahead: King Dollar Stalls

2023-10-07

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2023-10-07

The US reports September CPI on October 12 and the first decline in three months in the year-over-year rate is expected. However, the price action itself may overshadow not only the CPI but other high-frequency data in the week ahead. US grew more than twice the number of jobs in September as economists expected. US interest rates and the dollar jumped initially, and stocks were dumped. And then they reversed. Many narratives will be spun to...

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October 2023 Monthly

2023-09-30

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2023-09-30

There are four large macro forces shape the investment and business climate here at the start of the last quarter of the year. First, the US economic outperformance has been stark. This has helped underpin US rates and bolsters the dollar. The divergence is likely to narrow in coming months as US growth slows rather than stronger growth prospects in other high-income countries. Second, Beijing has taken numerous measures, which although stopping...

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Week Ahead: Digesting Implications of the FOMC, EMU and Tokyo August CPI, and China’s PMI

2023-09-23

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2023-09-23

The most important outcome of the last week's flurry of central bank meetings was the median forecast of Fed officials for 50 bp less in cuts next year than it had anticipated in June as it revised up its growth forecasts for this year and next. The prospect for higher rates for pushed equities lower. Sterling and the Swiss franc were the weakest currencies in the G10 last week, falling by a little more than 1.1%. Both central banks did not hike...

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Week Ahead: US CPI to Make the Doves Cry even if Core Eases, and Euro Vulnerable to ECB Regardless of Decision

2023-09-09

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2023-09-09

The diverging economic performance between the US and Europe, Japan, and China on the other hand is stark. Yet, a greater divergence may be between widespread discussion of de-dollarization and its incredible strength in the foreign exchange market. The eight-week rally in the Dollar Index is the longest in nine years. According to SWIFT, which is not comprehensive but remains by far the largest platform, the dollar's role in international payments...

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September 2023 Monthly

2023-09-02

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2023-09-02

There is a sense of new divergence. Most economists, including the staff at the Federal Reserve, no longer think the US is recession-bound. Unprecedented in modern times, inflation has fallen sharply, and unemployment has not risen, and the economy appears to be enjoying its third consecutive quarter, and the fourth in the past five, above what the Federal Reserve regards as the non-inflationary pace (1.8%). At the same time, and despite being...

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Week Ahead: Slowing US Jobs and Softening EMU Inflation

2023-08-26

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2023-08-26

The Jackson Hole symposium marks the end of summer just as much as the autumn equinox next month. It has been a tough few months for bond markets as yields have soared. For the US economy, which has proven more resilient than many, including Fed officials thought, and a sharp increase in anticipated supply of Treasuries, the rise in yields may be understandable. The rise in Japanese government bond yields may also make sense given the rise in...

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Week Ahead: Yen’s Recovery Ahead of the Weekend may Give the Yuan a Reprieve or Be Ready for BRICS to Disappoint High Hopes for a Dollar Alternative

2023-08-19

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2023-08-19

There seem to be three large forces shaping the investment climate. First is the resilience of the US economy, with four consecutive quarters of above trend growth.  It appears that the US economy may be expanding faster than the 2.4% annualized pace seen in Q2.  Many of the largest naysayers have capitulated. Second, the monetary tightening cycle is widely seen as almost over, and many are beginning to fine tune forecasts for the first cut by the...

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Week Ahead: Anniversary of the End of Bretton Woods Sees Resilient Dollar and Firmer US Rates: Can it Persist?

2023-08-12

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2023-08-12

Tuesday marks the 52nd anniversary of the end of Bretton Woods currency arrangement, which pegged the dollar to gold and other currencies to the dollar. Some economists have tried framing their views in terms of Bretton Woods II and there have even been proponents of Bretton Woods III, but these are informal arrangements at best, no reciprocity, or mutual obligations. The point of the matter is that the end of Bretton Woods ushered in the modern...

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Week Ahead: Is the Dollar’s Run since Mid-July Over?

2023-08-05

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2023-08-05

The US and China report July CPI figures in the coming days and they are likely moving in opposite directions. Headline US CPI is likely to rise for the first time since peaking in June 2022. China's CPI has been slowing and is likely to go negative on a year-over-year basis. It finished last year at 1.8% and in June was unchanged year-over-year. The divergence of policy is what is driving force of the exchange rate, and the    question is not...

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August 2023 Monthly

2023-07-29

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2023-07-29

Prices pressures are abating, albeit gradually, while economic momentum is faltering. The data in the coming weeks will help shape expectations for rate decisions for September. As the market pushed back against the Federal Reserve's forward guidance that anticipated two hikes in the second half, the US dollar fell against the G10 currencies, but found support beginning around the middle of the July as the market was reluctant to return to pricing...

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Week Ahead: For the Millionth Time, Markets Exaggerate

2023-07-15

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2023-07-15

After experiencing one of its worst weeks of the year, the US dollar is stretched from a technical point of view while the short-term interest rate adjustment has gone as far as it can without resurrecting ideas of a Fed rate cut this year. Given the lighter economic calendar in the coming days, we suspect that the greenback may consolidate ahead of the FOMC meeting that concludes on July 26. The derivatives market shows that a quarter-point hike...

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Week Ahead: Is the Dollar’s Downtrend Resuming?

2023-07-08

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2023-07-08

The dollar appears at an inflection point. Its failure to draw much traction even as US rates rose may be an important tell. The US 2-year yield rose to a new multiyear high near 5.12%, while the 10-year yield set a new high for the year around 4.09% after the employment report. The dollar's broad gains in the second half of last month looks corrective. The underlying downtrend, which we argue began last September and October, looks set to resume....

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July 2023 Monthly

2023-07-01

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2023-07-01

Price pressures remain elevated but economic momentum slowed as Q2 wound down. Many market participants think this poses a dilemma for policymakers and are skeptical that the hikes signaled will be delivered because of economic weakness or financial strains. These developments are thought to limit the tightening cycle before the inflation genie can be stuffed back into the bottle.Yet, this may underestimate the resolve of most of the major central...

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After Disappointing PMIs, Attention will Turn Back to Inflation in the Week Ahead

2023-06-24

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2023-06-24

As the month and quarter wind down, inflation readings are featured. The US May PCE deflator, which is the targeted measure is reported. Canada and Australia report May CPI. The eurozone reports the preliminary June CPI, and Japan see Tokyo's June CPI, which serves a similar function. Leaving aside Japan, the others, including the UK have signaled that the monetary tightening cycle will be extended into H2. That said, the poor preliminary PMI...

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