Strengthening risk appetite hitting the dollar

October 13, 2011 — Mitul Kotecha

Strengthening risk appetite is taking its toll on the USD, with the USD index now down around 3.5% from its 4 October peak. Although equity markets probably liked the news the USD was dealt another blow from the FOMC minutes which revealed that some Fed officials were keen on embarking on further large-scale asset purchases after recognizing that the impact of Operation Twist will not be so potent.

Earnings will have some impact on risk and in turn the USD, with Q3 earnings from JP Morgan and Google on tap today. However, risk appetite looks well supported and in a market that became long USDs very quickly, this suggests some scope for squaring long positions in the short term.

What comes next for the EUR? The currency has bounced from its lows and has made considerable ground against the USD over recent sessions. Markets quickly got over Slovakia’s initial rejection of the EFSF’s enhancement as agreement was reached by officials in the country to approve the mechanism in a second vote. However, there is not much news on the progress on issues such as European banking sector recapitalisation, ‘leveraging’ the EFSF or the any change in creditor participation in any Greek debt restructuring.

Although European Commission President Barroso gave some broad outlines of what should be done to recapitalise banks disagreement among officials meant that there was little detail. Perhaps no news is good news and in any case markets will have to wait for the delayed EU Summit for further news, but the longer the wait the greater the scepticism and attendant downside risks to EUR.

The Swiss National Bank must be content with their stance on the CHF. Since the imposition of a ceiling for CHF versus EUR at 1.2000, and after an initial sharp jump higher the currency pair has continued to edge upwards. Meanwhile, speculation that the SNB may even raise the ceiling to 1.30 has grown as domestic complaints such as those from the country’s largest telecoms operator yesterday about the ongoing strength in the currency, continue.

The SNB has not indicated that it favors such a move and may be content with a gradual decline in the CHF as is taking place now, but should the fragile market calm at present disintegrate the SNB may have another battle on their hands as appetite for the currency strengthens anew. On the top side resistance is seen around 1.2469 for EUR/CHF.

Like many other high beta currencies AUD is being influenced less by domestic factors and more by risk aversion. Even more influential to the direction of AUD/USD is the movement in commodity prices and like risk aversion this had a negative influence on AUD as commodity prices dropped sharply over September.

Due to a bounce in both risk and commodities AUD has bounced sharply from its recent lows back above parity with the USD. AUD will have found further support from the firm September jobs report today. It is difficult to go against rising risk appetite at present but there is still a significant risk that hopes of a solution to the eurozone’s woes do not materialise while growth expectations are pared back further. Against this background the AUD will remain susceptible to sharp

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High Hopes

October 11, 2011 — Mitul Kotecha

EUR/USD has rallied over recent days from a low around 1.3146 last week. Market hopes of a eurozone solution may fall flat but the pressure on officials has ratcheted higher, and the risks of failure are now too significant to jeopardize with half measures. Weekend promises of banking sector recapitalisation by Germany and France have helped but will not be enough should such promises prove empty. Markets will likely give the benefit of the doubt to eurozone officials ahead of the delayed October 23 EU Summit and the November 3 G20 meeting.

Consequently EUR will find some support over coming days and could extend gains as risk appetite improves; having broken above 1.3600 the next big resistance level for EUR/USD is 1.3800. The fact that EUR speculative positioning is very negative (biggest short position since June 2010 according to IMM data) highlights the potential for short covering.

Possible good news in Greece, with an announcement by the Troika (ECB, EU and IMF) on talks over the next tranche of the bailout will likely provide more EUR support. One stumbling block for the EUR could come from the Slovakian vote on EFSF bailout fund enhancement, which is by no means guaranteed to pass.

The JPY remains firm benefitting from higher risk aversion, registering one of the highest correlations with risk over recent months. However, the reason why the JPY is not even stronger is that bond yield differentials (especially 2-year) with the US have widened out in favour of the USD over recent days. If the recent improvement in risk appetite continues, combined with widening yield differentials it could push USD/JPY to finally move higher and sustain a break above 77.00.

GBP/USD has made an impressive bounce over recent days from a low around 1.5272 last week despite the Bank of England’s announcement of more quantitative easing last week and credit ratings downgrades of several UK banks. This resilience is impressive but it appears that GBP is caching onto the coat tails of a firmer EUR rather than benefitting from a domestically led improvement in sentiment. Nonetheless, there is scope for further gains in GBP given that speculative positioning in the currency moved close to its all time low early last week in anticipation of BoE QE.

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Risk appetite remains fragile

October 10, 2011 — Mitul Kotecha

The stabilisation in risk appetite over recent days looks highly fragile and markets will look to upcoming events in Europe and data releases to determine whether a rally in risk assets is justified. Discussions over the weekend between German Chancellor Merkel and French President Sarkozy delivered little in substance apart from a promise that a concrete response to the crisis will be delivered by the end of the month ahead of the 3 November G20 summit.

Both leaders agreed on the need for European banking sector recapitalisation and this issue along with whether or how to leverage the EFSF bailout fund and the extent of private sector participation in any Greek bailout is likely to take growing prominence for markets over coming weeks ahead of the EU summit on 17-18 October. In the meantime, markets may give Eurozone officials the benefit of the doubt but patience will run thin if no progress is made on these fronts.

The US jobs report at the end of last week which revealed a bigger than expected 103k increase in payrolls and upward revisions to previous months will have helped to allay fears about a renewed recession in the US and global economy. Indeed, recent surveys reveal that analysts expected weak US growth rather than recession. This week’s data will help to shore up such expectations with US data including retail sales and consumer confidence likely to outshine European data, including likely declines in industrial production in the region.

Overall, this will help to buoy risk appetite which may leave the USD with less of a safe haven bid but at the same time it will also reduce expectations of more quantitative easing (QE3) in the US, something that will bode well for the USD. Markets are set to begin the week in relatively positive mood but we remain cautious about the ability of risk appetite to be sustained. On balance, firmer risk appetite will play negatively for the USD early in the week but any drop in the USD will be limited by the fragility of risk appetite and potential for risk aversion to intensify again.

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In the eye of the storm

October 4, 2011 — Mitul Kotecha

The rout in global markets continues as the bad news mounts up. Failure to achieve concrete results from the meeting of eurozone finance ministers yesterday together with intensifying banking sector concerns and weaker global manufacturing surveys left a sour taste for investors. Aside from the selloff in global stocks the EUR fell to an eight month low and looks on track to test psychological support around 1.30 versus USD.

Attention continues to be focussed on the Greece. Greece’s failure to meet its deficit targets did not appear to derail the prospects of the country receiving it’s next loan tranche but discussions between the Troika and Greek officials are ongoing and payment to Greece may not now be made until November. European officials have indicated that they will reassess Greece’s deficit targets combining 2011 and 2012 targets, suggesting some leeway for Greece to be able to qualify for the next loan tranche.

One reason that markets are reacting negatively is the hints from Eurozone officials that the agreement reached in July on a second bailout for Greece may need “technical” revisions which has been perceived to imply bigger write downs for Greek bond holders compared to the haircuts of 21 percent agreed back in July.

There seems to be no end to the problems for the EUR and markets are clearly running out of patience. Over the near tem there appears to be little to prevent sentiment from deteriorating further. What is needed is a clear plan and this is clearly not forthcoming. Greece remains in the eye of the storm but as yet there is no plan to ring fence the country and avoid a deeper fallout globally.

Elsewhere risk currencies in general continue to be hit, with the AUD in particular facing pressure as the RBA hinted at prospects of interest rate cuts in the weeks ahead. The outright winner is the USD and further gains are likely as risk aversion continues to intensify despite the fact that the US has it’s own problems to deal with. As we move further into October the potential for more volatility remains high.

Posted in Currencies, Economics, Economy, Europe, eurozone, Fiscal/Budget, FX, Greece, US. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Ecofin, ECB, US jobs report in focus

October 3, 2011 — Mitul Kotecha

The USD index remains close to its recent highs, maintaining a positive tone amid elevated risk aversion. Data releases have tended to take a back seat to events over recent weeks, but this week the all important US September jobs report may provide the bigger focus for US markets. The consensus expectation is for a 50k increase in payrolls and the unemployment rate remaining at 9.1% an outcome that would do nothing to assuage US growth worries. As usual markets will gauge clues to the jobs data from the ADP jobs data and employment components of the ISM data but an outcome in line with consensus expectations will likely keep risk aversion elevated and the USD supported unless the data is so bad that it results in an increase in expectations for Fed QE3.

There will be plenty of attention on the Ecofin meeting of European finance ministers today especially given that much of the reason for the stability in markets recently is the hope of concrete measures to resolve the crisis in the region. In this respect the scope for disappointment is high, suggesting that the EUR is vulnerable to a further drop if no progress is made at today’s meeting. While the extent of short market positioning has left open some scope for EUR short covering the absence of any good news will mean the impetus for short covering will diminish.

While attention in Europe will predominately remain on finding a resolution to the debt crisis and the saga of Greece’s next loan tranche, the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting will also be in focus this week especially given expectations that the ECB will cut interest rates. While hopes of a 50 basis points rate cut may have taken a knock from the firmer than expected reading for September flash CPI released at the end of last week the EUR could actually react positively to an easing in policy given that it may at least help to allay some of the growing growth concerns about the eurozone economy. However, any EUR will be limited unless officials in the eurozone get their act together and deliver on expectations of some form of resolution to the crisis in the region.

Strong words from Japan’s Finance Minister Azumi failed to have any lasting impact on USD/JPY. Japan will bolster funds to intervene in currency markets by JPY 15 trillion and extend the monitoring of FX positions until the end of December. Japan did not intervene during September but spent around JPY 4.5 trillion in FX intervention in August to little effect. For markets to be convinced about Japan’s conviction to weaken the JPY it will require putting intervention funds to active use, something that doesn’t seem to be forthcoming at present. A factor that may give some potential upside momentum for USD/JPY is the slight widening of US versus Japan bond yield differentials over recent days, which could finally result in a sustained move above 77.00 if it continues into this week.

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