ECONOMETER

The close to 1% drop in the USD index over recent days is misleading in terms of the USD’s performance against emerging market currencies where it has registered strong gains. For example the ADXY (Asian USD index) has dropped to its lowest level since early September 2013 and looks set to decline further as Asian currencies face more pressure. The best performers in this environment are traditional safe havens, especially JPY and CHF while the EUR and Scandinavian currencies have also capitalised on the weaker USD.

The drop in the USD against many major currencies reflects the fact that positioning had reached extreme levels prior to the sharp moves at the end of last week. For instance, net long USD speculative positions (according to the CFTC IMM data) had risen to the highest level since June 2013 while in contrast EUR positioning had dropped to its lowest since July 2013. The subsequent position adjustment will have proved to be a healthy correction that will set the USD up for an eventual rebound and the EUR for a sell off.

The sharp drop in US Treasury yields will undermine the USD further in the near term, however, and the mixed slate of US data releases will offer the currency little assistance. Nonetheless, the USD is expected to stay firm against Asian currencies. Notably capital flows from Asian equity markets have increased over recent weeks, with Philippines, South Korea, and Thailand on track to register outflows for the first month of the year. Against this background it is unsurprising that both the KRW and PHP are the two worst performing Asian currencies so far this year. While I expect a reversal in both, the near term outlook is for further pressure.