Stressing About European Stress Tests

June 18, 2010 — Mitul Kotecha

Equities and risk appetite were bolstered by the relative success of the Spanish bond auction on Thursday. The results of the auction in which Spain sold EUR 3 billion in 10 year notes helped to stem some of the pressure on eurozone bond spreads, which despite the generalized improvement in market sentiment over recent days, had been continuing to widen.

Another key indicator that has been suggested that all is not well moving in the opposite direction to the improvement in many risk indicators is the Baltic Dry Index which has dropped by around a third since 26th May 2010.

Perhaps more significant in terms of providing sustainable support for markets was the news that the European Union agreed to publish the results of bank stress tests, slated for the second half of July. This could turn out to be a key stepping stone towards increasing the transparency of the eurozone banking sector.

However, doubts will remain until there is some clarity on the terms of the tests such as whether they include details of sovereign debt exposure. Also, if the stress tests reveal shortcomings in the banks in question it is unclear if government funding will be provided for them. Although the publishing of stress test results is a step in the right direction until these and other questions are answered it is difficult to see markets getting too excited.

It’s not all plain sailing for equity markets despite the relatively positive news in Europe as disappointing US data in the form of a surprise jump in weekly jobless claims and a bigger than expected drop in the June Philly Fed survey weighed in on the side of those expecting both a slow and jobless recovery in the US.

The CHF has been a key mover following the Swiss National Bank policy decision. The decision to leave interest rates unchanged was no surprise, but the change in rhetoric towards a less aggressive stance towards CHF strength opens up the floodgates for CHF buyers. will look to test its all time low around 1.3720.

Another central bank that has shown concern about a strengthening currency is the Bank of Japan but unlike the SNB Japan’s central bank has not intervened for several years. The BoJ in the minutes of its May meeting noted that it will “watch if Europe’s crisis strengthens JPY”, indicating some concern about JPY strength.

This sentiment that was echoed by the Japanese government in the release of Economic Growth Strategy aimed at avoiding an excessive rise in the JPY via fiscal and monetary steps to beat deflation. The JPY barely reacted to both the minutes and the growth strategy, with market players likely sceptical until concrete measures are actually implemented.

It still look like an environment of sell on rallies for the EUR and other risk currencies, with their gains likely to run out of steam over coming days. The next key technical level for EUR/USD is around 1.2454, a level that will prove a tough nut to crack.

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World Cup FX Positioning/Data Highlights

June 14, 2010 — Mitul Kotecha

The market tone felt decidedly better over the course of the last week although it was difficult to tell if this was due to position squaring ahead of the World Cup football or a genuine improvement in sentiment. There was no particular event or data release that acted as a catalyst either, with the European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England (BoE) meetings passing with little fanfare.

US data ended the week mixed, with retail sales disappointing in May but in contrast June consumer confidence beating expectations. Although questions about the pace of recovery remain, other data such as the Fed’s Beige Book suggest that recovery remains on track, sentiment echoed, albeit cautiously by Fed Chairman Bernanke last week.

Attention this week will centre on inflation data. Expected benign CPI readings will support the view that the Fed will take its time to raise interest rates. Speeches by the Fed’s Bullard, Plosser and Bernanke this week will be eyed for further clues on Fed thinking.

Central banks in Brazil and New Zealand hiked rates last week but this is not likely to be echoed this week. No change is likely from both the Bank of Japan and Swiss National Bank although there will be plenty of attention on the SNB’s comments on the CHF following recent data showing a surge in FX reserves due to currency intervention. The BoJ is unlikely to announce anything new but perhaps some further detail on the loan support plan could be forthcoming.

Manufacturing data will also garner some attention, with the US June Empire and Philly Fed surveys and May industrial production on tap. All three reports will confirm the improving trend in manufacturing activity in the US. Housing data will look weaker, with starts set to pull back in starts in May following the expiry of government tax incentive programmes though permits are set to rise.

In Europe, the June German ZEW (econ sentiment) investor sentiment survey will likely slip slightly due to ongoing fiscal/debt worries but this will be countered by stronger domestic data. In any case the index remains at a high level and a slight drop is unlikely to derail markets.

GBP may find some support form upgrade of UK growth forecasts by the CBI to 1.3% for 2010 and relatively hawkish comments from the BoE’s Sentance in the weekend press warning that inflation is higher than expected, indicating that the Bank may need to hike rates sooner than expected.

Further GBP/USD direction will come from CPI and retail sales data this week as well as public borrowing figures and a report by the new Office of Budget Responsibility on the UK’s fiscal position ahead of the June 22 budget. A break above GBP/USD resistance around 1.4760 is unlikely to materialise.

Despite the many data releases this week, the overall tone is likely to be one of consolidation and reduced volatility in the days ahead. This may allow EUR/USD to gain some ground due to short covering, with the CFTC commitment of traders (IMM) report revealing a further increase in net short speculative positions last week, close to the record set a few weeks back, though we suspect that there will be strong resistance around 1.2227.

The fact that the IMM data revealed that net aggregate net USD long positions reached an all time high last week, highlights the potential for profit taking this week. USD/JPY will look to take out resistance around 92.55 but this looks unlikely unless the BoJ dishes up anything particularly dovish from its meeting.

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Euro Still Vulnerable

February 18, 2010 — Mitul Kotecha

Markets have become rather skittish, with attention gyrating between sovereign deficit/debt concerns on the one hand and better news on the corporate and economic front on the other.  This week the latter appears to be gaining the upper hand helped by an easing of concerns about Greece. Although the Greek saga is by no means close to an end, especially given the new deadlines set by the EU Commission on adherence to budget cuts, the chances of the worst case scenario of default or pull out from the EU looks to have diminished. 

Renewed attention on other EU members, especially in light of the derivatives transactions carried out by Greece and potentially by other European countries to disguise the extent of their budget problems suggests that there is still more pain ahead. Nonetheless, it is increasingly clear that investors are differentiating between Europe and the rest of the world much to the chagrin of the EUR.  

Differentiation between the eurozone and the US was particularly apparent in the wake of stronger than forecast earnings and data in the US. Two more companies joined the three-quarters of S&P 500 companies beating earnings forecasts whilst economic reports including US January industrial production and housing starts came in ahead of forecasts.  This pattern is set to continue today, with the US Philly Fed manufacturing index set to increase to around 17 in February from 15.2 in January. 

In contrast, data in Europe has been much less impressive, with for example, the February ZEW survey of investor confidence recording its 5th consecutive decline in February.  The eurozone economic news may look a little better in the form of likely increases in manufacturing Purchasing Managers Indices (PMIs) but unless the data reveals particularly strong readings the growing perception that Europe is falling behind in the recovery process will remain in place.

Despite the improvement in risk appetite the USD has taken a firmer tone, appearing to react more to positive data and implications for a reduction in policy accommodation by the Fed.  In particular, the USD was spurred by the FOMC minutes of the January 26-27 meeting, in which the Fed debated its exit strategy from quantitative easing.  Some officials even went as far as pushing for asset sales in the “near future” to reduce the size of the Fed’s balance sheet.

Even though the USD has taken a firmer tone it will continue to be buffeted by the conflicting forces of improved risk appetite and shifting interest rate expectations.  Correlations reveal that risk is still the dominant FX factor suggesting that there may still be some further downside left for the USD as risk appetite improves. 

Although commodity currencies have also come under pressure due to the generally firmer USD tone overnight, the downside in these currencies is likely to prove limited especially given strong data releases.  For example, data overnight revealed that business confidence rose to its highest level in 15 years in Australia.  Added to upbeat comments from RBA deputy governor Lowe and strong labour market data, it highlights the growing probability of a March rate hike by the RBA.

The EUR remains the weak link and although it may benefit from easing Greek concerns the growing evidence of a relatively slower economic recovery in the eurozone suggests any upside in the EUR will be limited.  Having dropped below technical support around 1.3580, EUR/USD looks vulnerable to a further push lower in the short-term.

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Q4 earnings and Chinese data

January 18, 2010 — Mitul Kotecha

Since the start of the year the market has gyrated from “risk on” to “risk off” and back again. On balance the overall tone has been just about positive, with firmer economic data, most notably in China outweighing sovereign debt concerns in Greece and elsewhere. Although debt concerns are unlikely to dissipate quickly, especially given Greece’s inability to convince markets of its plans to cut its burgeoning budget deficit, the “risk on” tone is likely to win.

“Risk off” may be the tone at the start of the week however, as US equities ended the week on a negative note ahead of the Martin Luther King holidays. The holidays will likely keep trading slow. Data wise the main US events housing starts on Wednesday and the Philly Fed on Thursday. Q4 US earnings are likely to take a bigger share of market attention as the earnings season rolls on. Bank earnings will be a key focus, with Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, BoA, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs set to report this week.

Given the growing influence of Chinese data on markets the monthly data pack from China will capture more attention than usual on Thursday. In particular, GDP and inflation data will be of most interest. GDP data is likely to reveal an acceleration in growth in Q4 YoY to above 10% but given worries about over heating and following last week’s tightening in China’s monetary policy CPI data will be closely scrutinized. Inflation is likely to pick up further maintaining the pressure for further monetary tightening as well as a stronger CNY.

Elsewhere, in the eurozone the main event is the German ZEW survey tomorrow, which is likely to show further signs of flagging, due to Greek concerns. There is also an interest rate decision to contend with; the Bank of Canada is unlikely to surprise markets as it keeps policy unchanged tomorrow. The UK has a relatively heavier data slate, with CPI tomorrow, Bank of England minutes on Wednesday and retail sales at the end of the week.

The UK data kicked off on a positive note this week, with house prices rising 0.4% MoM in January and 4.1% YoY according to UK property website Rightmove, the biggest annual gain in over a year. Moreover, activity on Rightmove’s website reached a record high in the first full week of the year. The data as well as expectations that Kraft will raise its bid for Cadbury will likely help GBP in addition to other GBP positive M&A news. GBP/USD will look to test resistance around 1.6365 this week.

After a slightly firmer start helped by the weak close to US equity markets on Friday the USD is likely to generally trade on the back foot over the week. Speculative sentiment for the USD has definitely soured into the new-year as reflected in the CFTC IMM data which revealed a big jump in net short positions in the week ending 12 January 2010. Net aggregate USD positions shifted from +1.6k to -51.9k over the week, with the main beneficiaries being the EUR, and risk trades including AUD, NZD and CAD.

Posted in Asia, central banks, China, Currencies, Economics, Economy, emerging markets, equity markets, Europe, Fiscal/Budget, FX, Germany, Greece, Interest rates, US. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment »

What’s driving FX – Interest rates or risk?

December 13, 2009 — Mitul Kotecha

The November US retail sales report has really set the cat amongst the pigeons. For so long we have become accustomed to judging the move in the USD based on daily gyrations in risk aversion. Well, that may all be about to change. There was an inkling that all did not look right following the release of the November jobs report which unsurprisingly helped to boost risk appetite but surprisingly boosted the USD too.

It was easy to dismiss the USD reaction to year end position adjustment, markets getting caught short USDs etc. What’s more the shift in interest rate expectations following the jobs report in which markets began to price in an earlier rate hike in the US was quickly reversed in the wake of Fed Chairman Bernanke’s speech highlighting risks to the economy and reiterating the Fed’s “extended period” stance.

However, it all has happened again following the release of the November retail sales data, which if you missed it, came in stronger than expected alongside a similarly better than forecast reading for December Michigan confidence. The USD reaction was to register a broad based rally as markets once again moved to believe that the “extended period” may not be so extended after all.

Interest rates will become increasingly important in driving currencies over the course of the next few months but if anyone thinks that the Fed will shift its stance at this week’s FOMC meeting, they are likely to be off the mark. No doubt the Fed will note the recent improvement in economic data but this is highly unlikely to result in a change in the overall stance towards policy.

Further improvements in US data this week including industrial production, housing starts, Philly Fed and Empire manufacturing may lead markets to doubt this but the Fed calls the shots and a potentially dovish statement may act to restrain the USD this week. Also, it’s probably not a good idea to rule out the influence of risk appetite on currencies just yet and with a generally positive slate of data expected, firmer risk appetite will similarly act as a cap on the USD this week.

Other than the US events there is plenty of other potentially market moving data to digest this week. More central banks meet this week including the Riksbank, Norges Bank and Bank of Japan. No change is expected from all three but whilst the Riksbank is set to maintain a dovish stance the Norges Bank meeting is a closer call. So soon after the emergency BoJ meeting, a shift in policy appears unlikely but the pressure to increase Rinban (outright JGB buying) operations could throw up some surprises for markets.

Europe also has its fair share of releases this week including the two biggest data for markets out of the eurozone, namely, the German ZEW and IFO surveys as well as the flash December PMI readings. The biggest risk is for the ZEW survey which could suffer proportionately more in the wake of recent sovereign concerns in the Eurozone. Sovereign names may still lurk to protect the downside on EUR/USD and if the USD finds it tougher going as noted above, the EUR may be able to claw back some of its recent losses.

Posted in central banks, Currencies, Economics, Economy, Europe, FX, Germany, Interest rates, Japan, Monetary Policy, US. Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment »
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