All Eyes On Europe

December 8, 2011 — Mitul Kotecha

EUR looks range bound ahead of key events including the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting, European Union Summit and release of bank stress test results. A senior German official poured cold water over expectations of a concrete outcome from the EU Summit, dampening EUR sentiment as a result.

There will be plenty of attention on the ECB to determine whether they will give a little more ground and provide further assistance to the Eurozone periphery. While a refi policy rate cut is highly likely as well as additional liquidity measures I do not expect any move in the direction of more aggressive action to support peripheral bonds in terms of becoming “lender of the last resort’.

If however, the ECB hints at intensifying its securities market purchases of Eurozone bonds this will likely bode well for the EUR. Indeed, reports overnight suggest that the ECB will announce a set of measures to stimulate bank lending including easing collateral requirements for banks.

More weak UK data in the form a bigger than consensus drop in manufacturing and industrial production in October add to the soft BRC retail sales and house price data, in putting pressure on the Bank of England (BoE) to increase its quantitative easing at today’s policy meeting. While the BoE is set to keep policy unchanged it is only a matter of time before additional asset purchases are announced.

Despite the weaker IP data GBP has held up relatively well against the USD although downside risks appear to be intensifying. If I am correct in the view of no change by the BoE today we expect little change in GBP although there could be a risk of a push higher in EUR/GBP if the ECB delivers some positive news, with resistance seen around 0.8665.

The RBNZ unsurprisingly left policy rates unchanged at 2.5%, sounded less hawkish than the previous meeting and also lowered growth forecasts. The NZD was left unmoved by the rate decision and looks well supported at current levels perhaps due to relief that the statement was not more dovish. The kiwi has been an underperformer over the year but unlike the AUD it has not been particularly influenced by gyrations in risk aversion.

Interest rate futures differentials have seen a renewed widening versus the US over recent weeks. This is significant given that the NZ-US interest rate differentials have a very strong correlation with the performance of NZD/USD. If this widening is sustained it will point to upside potential for the Kiwi.

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Sell into Euro rallies

November 29, 2011 — Mitul Kotecha

The USD will have found the news that Fitch Ratings lowered its outlook on the US AAA long term ratings to negative unwelcome. Nonetheless, USD sentiment has been recently as reflected in the jump in CFTC IMM USD positioning to multi week highs. The USD will however, face some headwinds from speculation that the Federal Reserve is about to embark on a fresh round of quantitative easing by purchasing mortgage backed securities.

The firm start to the week in terms of risk appetite helped the EUR to recover some ground but the currency remains vulnerable to event risk. High among the event risk is the Eurogroup and Ecofin meetings today, which will decide whether or not to approve Greece’s next loan tranche as well as EFSF leveraging options. Progress on the latter is likely to be limited leaving the EUR vulnerable to disappointment.

Attention will also focus on Italy’s sale of up to EUR 8 billion of BTPs and the likelihood that the country may have to face a yield above the critical 7% threshold. An increase in funding costs will not bode well for EUR sentiment especially following warnings by Moody’s about potential downgrades to sovereign ratings across the region.

EUR/USD failed to follow through on gains overnight but as reflected in the IMM speculative positioning there may be some scope for further short covering given that the net EUR short position reached its highest since June 2010 last week. Nonetheless, upside potential for EUR/USD is likely to be restricted to resistance around 1.3415.

Relatively dovish comments by Bank of England officials and weak data will keep GBP on the back foot over the short term. BoE governor King highlighted the risk of an inflation undershoot while Fisher noted that the BoE expanded QE by a minimum in October and can do more.

The Office for Budget Responsibility is set to cut UK growth forecasts significantly today. Against this background prospects for more BoE QE remain high. In the short term GBP will likely struggle against both the USD and EUR although we expect weakness versus EUR to be short lived, and would sell into any EUR/GBP rally to around 0.8665 support.

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Super Failure By Supercommittee

November 22, 2011 — Mitul Kotecha

The USD remains a clear beneficiary in the ‘risk off’ environment enveloping markets at present. Indeed as reflected in the latest jump in USD (IMM) speculative positioning the market is turning increasingly to the USD at a time of intense stress. Moreover, the run of better economic data over recent weeks including October existing home sales yesterday points to less need for further Fed quantitative easing, which comes as further relief to the USD.

Further information on this front will be revealed in the Federal Reserve FOMC minutes on Wednesday, with the Fed set to keep the option open. Even the lack of agreement by the US Congressional Supercommittee on a deal to cut the US budget deficit by $1.2 trillion has failed to dent the USD’s progress as the failure of deficit talks was largely expected. Further USD gains are likely but the pace of its upside move will slow.

Although sentiment towards the Eurozone has deteriorated further EUR/USD is just about clinging onto the 1.3500 level despite several forays lower. More active European Central Bank (ECB) bond buying likely helped dampen some bearishness on the currency although reports suggest that the central bank has imposed a limit of EUR 20 billion on such purchases.

The EUR is not being helped however, by ongoing rumblings of a EUR break up despite Greek Prime Minister Papademos attempting to downplay talk of a Greek EUR exit. A meeting today between Italian Prime Minister Monti and EU officials will be in focus, with markets looking to see further signs of commitment to reforms. We expect no let up in pressure on the EUR, though further declines are likely to be slower, with last week’s low around 1.3420 providing short term support.

GPB has been an underperformer, with the currency on the path for a re-test of the 6 October low around 1.5272. News this week will not be helpful for the currency, with potentially dovish Bank of England monetary policy committee (MPC) minutes likely to inflict further damage, with support from the MPC for more QE set to be revealed.

Ahead of the minutes, UK public finances data today will not make for attractive reading just over a week away from UK Chancellor Osborne’s Autumn statement, which will likely reveal a downward revision to growth forecasts and an upward revision to deficit forecasts. GBP has even lost ground against the beleaguered EUR although we continue to believe that the overall trend will continue to be lower for EUR/GBP over coming weeks.

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Extreme Uncertainty

November 20, 2011 — Mitul Kotecha

The level of uncertainty enveloping global markets has reached an extreme level. Who would have thought that close to 13 years after its introduction at a time when it has become the second largest reserve currency globally (26.7% of global reserves) as well as the second most traded currency in the world, European leaders would be openly talking about allowing countries to exit the EUR? No less an issue for currency markets is the sustainability of the USD’s role as the foremost reserve currency (60.2% of global reserves). The US debt ceiling debacle and the dramatic expansion of the Fed’s balance sheet have led to many official reserve holders to question their use of the USD. Perhaps unsurprisingly the JPY has been the main beneficiary of such concerns especially as global risk aversion has increased but to the Japanese much of this attention is unwanted and unwelcome.

The immediate focus is the travails of the eurozone periphery. Against the background of severe debt tensions and political uncertainties it is perhaps surprising that the EUR has held up reasonably well. However, this resilience is related more to concerns about the long term viability of the USD rather than a positive view of the EUR, as many official investors continue to diversify away from the USD. I question whether the EUR’s resilience can be sustained given that it may be a long while before the situation in the eurozone stabilises. Moreover, given the now not insignificant risk of one or more countries leaving the eurozone the long term viability of the EUR may also come into question. I believe a break up of the eurozone remains unlikely but such speculation will not be quelled until markets are satisfied that a safety net / firewall for the eurozone periphery is safely in place.

In this environment fundamentals count for little and risk counts for all. If anything, market tensions have intensified and worries about the eurozone have increased since last month. Politics remain at the forefront of market turmoil, and arguably this has led to the worsening in the crisis as lack of agreement between eurozone leaders has led to watered down solutions. Recent changes in leadership in Italy and Greece follow on from government changes in Portugal and Ireland while Spain is widely expected to emerge with a new government following elections. Meanwhile Chancellor Merkel has had to tread a fine line given opposition from within her own coalition in Germany while in France President Sarkozy is expected to have a tough time in elections in April next year. The likelihood of persistent political tensions for months ahead suggests that the EUR and risk currencies will suffer for a while longer.

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Contagion spreading like wildfire

November 16, 2011 — Mitul Kotecha

EUR continues to head lower and is is destined to test support around 1.3484 versus USD where it came close overnight. Contagion in eurozone debt markets is spreading quickly, with various countries’ sovereign spreads widening to record levels against German bunds including Italy, Spain, France, Belgium and Austria. Poor T-bill auctions in Spain and Belgium, speculation of downgrades to French, Italian and Austrian debt, and a weak reading for the November German ZEW investor confidence index added to the pressure.

A bill auction in Portugal today will provide further direction but the precedent so far this week is not good. The fact that markets have settled back into the now usual scepticism over the ability of authorities in Europe to get their act together highlights the continued downside risks to EUR/USD. Although there is likely to be significant buying around the 1.3500 level, one has to question how long the EUR will continue to skate on thin ice.

The Bank of Japan is widely expected to leave policy unchanged today but the bigger focus is on the Japanese authorities’ stance on the JPY. Finance Minister Azumi noted yesterday that there was no change in his stance on fighting JPY speculators. To some extent the fight against speculators is being won given that IMM speculative positions and TFX margin positioning in JPY has dropped back sharply since the last FX intervention to weaken the JPY.

However, this has done little to prevent further JPY appreciation, with USD/JPY continuing to drift lower over recent days having already covered around half the ground lost in the wake of the October 31 intervention. Markets are likely therefore to take Azumi’s threats with a pinch of salt and will only balk at driving the JPY higher if further intervention takes place. Meanwhile, USD/JPY looks set to grind lower.

GBP will take its direction from the Bank of England Quarterly Inflation Report and October jobs data today. There will be particular attention on the willingness of the BoE to implement further quantitative easing. A likely dovish report should by rights play negatively for GBP but the reaction is not so obvious. Since the announcement of GBP 75 billion in asset purchases a month ago GBP has fared well especially against the EUR, with the currency perhaps being rewarded for the proactive stance of the BoE.

Moreover, the simple fact that GBP is not the EUR has given it a quasi safe haven quality, which has helped it to remain relatively resilient. Nonetheless, GBP will find it difficult to avoid detaching from the coat tails of a weaker EUR and in this respect looks set to test strong support around GBP/USD 1.5630 over the short term.

Posted in Bond markets, central banks, Currencies, ECB, Economics, Economy, Europe, eurozone, Federal Reserve, Financial crisis, Fiscal/Budget, France, FX, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Monetary Policy, Portugal, Spain, UK, US. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »
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