What To Watch This Week

April 19, 2010 — Mitul Kotecha

Well so much for a “risk on” week. Market sentiment soured at the end of last week following The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) civil action against Goldman Sachs, in which they accused the bank of fraud. The impact reverberated across markets and risk trades were pulled back as a consequence. Bulls shouldn’t be too downhearted though as the drop in risk trades followed several days of gains and part of the pullback could be attributed to profit taking.

Speculation of similar probes in Europe by financial regulators will cast a shadow over markets early this week. Nonetheless, direction will at least in part come from earnings. So far the run of earnings looks upbeat, with around 83% of the 48 S&P 500 companies reporting, beating analysts’ estimates. Overall profits are forecast to increase by around 30% from a year ago but are on track to easily beat this estimate. Bellwether names including IBM, Apple, Coca-Cola, Boeing, Microsoft, and AT&T report this week.

The meeting between Greek officials, ECB, IMF and EU has been delayed until Wednesday. There is little likelihood of Greece seeing any loan money soon as the need for parliamentary approval in some EU countries and upcoming regional elections in Germany on 9 May will put a spanner in the works. An issue of EUR 1.5bn of 3-month Greek debt tomorrow will act another test of market confidence but the recent widening in Greek debt spreads suggests a less positive reception than the previous sale.

There are also a few central bank meetings to contend with this week including Canada, Sweden, India, Philippines and Thailand. The only Bank likely to hike interest rates out of this bunch is the RBI in India with another hike expected, following closely on the heels of the March move. Canada and Sweden are unlikely to shift policy until at last after the end of Q2 whilst protests in Bangkok, Thailand, and the knock on impact on consumer confidence, have effectively sealed the case for no rate move there.

On the data front, attention will turn to US housing market activity. Markets will be able to gauge further clues to whether recovery in the housing market has stalled. An increase in both existing (Thu) and new home sales (Fri) in March is expected, which may allay some concerns although any improvement is likely to continue to fragile against the background of tight credit and high foreclosure levels.

In Europe, aside from the ongoing Greek sage, sentiment surveys will garner most attention, with the release of the German ZEW (Tue) and IFO (Fri) surveys as well as manufacturing and service sector purchasing managers indices (PMIs) across Europe. On the whole the surveys are likely to reveal some improvement as confidence.

Risk aversion will be slightly elevated at the beginning of this week but strong earnings and improving data will help to prevent too much damage. Consequently Risk currencies will start the week under pressure but any pullback will be limited. Given that speculative positioning in risk currencies such as the AUD, NZD and CAD is well above their three-month average according to the latest Commitment of Traders’ IMM data there will be some scope for profit taking. EUR speculative sentiment has seen some improvement but EUR/USD remains vulnerable to a further pull back to technical support around 1.3302 this week.

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Q1 Economic Review: Elections, Recovery and Underemployment

April 10, 2010 — Mitul Kotecha

I was recently interview by Sital Ruparelia for his website dedicated to “Career & Talent Management Solutions“, on my views on Q1 Economic Review: Elections, Recovery and Underemployment.

Sital is a regular guest on BBC Radio offering career advice and job search tips to listeners. Being a regular contributor and specialist for several leading on line resources including eFinancial Careers and Career Hub (voted number 1 blog by ‘HR World’), Sital’s career advice has also been featured in BusinessWeek online.

As you’ll see from the transcript of the interview below, I’m still cautiously optimistic about the prospects for 2010 and predicts a slow drawn out recovery with plenty of hiccups along the way.

Sital: Mitul, when we spoke in December to look at your predictions for 2010, you were cautiously optimistic about economic recovery in 2010. What’s your take on things after the first quarter?

Click here to read the rest…

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Why Buy Asian FX (Part 2)

April 2, 2010 — Mitul Kotecha

The strength of portfolio capital inflows into Asia reflects the outperformance of Asian economies relative to Western economies. Whilst the US, Europe, Japan and UK have struggled to recover from recession and are likely to register only sub-par recovery over the coming months, Asian economies led by China are recovering quickly and strongly. This pattern is set to continue, leading to a widening divergence between Asian and G7 economic growth.

As growth strengthens inflationary pressures are set to build up and Asian central banks will likely raise interest rates more quickly than their G7 counterparts. Already some central banks have moved in this direction, with India, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam, having tightened policy. This will be followed by many other central banks in Asia over Q2 2010 including China. Even countries with close trade links to Asia, in particular Australia will rate hikes further over coming months, with Australian interest rates likely to rise to a peak of 5% by year-end.

Given that the US is unlikely to raise interest rates in 2010 higher interest rates across Asia will result in a widening in the interest rate differential with the US leading to more upside potential for Asian currencies as their ‘carry’ attraction increases relative to the USD. The most sensitive Asian currencies to interest rate differentials at present are the Malaysian ringgit (MYR), Thai baht (THB) and Philippines peso (PHP) but I believe that as rates rise in Asia, the sensitivity will increase further for many more Asian currencies.

Most Asian currencies have registered positive performances versus the USD in 2010 led by the MYR and Indonesian rupiah (IDR) and closely followed by the Indian rupee (INR), THB and South Korean won (KRW). The notable exception is China which has been unyielding to pressure to allow the CNY to strengthen. Even China is set to allow some FX appreciation although if the US labels China as a “currency manipulator” it could prove counterproductive and even result in a delay in CNY appreciation.

Looking ahead, the trend of strengthening Asian FX will continue likely led by the likes of the KRW and INR but with the MYR, TWD and IDR not far behind. Stronger growth, higher interest rates, strengthening capital inflows and higher equity markets will contribute to appreciation in Asian currencies over the remainder of the year.

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Why Buy Asian FX (Part 1)

March 31, 2010 — Mitul Kotecha

Given all the attention on Greece and European fiscal/debt woes over recent weeks it’s been easy to forget about the success story of Asian economies. Of course, there has been a lot of attention on China and the international pressure to revalue its currency. However, the stability and resilience of Asian economies has been impressive throughout the financial crisis and recent Greek saga, helping to boost the attraction of Asian currencies.

Asia has managed to avoid the fiscal/debt problems associated with many developed economies, due to much better fiscal management over recent years. There are a couple of exceptions however, including the Philippines and India, but the fiscal positions in these countries have seen an improvement and are unlikely to lead to anywhere near the same sort of problems associated with Greece and other European countries.

So far this year capital inflows into Asian equity markets have much been stronger than 2009, albeit after a rocky start to the year when flows dried up due to rising risk aversion. Since then inflows have resumed strongly. The comparison to 2008 is even more dramatic as much of Asia registered significant capital outflows that year. South Korea, India and Taiwan, respectively, have led the way in term of inflows into equity markets in 2010, with inflows of $4.3 billion, $3.7 billion and $3.3 billion, respectively.

It is no coincidence that Asian currencies are most sensitive to the performance of Asian equity markets, with strong capital inflows and rising equities leading to stronger currency performance. Asia is set to continue to be a strong destination for equity flows over coming months, which given the high Asian equity correlation with local currencies, will lead to further appreciation in most Asian FX. A likely CNY revaluation in China will also help to fuel further Asian FX upside.

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Greek Saga Rumbles On – Does Anybody Care?

March 24, 2010 — Mitul Kotecha

The debate over Greece continues to rumble on. France and Spain requested a separate summit meeting of the 16 heads of eurozone countries immediately before the full 27-member EU summit starting tomorrow but this was met with resistance. Meanwhile, Germany has called for “a substantial contribution” from the IMF towards a Greek aid package, whilst maintaining that no EU deal will be reached for Greece at the summit.

Frankly, the whole Greek saga has become extremely boring, with the lack of agreement about how to fix it doing little to inspire confidence. In particular the fractured opinion amongst EU leaders highlights the difficulties in reaching an agreement in a union made up of so many conflicting interests. At most the summit may agree on the conditions for a rescue package for Greece rather than a package itself. This will leave markets unimpressed,

US new home sales data today is likely to paint a slightly better picture with a small gain expected, albeit following the 11.2% plunge in the previous month. Sales will be helped by the extension of the home buyer tax credit. The US February durable goods orders report is also released today, with a small increase expected. A smaller gain in transport orders suggests that the 2.6% jump last month will not be repeated.

In Europe, the key release is the March German IFO business climate survey and a rebound is likely following February’s decline, helped by warmer weather and a weaker EUR. Flash readings of Eurozone March purchasing managers indices (PMIs) are also released but these are unlikely to extend gains from the previous month. Despite expectations of firmer data the EUR/USD is vulnerable to a further decline, with support around 1.3432 in sight for an imminent test.

Attention in the UK will turn to the pre-election Budget and particularly the government’s plans to cut spending and reduce the fiscal deficit. Failure to provide a credible blue print to restore fiscal credibility will damage confidence, heightening the risks of an eventual sovereign ratings downgrade and more pressure on GBP which appears destined for another drop below 1.50 versus USD.

Most currencies have remained within ranges and the most interesting currency pair is EUR/CHF having failed to react to verbal warnings from the Swiss National Bank (SNB) about excessive CHF strength. EUR/CHF looks vulnerable to a further decline unless the SNB follows up rhetoric with action. Even if there is FX intervention by the SNB it may prove to be a temporary barrier to a market with an eye on the psychologically important 1.4000 level.

Despite the pressure on the Japanese government and Bank of Japan (BoJ) to engineer a weaker JPY, export performance has proven resilient, with exports jumping 45.3% on the year in February, helped by the strength of demand from Asia. Unfortunately this is doing little to end Japan’s deflation problem and even if there is less urgency for a weaker JPY to boost exports, JPY weakness will certainly help to reduce deflationary pressures in the economy. USD/JPY is stubbornly clinging to the 90.00 level, with little inclination to move in either direction.

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