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.

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Waiting for a solution to Europe’s crisis

September 30, 2011 — Mitul Kotecha

The boost to sentiment following Germany’s approval of changes to the EFSF bailout fund was brief. Although the outcome of the vote was not particularly surprising political concerns were assuaged by the fact that Chancellor Merkel secured support from within her coalition. Markets were also helped by a bigger than expected drop in weekly US jobless claims but this also failed to provide a lasting impact.

The bottom line is that there is still a huge degree of scepticism on the ability of policymakers to resolve the crisis in the eurozone periphery while growth worries have not receded. Even the approved changed to the EFSF bailout fund are increasingly being seen as old news given the view that it will need deeper changes including ‘leveraging’ it up.

Consequently risk aversion remains at a highly elevated level and is showing no sign of easing. It may be difficult to turn sentiment around as we go into the final quarter of the year, especially as those investors registering profits for the year may want to capitalise on these profits rather than sit through continued volatility in the weeks ahead. Indeed the sharp drop in gold prices over the last couple of weeks even in an environment of elevated risk aversion may reflect this.

Similarly risk assets may struggle to recover over coming weeks unless there is a major improvement in the situation in Europe or in growth data. Markets will go into the end of this week looking ahead to key events next week including an Ecofin meeting at the beginning of next week, a European Central Bank (ECB) meeting and the US September jobs report.

There will be plenty of attention on the Ecofin meeting of European Finance Ministers on Monday 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.

While the extent of short market positioning at the beginning of week left open some scope for EUR short covering the absence of any good news will mean the impetus for short covering diminishes. Unless the Ecofin meeting delivers on expectations EUR/USD will likely re-test the 26 September low around 1.3363.

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Euro supported by hope

September 27, 2011 — Mitul Kotecha

Hope appears to be the overriding sentiment filtering through markets at present. Such hope includes expectations that the European authorities will be able to ring fence Greece and avoid much deeper and wider comtagion to other eurozone peripheral countries than has already taken place. This may involve a European version of the US Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Various other measures are being speculated on including covered bond purchases from the ECB, provision of 12 month liquidity by the ECB, a policy rate cut, banking sector recapitalization and a beefing up of the EFSF bailout fund.

The result of such speculation has been to provide some stability to the EUR and asset markets but there is a long way to go before hopes turn into action. The next few weeks will be critical to determine whether a firmer base to sentiment and the EUR can be established and markets will turn their attention to a meeting of eurozone finance ministers on October 3 and the European Central Bank on October 6. Meanwhile national votes on changes to the EFSF bailout fund will continue this week including Germany’s vote on Thursday. While the vote is likely to pass it may draw attention to divisions within Chancellor Merkel’s party.

One thing is certain. There is no room for any more disappointment especially given that the plans agreed by European officials in July have yet to be implemented. If there is no concrete action over coming weeks the EUR will come under renewed pressure and indeed the risk is still heavily skewed towards more EUR weakness given the various disagreements between officials. Nonetheless, the improved mood in the short term will likely help prevent the currency from sliding further for now and a base appears to be forming just under 1.35 against the USD.

Posted in Currencies, ECB, Economics, Economy, Europe, eurozone, Federal Reserve, Financial crisis, Fiscal/Budget, FX, Germany, Greece. Tags: , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

Fed does the Twist, markets do the Shake

September 22, 2011 — Mitul Kotecha

Although it was widely expected the Federal Reserve’s decision to implement a fresh version of Operation Twist together with a downbeat assessment of the economy came as a disappointment to equities and risk assets in general. The only surprise was the larger size of the operation at $400 billion.

Moody’s downgrade of three US banks added to the malaise as US equities dropped sharply, commodities slid, longer term Treasuries rallied whilst shorter term bonds dropped. The USD registered broad gains both on the back of the fact that no more quantitative easing was announced and due to a shift away from risk assets. At least there was no more negative news out of the eurozone as talks between the Troika (ECB, IMF, EC) and Greek officials continue on the next tranche of the bailout.

Markets will continue to digest the Fed’s outcome today and the negative tone will likely filter through markets today. There is little on the data front to result in a shift in this tone. In the US data includes weekly jobless claims while in Europe attention will be on manufacturing and service sector confidence measures.

While the potential for a positive outcome to talks in Greece may provide a short term boost to sentiment the overwhelming tone is likely to remain negative especially as Operation Twist is unlikely to change the dynamic of a weak growth trajectory for the US and developed economies over the coming months. Against this background, selling risk assets on rallies remains the preferred option.

The USD will continue to look firmest against high beta emerging market currencies in the current environment. Currencies in this group are those that have the highest correlations with risk (as m measured by my in house risk barometer) over the past 3 months including CAD, ZAR, TRY, INR, MXN, ARS & RUB. In contrast currencies that also have high correlations but actually strengthen as risk aversion increases are CNY and JPY.

Posted in Asia, Asian currencies, central banks, Commodities, Currencies, ECB, Economics, Economy, emerging markets, equity markets, Europe, eurozone, Federal Reserve, Financial crisis, FX, Greece, Interest rates, Monetary Policy, US. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »
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