USD under pressure, AUD resilient

October 17, 2012 — Mitul Kotecha

Risk assets registered further gains in the wake of speculation that Spain is close to requesting aid and stronger than forecast US Q3 earnings and economic data. US earnings have beaten expectations at 73% of the 48 companies reporting while US industrial production rose by a bigger than expected 0.4%. Meanwhile German resistance to a full Spanish aid appears to be crumbling as the door opens wider to a formal Spanish request for a credit line.

Additionally German data was a big more encouraging as the German ZEW investor confidence survey recorded its second straight monthly gain. Aside from rallying global stock markets the Baltic Dry Index continued its ascent and even gold prices showed some stability around the $1750 level. There is little to distract from the more positive market tone today, with US earnings and the EU Council meeting in focus.

The USD has come under renewed pressure as risk appetite improves. Firmer US data has contributed to improving risk appetite which in turn would usually be expected to weigh on the USD. However, better data may also act to lessen expectations of the magnitude of Fed QE, which should play positive for the USD. This is the theory but in practice the USD relationship with risk aversion has slipped while a lot of QE expectations were already built into the currency.

I don’t see the pressure on the USD intensifying much further. Conversely the EUR remains very well supported as hopes grow of a Spanish request for bailout funds. I believe expectations of concrete action at the EU Summit beginning tomorrow are overdone, with significant decisions on Spain and Greece only likely in November. EUR/USD will struggle to break above resistance at 1.3180.

AUD bears failed to garner support yesterday as the currency easily overcame a blip lower in the wake of the RBA minutes yesterday. While sounding dovish there was little new in the minutes, with no fresh information on future policy actions. In any case markets have already priced in further easing at the 6 November RBA meeting suggesting little further risk to the AUD. Following its failure to build on any downside momentum AUD/USD looks set for a test of resistance around 1.0404, consistent with the upside signal from my quantitative model.

One impediment to AUD gains is the fact that speculative market positioning remains long. However, positioning is now much lower than its three-month average and well off its recent highs suggesting that there is less likelihood of a further bout of profit taking or position squaring. Reduced long positioning will allow the AUD to recoup some lost ground.

Posted in Australia, Spain, US. Tags: , , , . Leave a Comment »

Lower range for the JPY, GBP vulnerable

September 27, 2012 — Mitul Kotecha

The announcement of the Spanish 2013 budget, German jobs data, and the release of European confidence measures mean that attention will remain focussed on the Eurozone today and the news is unlikely to be good. The request for a Spanish bailout moves ever closer and could eventually provide some relief but prevarication continues to weigh on sentiment.

US data releases will not provide much solace for markets either, with weak durable goods orders and a revision lower to US Q2 GDP expected to be revealed. All in all, another tough session for markets is in store.

Meanwhile, currencies against the USD continue to look vulnerable, with EUR/USD, AUD/USD, USD/CHF in particular, close to breaching their 200 day moving average levels. USD/JPY has closed below the 78.00 level throughout this week suggesting that the currency pair may be moving into a new lower range. So far, there is little sign of potential FX intervention by the Japanese authorities.

Interestingly USD/JPY has dropped despite a general rebound in the USD, suggesting that it is very difficult for the Japanese authorities to blame the move on a weaker USD this time. Nor is the JPY particularly sensitive to risk aversion at present. For a change the move in the JPY cannot be blamed on a narrowing in US versus Japanese bond yield differentials too as the sensitivity of USD/JPY to yield differentials has dropped to an insignificant level while the US yield advantage has actually widened.

Net securities inflows into Japan have been strong recently however, suggesting either or both repatriation into Japanese fiscal half year end or renewed foreign interest in Japanese portfolio assets are helping the JPY. USD/JPY is expected to run into bids around the 77.10 level.

EUR/GBP has tracked the move lower in EUR/USD, while GBP/USD appears to be showing some resilience despite a generally firmer USD. Renewed Eurozone tensions are helping GBP as investors once again look for relative save havens although many would question whether GBP can really be considered as a safe haven.

With little on the data front in the UK today (only the third reading of Q2 GDP) GBP will be left to follow the travails of the EUR. Notably my models show that EUR/GBP divergence from its short term fair value estimate is growing, implying that the drop in the currency pair is unlikely to persist, with GBP resilience likely to give way over coming sessions. My estimate for short term EUR/GBP fair value is 0.8143. This is corroborated by my GBP/USD quantitative model, which also shows downside risks.

Posted in eurozone, Spain, US. Tags: , , , , , . Leave a Comment »

EUR jumps on Spanish news, but Greek risks ahead

June 11, 2012 — Mitul Kotecha

Spain’s request for a EUR 100 billion bailout for its banks has significantly shifted the bias for markets this week, with risk assets buoyed and safe haven assets pressured. The fact that Spain will receive a bailout ‘light’ in terms of the conditions of the loan, will also have come as good news as the stringent measures associated with bailouts of Greece, Portugal and Ireland, will be avoided. Taken together with mixed (but less bad than feared) Chinese data over the weekend, the scene is set for markets to rally early in the week.

However, plenty of event risk remains, not least of which is the outcome of Greek elections at the weekend and results of French parliamentary elections today, which could easily reverse the positive mood of markets.

The USD has continued to head lower a trend that has been established since the end of May, with its drop set to accelerate at the start of the week following news of Spain’s banking bailout and the subsequent bounce in risk assets.

Although Fed Chairman Bernanke provided some relief for the USD last week by not indicating a desire to embark on fresh quantitative easing, the reality is that US data has been disappointing of late, keeping the door open to such action, restaining the USD.

More damaging to the USD is the bounce in risk appetite even before the Spanish news. Softer US data this expected week including likely sluggish May retail sales, a small increase in industrial production and lower manufacturing and consumer confidence surveys, will keep the debate on QE firmly open, leaving the USD struggling in the days ahead.

EUR/USD lurched higher following Spain banking bailout request. However, the sum of EUR 100 billion is far higher than the EUR 40 billion anticipated and could add around 20% to Spain’s sovereign debt. While the size of the package is significant it is also worrying, a fact that could come back and haunt the EUR.

Undoubtedly the upside in EUR is being helped by the fact that speculative positioning reached a fresh record low last week (according to the CFTC IMM data) leaving plenty of scope for short covering. In the near term EUR/USD will remain buoyed but any gains will be restricted to technical resistance around the EUR/USD 1.2690 level where sellers will emerge, especially given uncertainty surrounding the outcome of Greek elections.

Posted in eurozone, Spain, US. Tags: , , , , . Leave a Comment »