Category Archives: Global FX

Uncertainty threatens Euro’s safe-haven status, for now

The Euro Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) appreciated about 8% between 20th April and late-August and outperformed all major currencies. However, since its multi-year high on 28th August the Euro NEER has weakened an albeit very modest 1%.

The question is whether/when the Euro may again find favour and set new multi-year highs or whether a more acute correction looms.

Part of the answer lies in the confluence of inter-related factors which contributed to the Euro’s steady climb in the first place but have recently lost some traction.

Prior to its take-off in April, the Eurozone NEER had been one of the more stable among the majors. The Euro was perceived as neither a “risk-on” nor “risk-off” currency and the ECB tacitly welcomed the Euro’s underperformance versus its key trading partners’ currencies.

While the French presidential election in April-May was an important catalyst for the Euro’s appreciation, the seeds for its rally and accession to “safe-haven” status had arguably been sown in 2015-2016.

However, some of these Euro-positive factors have become prey to far greater uncertainty and lost traction in recent weeks, undermining the Euro’s relative appeal while the Dollar and Sterling narrative has improved somewhat.

Financial markets have in particular reacted negatively to Sunday’s German federal election and uncertainty it has generated, both at a domestic and European level.

The Euro finds itself at a cross-road and I see little scope for rapid and/or sustained appreciation until the ECB announces the modalities of an extended QE program and a new German government is in place, with the risk biased towards bouts of Euro weakness.

Longer-term, however, a number of factors could drive renewed Euro appreciation, albeit at a likely slower pace than in April-August.

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Appetite for destruction… and procrastination

Financial markets continue to take into their stride a number of man-made and natural crises and the procrastination of policy-makers in the US, UK and Eurozone.

Global risk appetite remains seemingly well bid despite the still very opaque end-game for rising geopolitical tensions stemming from North Korea and the impact from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

In the world of FX, the emerging market carry trade is seemingly enjoying a mini-revival thanks to low yields in developed economies, signs that global GDP growth continues to inch higher and a surge in commodity prices, particularly industrial metals.

Event risk is clearly more acute in September than it was in August but it is not obvious to me that major central banks will deliver the kind of surprises which cause major dislocations in financial markets, including EM currencies.

However, these high-yielding EM currencies’ volatility versus the Dollar remains quite elevated, with perhaps the exception of the Turkish Lira and Indian Rupee.

Chinese policy-makers are seemingly intent, at least for now, on using Renminbi appreciation as a show of strength and I expect further currency gains near-term.

In the UK, the mammoth challenge facing Prime Minister Theresa May is coming into greater focus. Moreover, the Bank of England is unlikely to seriously consider a rate hike before next year, in my view.  With this in mind, I see the risk biased toward bouts of Sterling weakness.

The Euro, which eked out small gains versus the Dollar and Sterling following ECB President Draghi’s Q&A session, is ultimately behaving like a safe-haven currency.

I expect the common currency to benefit, not suffer, from lower interest rates for longer and the associated improvement in economic activity even if future Euro appreciation could be modest rather than spectacular.
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No UK rate hikes this year and room for further Euro upside

The odds of a 25bp Bank of England rate hike at next week’s policy meeting are all but dead in my view following tepid GDP growth of 0.3% qoq in Q2 2017.

Moreover, UK GDP growth and inflation dynamics, allied to forthcoming changes in the composition of the Monetary Policy Council, point to the record-low policy rate of 0.25% remaining on hold for the remainder of the year.

Forecasting European Central Bank (ECB) monetary policy, including the timing and modalities of changes to its Quantitative Easing program, is arguably a far trickier proposition.

While the ECB may be incentivised to slow the current rapid pace of Euro appreciation, at this stage I do not expect the ECB to try and to stop, let alone reverse, the Euro’s upward path.
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H2 2017: Something old, something new, something revisited

As we head towards the second half of 2017 and the one-year anniversary of the UK referendum on EU membership, many themes which have pre-occupied financial markets in the past 12 months are likely to continue dominating headlines.

These include Donald Trump’s US presidency and its longevity, merits and scope for tax reforms and infrastructural spending, Brexit negotiations which officially started on 19th June and the resilience of the ongoing recovery in global GDP growth.

Global GDP growth rose modestly in Q1 2017 to around 3.12% year-on-year from 3.06% in Q4 2016 and a multi-year low of 2.8% yoy in Q2 2016, according to my estimates.

But the global manufacturing PMI averaged 52.7 in April-May, down slightly from 52.9 in Q1 2017, suggesting global GDP growth may not have accelerated further in Q2. This could in turn, at the margin, delay or temper policy rate hikes and/or unwinding of QE programs.

Non-Japan Asian currencies have in the past month been even more stable than in the preceding month, in line with my expectations, but a more pronounced policy change – particularly in China – remains a possibility.

Other themes, such as the timing and magnitude of higher policy rates in developed economies and falling international oil prices, have recently come into clearer focus and will likely be of central importance in H2.

For the UK, I am sticking to my view that a 25bp policy rate hike this year is still a low probability event and I see little chance of an August hike.

The uncertainty over the MPC’s interest rate path and the government’s stance on Brexit complicate any forecast of Sterling near and medium-term but I continue to see the risks biased towards further depreciation.

In France, the hype surrounding Emmanuel Macron’s presidential and legislative election victories is already giving way to whether, when and how smoothly the LREM-MoDem rainbow government can push through its reformist agenda.

Finally, while most European elections are now thankfully behind us, European financial markets are likely to attach great importance to the outcome of Germany’s general election on 24th September.

Conversely, the burning topic of rising European nationalism and future of the eurozone/EU has lost traction following recent presidential and/or legislative elections in France, the UK, Netherlands and Austria. Read more

GBP – Hawkish Surprise Presents Selling Opportunity

Financial markets in the past week have had to contend with two UK-borne shocks: The ruling Conservative party’s loss of a majority in last Thursday’s general election and three MPC members voting in favour of a 25bp hike at today’s Bank of England policy meeting.

Sterling, which sold off sharply after the election result, has recovered this week and the more hawkish than expected MPC meeting has given the modest rally further impetus.

Confirmation of an alliance between the Conservatives and DUP, which is expected in coming days, may see Sterling strengthen further, particularly with markets digesting the implications of two further MPC members calling for higher rates.

This would, in my view, present an opportunity to short Sterling versus the dollar or euro, for five reasons:

  1. Conservative-DUP marriage is not one of choice and arguably not even one of convenience;
  2. Question of which type of Brexit is unlikely to be answered any time soon;
  3. MPC has become more hawkish but rate hike still unlikely near-term;
  4. Concerns over falling wages are at the heart of a UK economy which remains at best soft; and
  5. EU/eurozone growth slowly picking up and European nationalism on the back foot

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UK General Election Scenario Analysis Impact on Policy, Theresa May and Sterling

In less than 24 hours the British electorate will start voting in the election for the 650-seat House of Commons with the result expected early in the morning of Friday 9th June.

While the last general election was only held two years ago, there is arguably as much if not more at stake this time round than in May 2015.

Opinion polls still point to the ruling Conservatives winning a record-high 44% of the national vote ahead of the opposition Labour Party, but polling agencies which in the past have misestimated true voting intentions still display great inconsistency.

Ultimately it is the number of seats which British parties command which matters and the UK’s first-past-the-post electoral system makes it difficult to predict.

You Gov’s constituency-specific model forecasts the Conservatives winning only 304 seats as a result of a record number of “wasted” votes, a 26-seat loss and well short of both a working and absolute majority. Labour would increase its seat numbers from 229 to 266.

This would result in a hung parliament and either a coalition or minority government.

My own model points to the Conservatives winning around 360 seats (55.4% of total) and Labour 212 seats. Admittedly, this prediction is based on a number of assumptions, namely the net share of votes which Conservatives gain from other parties as well as voter turnout.

Whether the Conservatives significantly improve on their current 330 seats or fail to secure a parliamentary majority remains a tough call and there is an almost infinite number of possible outcomes.

However, I have narrowed down in Figure 10 the number of seats the Conservatives could win to eight possible scenarios, in each case assessing i) Their probability; ii) Their numerical impact on the Conservatives’ majority (or lack thereof); and iii) The risk of opposition parties and/or Conservative backbenchers high-jacking the policy agenda.

Figure 11 assesses for each of the eight scenarios their likely impact on iv) Theresa May’s standing within the Conservative Party and v) Sterling and currency volatility.

Regardless of what happens tomorrow, two events beyond British shores also scheduled for 8th June – the ECB’s policy meeting and Former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee – will conceivably exacerbate Sterling volatility.
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Asian currencies keeping their head in a world losing its own

Financial markets have had much to digest in recent weeks and the calendar for the remainder of May and June is anything but light, with the Fed and ECB holding key policy meetings and legislative elections in both the UK and France.

Nevertheless, most major currencies have either been flat or appreciated against a slowly weakening Dollar in the past month, with only the high yielding Brazilian Real, Russian Rouble and Indian Rupee (INR) and Australian Dollar weakening by 0.5% or more.

Conversely, European currencies have outperformed, with in particular the Euro Nominal Effective Exchange Rate (NEER) up about 3.4% since mid-April – in line with my constructive near-term euro outlook.

Non-Japan Asian (NJA) NEERs have seen only very modest moves in the past month. Bar the Malaysian Ringgit NEER which is up about 1.1% and the INR NEER which is down about 1.7%, NJA NEERs have appreciated or depreciated by less than 1%.

The question is whether this relative calm in NJA currency markets is likely to become more entrenched or whether FX flows and/or central bank policy are likely to fuel greater volatility or see some currencies adopting a clearer direction.

As a starting point, I would again note that the pace of depreciation and appreciation in most NJA currencies tends to be confined to reasonably narrow ranges.

While this is partly a by-product of seasonal patterns in current account balances and the ebbs and flows in capital migrations, it also arguably reflects central banks’ desire and scope to control their currencies.

At this juncture I would conclude that few central banks – including the MAS and PBoC – face overwhelming economic reasons to markedly alter the paths of their currencies via the bias of FX intervention and/or interest rate policy.

There is however perhaps a case for Bank Negara Malaysia to favour a weaker or at least stable Ringgit NEER which has appreciated about 2.7% since mid-April.

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Politics suspected of interfering with economics and markets

In the US, political intrigue, seemingly lifted straight out of a John Le Carré novel, has reached a crescendo and there are now multiple investigations running concurrently.

If we assume these investigations will run over weeks/months, the question is whether and to what extent this political backdrop is likely to impact financial markets, US government policy-making, the US and global economy and Federal Reserve monetary policy.

US equities have corrected lower, volatility has spiked and markets are seemingly ignoring positive data surprises

It has all been rather orderly so far but it is difficult to see how at this juncture, with major policy initiatives likely kicked down the road, US equities can launch another meaningful rally. If anything big data misses are likely to further pressure stocks. 

The Dollar’s performance has been mixed in the past month, posting its biggest loss against the euro in line with the fundamentally bullish euro view I expressed in December and April.

Capital inflows into the eurozone allied to a 2% of GDP current account surplus, a pick-up in economic activity and receding political risks following the French presidential elections are likely to extend the euro’s current rally near-term.

However, the ECB’s stance on its quantitative easing program will be key in shaping the euro’s medium-term path.

US economic indicators paint a blurry picture while solid global GDP growth is seemingly struggling to make further gains.

The Fed and US rates market have the unenviable task of making sense of these macro trends and a quickly changing political landscape.

The apolitical Fed will of course stay above the political fray, even if markets do not with pricing for the probability of a 25bp hike at the 14th June policy meeting continuing to oscillate between 60% and 75%.

My core scenario is that the Fed will hike rates only once more in 2017 although I acknowledge that this is not a high conviction call. The market seems still on the fence, pricing in a further 32bp of hikes in the remainder of the year.
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The A-Team had a plan, the British government has a nebulous goal

The UK has its own eclectic A-Team led by Prime Minister May, tasked with getting the UK out of the EU and securing a more beneficial relationship with trading partners.

Theresa May, David Davis, Liam Fox and Boris Johnson have been dealt a tough hand and unsurprisingly have so far refused to reveal the intricate details of their daring plan.

But voters, businesses, parliament, EU leaders and foreign trading partners are pressing the government to elaborate on its tactics and strategies for Brexit.

There was break-through of sorts on 7th December, with the 650 members of the House of Commons (MPs) voting overwhelmingly to allow the government to trigger Article 50 by end-March in exchange for publishing the details of its Brexit plan.

But the devil is in the detail – or lack thereof. This parliamentary vote is not binding and the government has only agreed in the vaguest of terms to publish its plan for Brexit.

If MPs receive the plan late in the game and/or it is insufficiently detailed and assuming the Supreme Court rules that government has no prerogative to trigger Article 50, parliament may decide to delay or even scupper the process by which Article 50 is triggered.

Moreover, this likely vote in the House of Commons and House of Lords may well be only one of multiple votes which parliament has to hold between now and the approval of a final treaty between the UK and the EU.

In addition to these possible parliamentary hurdles, the government may also have to navigate a number of pending legal cases.

Some of these parliamentary votes may not take place and these legal actions may fail. There is certainly scope for further compromise between Theresa May’s government and parliament.

But the risk is that this reputation-sapping cat-and-mouse game extends beyond March, in turn making it far more difficult to predict the end-outcome – which ranges from the UK reverting to WTO rules (the “hardest” form of Brexit) to the UK staying in the EU.

Given the uncertain path which British executive and legislative bodies will take to reach a difficult-to-predict outcome at an unidentifiable point in the future, forecasting Sterling remains fraught with difficulty.

In this context I would expect Sterling to continue lacking direction near-term, particularly as the FX market has, it would seem, already priced out the more negative scenarios for the UK economy. Mixed UK data may not provide Sterling with much direction either way.

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What will Asian central banks do?

Global risk appetite nudges higher as “West Wing” versus “Yes Minister” plays out

Cinemagoers have in recent years been treated to the daft yet watchable Alien vs Predator and Superman vs Batman movie franchises but nothing compares to the Frankenstein-esque beasts of US and UK politics which have been thrust on voters both sides of the pond – a tragi-comic blend of “the West Wing” versus “Yes Minister” with more twists and sub-plots than a John le Carré novel. Read more

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