Fed rate hikes

After a difficult previous year marked by market volatility and economic difficulties, the US stock market has experienced a strong recovery since the start of the new year. This recovery was driven by several key factors: the resilience of the technology sector, growth in the semiconductor industry driven by the development of AI, the expected pause in Fed rate hikes and the assessment of future rate cuts in late 2023 amid lower inflation.    The technology sector, which includes leading companies in innovation and digital transformation, has played a critical role in the market's resurgence. Industry giants such as Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet have achieved significant stock price gains as they continue to innovate and provide products and services that meet changing consumer demands. The development of artificial intelligence technology has been a major catalyst for growth in the technology sector.   The semiconductor sector has also been one of the growth drivers of the markets. Companies such as Nvidia and AMD are experiencing strong demand for their advanced chipsets, which are vital for AI applications. The widespread adoption of AI technology across sectors has made semiconductor companies key drivers of innovation, contributing to their stock prices and overall market recovery.   The market was also supported by the expected decision of the Fed to pause its rate hikes. This pause in monetary policy tightening has helped to maintain the thesis of an end to the tightening cycle as early as H2 2023. 

Economic data released in the US yesterday further fueled the hawkish Federal Reserve (Fed) bets. The US Q1 GDP was revised up from 1.3% to 2%, while analysts had penciled in an improvement to 1.4%. The surprise jump came from a quickened growth in exports and consumer spending, which jumped 4.2% in the Q1. 4.2%! Corporate profits fell, but they fell less than expected, as initial jobless claims fell by the most since 2021.   The only good news for the Fed, and its inflation battle, was a slightly softer than expected core PCE figure, which extended to 4.9%, a bit less than 5% expected by analysts. But the rest of the data pointed in the same direction than in the past days and weeks: the US economy seems to be doing FINE! Combined with the Fed's bank stress test results comforting that the big US lenders are in a position to shoulder further shocks, like recession and chaos in real estate, the US 2-year yield jumped more than 3% to 4.90% for the first time since the mini banking crisis. The probability of a 25bp hike from the Fed in the July meeting jumped to 87%, while the pricing in the market suggests that the Fed's two rate hikes are now likelier than not.   And perhaps because the aggressive Fed tightening doesn't impact economic strength as badly ass expected, stock investors saw no urgence in selling their stocks on rising hawkish Fed expectations. The S&P500 advanced 0.45%, Nasdaq was slightly lower, as the small caps of Russell 2000 outperformed with a 1.23% rise yesterday. The US dollar index rallied past its 100-DMA and broke above a one-month descending channel top. Trend and momentum indicators turned positive hinting that a further advance in the US dollar is likely against major currencies in the run up to next week's all important jobs report, especially if today's PCE data, the Fed's gauge of inflation, shows further advance in inflation from 4.4% to 4.6%.   Yet, a further rise in US yields could weigh on stock appetite before the weekly closing bell.   In the Eurozone, investor mood was a bit tricky because inflation data released this week in the Eurozone revealed that inflation in Italy eased more than expected, inflation in Spain eased below the European Central Bank's (ECB) 2% policy target, but inflation in Germany ticked higher this month, to 6.8%, because of an unfavourable base effect from last year, when Germany offered its citizens ultra-cheap rail tickets. French, and the eurozone's aggregate preliminary inflation data for June is due today.   The EZ inflation is expected to have eased to 5.6%, and the divergence between Germany and the others may not be a long-term concern, but the ECB will certainly remain well alert, and well hawkish into this summer.   More importantly, the end of ECB's cheap loans should increase the yield spread between the Eurozone's core and periphery and weigh on the EURUSD. The pair is now testing the 50-DMA to the downside, and if the Fed hawks continue gaining field, which seems to be the most likely scenario before next week's US jobs data, we could see the pair correct deeper toward the 1.08/1.0820 region.   In China, the latest economic data didn't enchant investors. Chinese manufacturing PMI remained below 50, in the contraction zone, for the third consecutive month, despite recurrent policy easing from the People's Bank of China (PBoC). Nothing seems to be boosting the Chinese recovery because consumer and investor confidence have been severely damaged as a result of government crackdowns and Covid.   The initial forecast for this year - US recession and Chinese rebound - is not happening. On the contrary, the US is growing, and China is slowing. At this point, the Chinese government has no choice but to regain people's and investors' confidence if it doesn't want to become too old before becoming rich enough.  

EUR: Downside risks into the weekend Medium-term consumer inflation expectations in the eurozone continued to ease in May, with the 12-month expectation gauge declining from 4.1% to 3.9%. However, long-term (three-year) inflation expectations – arguably of greater interest for the European Central Bank - remained unchanged at 2.5%, well above the bank’s 2% target. When taking June’s flash core CPI estimates on board, the ECB hawks hardly lack arguments to continue tightening. Today, the eurozone calendar is very light, and EUR/USD will trade in line with the dollar's reaction to US data. We suspect the pair is facing some downside risks in the latter part of the year after the FOMC minutes set the bar quite high for data to convince markets to price out Fed rate hikes. There is still a gap to be filled (around 20bp) between the Fed communication (dot plots) and the market pricing, while the ECB’s communication is pretty much matched by the EUR OIS curve, which currently embeds two hikes by year-end. EUR/USD could slip below 1.0800 before the end of the week, if US data were to come in on the strong side.

FX Daily: Dollar late to the party Treasuries are hitting key levels on big US data surprises, but the dollar is not finding real support. The dollar may be mirroring some lingering reluctance to align with the dot plot’s two hikes, but market conditions point to a stronger greenback in the near term, barring a substantial downside surprise in payrolls today. Watch jobs numbers in Canada too.   USD: Surprisingly soft The large and unexpected jump to almost 500k in ADP private payroll numbers yesterday left clear marks across asset classes. Despite some recovery later in the session, US equities took a hit, and European ones closed with a nearly 3.0% loss. Treasuries are now trading around the two key benchmarks: 5.0% for the 2Y and 4.0% for the 10Y after a disastrous session for bonds. This would appear to be the perfect recipe for a substantial dollar rally, which hasn’t materialised however, and we are observing instead some dollar selling this morning. Indeed, the dollar had already moved in advance of yesterday’s release as the minutes had offered clear hawkish hints on Wednesday. Incidentally, markets still appear unconvinced to fully price in two rate hikes by the Fed despite the strong ADP (which arguably aren’t hard data, and have been misleading at times) and ISM services figures. The Fed funds curve has not shifted particularly higher, with the peak rate still seen at 36bp from here, so 14bp short of dot plot projections. In a way, the dollar might still be mirroring that lingering market pricing-dot plot gap. At the same time, the market backdrop does seem to point at dollar strength at this juncture, as we doubt this morning’s mild USD correction will have legs unless US payrolls released later today move in the direction of ADP figures and surprise on the downside. The consensus for the headline jobs number is 230k, but may be higher after the strong ADP read. Unemployment is also expected to tick lower to 3.6% and some focus will, as usual, fall on wage growth. Barring major disappointments, it should not take much to keep the Fed’s hawkish narrative going, and markets should have room to keep inching closer to the pricing in two rate hikes. The path for a more supported dollar in the near term appears to be the most obvious one, in our view, and a return above 104.00 in DXY in the coming days looks likely.

FX Daily: Dollar late to the party Treasuries are hitting key levels on big US data surprises, but the dollar is not finding real support. The dollar may be mirroring some lingering reluctance to align with the dot plot’s two hikes, but market conditions point to a stronger greenback in the near term, barring a substantial downside surprise in payrolls today. Watch jobs numbers in Canada too.   USD: Surprisingly soft The large and unexpected jump to almost 500k in ADP private payroll numbers yesterday left clear marks across asset classes. Despite some recovery later in the session, US equities took a hit, and European ones closed with a nearly 3.0% loss. Treasuries are now trading around the two key benchmarks: 5.0% for the 2Y and 4.0% for the 10Y after a disastrous session for bonds. This would appear to be the perfect recipe for a substantial dollar rally, which hasn’t materialised however, and we are observing instead some dollar selling this morning. Indeed, the dollar had already moved in advance of yesterday’s release as the minutes had offered clear hawkish hints on Wednesday. Incidentally, markets still appear unconvinced to fully price in two rate hikes by the Fed despite the strong ADP (which arguably aren’t hard data, and have been misleading at times) and ISM services figures. The Fed funds curve has not shifted particularly higher, with the peak rate still seen at 36bp from here, so 14bp short of dot plot projections. In a way, the dollar might still be mirroring that lingering market pricing-dot plot gap. At the same time, the market backdrop does seem to point at dollar strength at this juncture, as we doubt this morning’s mild USD correction will have legs unless US payrolls released later today move in the direction of ADP figures and surprise on the downside. The consensus for the headline jobs number is 230k, but may be higher after the strong ADP read. Unemployment is also expected to tick lower to 3.6% and some focus will, as usual, fall on wage growth. Barring major disappointments, it should not take much to keep the Fed’s hawkish narrative going, and markets should have room to keep inching closer to the pricing in two rate hikes. The path for a more supported dollar in the near term appears to be the most obvious one, in our view, and a return above 104.00 in DXY in the coming days looks likely.

Commodities get little support from a weaker dollar Demand destruction likely to force Saudis to extend cuts Bitcoin holds onto the $30,000 level Oil Crude prices are weakening as concerns mount that the global growth outlook is getting uglier by the day.  China is rushing to deliver more support to their real estate crisis, while the US starts to grow more nervous about a potential recession. Oil will struggle this week if inflation readings in the US support the hawkish case for a couple more rate hikes, while Euro-area industrial production remains lackluster. A bullish backwardation structure should help WTI crude find a home above the $70 level, but it seems unlikely that the demand outlook will get any good news this week.  Recession risks might rise, but it seems energy traders are confident OPEC+ will keep supplies tight.     Gold Gold prices are hovering last week’s low as traders await a pivotal inflation report that seal the deal for a couple more Fed rate hikes.  Bullion traders want to know if core CPI will show persistence and raise the odds that the Fed will not just go in July but more likely also in September.  Even if we get a hot report, the Fed is locked into delivering a quarter-point rate rise.  Following last month’s pause, the Fed seems positioned to remain aggressive with signaling tightening until we see a much more meaningful slowdown. Gold might end up trading rangebound this week, but the $1900 level should hold as long Wednesday’s inflation report is not scorching hot.  

FX Daily: Dollar drops on the disinflation trade The downside surprise in US June CPI inflation has seen the dollar drop to new lows for the year. Over recent months we had been speculating that clear signs of US disinflation - and a weaker dollar - may emerge in 3Q23 and yesterday's moves could well be the start of an important market adjustment. Look out for US PPI and US initial claims today.   USD: The start of something It has been a long time coming, but yesterday's surprisingly soft US June CPI numbers may be the first sign this year that sharp Fed rate hikes are finally starting to bite. As our US economist, James Knightley, notes, there were welcome declines in all of the key categories of inflation. He does not think this will prevent another 25bp Fed rate hike at the 26 July meeting, but it will add weight to the view that the July hike may indeed be the last in the cycle. The data could also herald a change in the Fed narrative from frustration that inflation has not fallen as quickly as expected to a more welcoming approach to recent data releases.  We had discussed the potential FX market impact of a soft US CPI print in yesterday's FX Daily and the soft CPI has driven more benign pricing around the world - i.e. bullish steepening of yield curves, higher equities, narrower credit spreads, and a weaker dollar. FX price action has all the hallmarks of a position unwind, where those currencies sold on a bearish/hard landing scenario (e.g. Norway's krone, Sweden's krona, and to a lesser degree some other commodity currencies) have now made a very strong comeback. Indeed, both the NOK and SEK had been extremely undervalued in our medium-term valuation models and are now finding room to breathe. For the big dollar trend, this may be the start of the long-awaited cyclical decline. There are parallels to the dollar sell-off last November and December (when it fell 8% in two months), but the difference now is; i) positioning, where speculators are not as heavily long dollars as they were last October, and ii) the China and European growth stories do not seem due as much of a re-rating as they enjoyed last November. That said, we prefer to run with the dollar bearish story for the time being, where DXY should press big psychological support at 100.00. The next target would be 99.00 on a breakout. For today, look out for US June PPI and the weekly initial claims number. A further decline in PPI and a rise in claims could see dollar losses extend.

Canada lost 6,400 jobs in July as the unemployment rate rose for a third straight month Canadian wage pressures jump to 5.0%, which might not let policymakers signal that the peak in rates is in place Crude prices rally for a sixth straight week on OPEC+ determination to keep oil market tight   USD/CAD The past few weeks have not been kind to the Canadian dollar, but that could be changing.  The general rise in the dollar has stemmed from concerns over the US debt situation.  With both the Fed and BOC in similar positions when it comes to their respective tightening cycles, the Canadian dollar seems like it might be better positioned over the short-term as traders unwind their US dollar bets.  The USD/CAD shows the correlation with rising oil prices has not provided much support to the loonie, but that could be changing here.  If bearish momentum accelerates, further downside could target the 1.3300 handle.  The Canadian dollar could remain in oversold territory a while longer, which could support a further decline towards the 1.3250 region.  To the upside, the 1.3400 level provides major resistance.   Oil Crude prices are rising as the dollar drops following a mixed NFP report and as OPEC+ remains committed to keeping the oil market tight.  Saudi Arabia’s decision to extend a unilateral 1-million barrel oil cut did not surprise anyone. Energy traders however wanted to see if Russia would extend their export cut pledge and they did. Oil is at a 3-month high and starting to attract more buyers.  The crude price rally could continue since the US economy remains resilient and if China’s data next week confirms that part of the world’s crude demand is growing. The $85 level should provide key resistance for WTI crude, but if that doesn’t slow the rally, every trader will have their eyes on the $90 level.   Gold Gold prices are rallying as the bond market selloff ends following a mixed NFP report that did not derail some expectations that the Fed is still probably done raising rates.  This jobs day still suggests a soft landing is obtainable but if wage growth remains strong over the next couple of months that could create some problems.  Higher rates for longer is still an environment that gold can thrive in, especially if Wall Street becomes fixated over the deficit

FX Daily: ECB hawkish pushback to face key inflation test The ECB hawks have stepped in to revive depressed rate expectations, but markets are opting for data dependency, and EUR/USD is set to face two key risk events with eurozone inflation figures before the US payrolls this week. We expect core inflation will prove resilient enough to trigger another ECB hike, so see upside room for the pair.   USD: Things will get hectic this week It has been a slow start to the week for FX markets. Yesterday’s closure of the UK’s markets for a national holiday meant much thinner trading volumes, and the key data calendar was quite light. In the US, the only release to note was the Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index, which dropped slightly more than expected into contraction territory, confirming the slack in the manufacturing territory already signalled by other surveys (ISM, PMIs). Still, the slowdown in manufacturing activity is hardly a US-only story. We have seen a deterioration in global forward-looking economic indicators in many developed economies recently, especially in Europe. The difference now is how the US service sector is appearing more resilient than the eurozone’s, despite significantly tighter monetary policy in the US. The relative strength in US activity indicators – compared to the rest of the world and to expectations – is what has kept the dollar in demand over the past few weeks, and should remain the number one driver of USD moves into year-end. That is because the disinflationary process appears to be cementing, allowing the Fed to halt hikes and focus on growth: until data turn for the worst, however, markets will not be pricing in more cuts, and a favourable real rate (the highest in the G10) will keep a floor under the dollar. This week presents some important risk events for the dollar from this point of view. Today, the JOLTS job openings for July will be watched closely in search for signs that the labour market has started to cool off more drastically. The Conference Board consumer confidence index is also published, and expected to come in only marginally changed compared to July. Later in the week, we’ll see ADP jobs numbers (they move the market, but tend to be unreliable), and the official payrolls report. Remember that payrolls through March were revised lower (although that is a preliminary revision) by 306,000, which probably adds extra heat to this week’s release. DXY is trading around the May-June 104.00 high area. Investors may want to wait for confirmation from jobs data to push the dollar significantly higher from these levels, and a wait-and-see, flat (or moderately offered) dollar environment could dominate FX markets into Friday’s payrolls.

At -0.78 (vs -0.83 last week) our Risk Index has pulled back a little from elevated levels indicating significant risk-seeking behaviour by investors. The downward trend in the Index is decelerating. The pillars of the recent improvement in risk sentiment are (1) slowing US inflation and (2) investors’ hope that the Fed is likely finished hiking rates or very close to the end of its tightening cycle. Some recent events have dented this hope, including rising food prices on the back of El Nino and higher oil prices on the back of Saudi Arabia & Russia deciding to extend their voluntary production cuts. Higher food & energy prices threaten a re-acceleration in inflation and at the very least high rates for longer or worse a return to Fed rate hikes. Today’s US headline inflation data will be supported by higher energy prices, which will leave investors focusing on the core inflation data for evidence of further deceleration in inflation. Investors are understandably nervous ahead of this data release. The largest contributors to the rise in our Risk Index were rising Sovereign-EM spreads as well as the outperformance of cyclical stocks by defensive stocks. Rising FX market volatility also contributed to the rise in the Index. Falling credit spreads and gold prices restrained the rise in our Risk Index. The CAD is the G10 currency most sensitive to our Risk Index, followed by the GBP and EUR. These currencies are negatively correlated with the Index. The JPY & SEK are the most positively correlated currencies with the Index.      

At -0.78 (vs -0.83 last week) our Risk Index has pulled back a little from elevated levels indicating significant risk-seeking behaviour by investors. The downward trend in the Index is decelerating. The pillars of the recent improvement in risk sentiment are (1) slowing US inflation and (2) investors’ hope that the Fed is likely finished hiking rates or very close to the end of its tightening cycle. Some recent events have dented this hope, including rising food prices on the back of El Nino and higher oil prices on the back of Saudi Arabia & Russia deciding to extend their voluntary production cuts. Higher food & energy prices threaten a re-acceleration in inflation and at the very least high rates for longer or worse a return to Fed rate hikes. Today’s US headline inflation data will be supported by higher energy prices, which will leave investors focusing on the core inflation data for evidence of further deceleration in inflation. Investors are understandably nervous ahead of this data release. The largest contributors to the rise in our Risk Index were rising Sovereign-EM spreads as well as the outperformance of cyclical stocks by defensive stocks. Rising FX market volatility also contributed to the rise in the Index. Falling credit spreads and gold prices restrained the rise in our Risk Index. The CAD is the G10 currency most sensitive to our Risk Index, followed by the GBP and EUR. These currencies are negatively correlated with the Index. The JPY & SEK are the most positively correlated currencies with the Index.        

Key events in developed markets and EMEA next week There's growing evidence that tight monetary policy and restrictive credit conditions are having the desired effect on depressing inflation. However, neither the Federal Reserve nor Bank of England will want to endorse the recent ramping up of rate cut expectations in financial markets as both prepare to release decisions next week.   US: Pushback from the Fed The Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave the Fed funds target range at 5.25-5.5% at next week’s FOMC meeting. Softer activity numbers, cooling labour data and benign inflation prints signal that monetary policy is probably restrictive enough to bring inflation sustainably down to 2% in coming months, a narrative that is being more vocally supported by key Federal Reserve officials. The bigger story is likely to be contained in the individual Fed member forecasts – how far will they look to back the market perceptions that major rate cuts are on their way? We strongly suspect there will be a lot of pushback here. The steep fall in Treasury yields in recent weeks is an easing of financial conditions on the economy and there is going to be some concern that this effectively unwinds some of the Fed rate hikes from earlier in the year.  We expect the Fed to retain a relatively upbeat economic assessment with the same 50bp of rate cuts in 2024 they signalled in their September forecasts, albeit from a lower level given the final 25bp December hike they forecasted last time is not going to happen. We think the Fed will eventually shift to a more dovish stance, but this may not come until late in the first quarter of 2024. The US economy continues to perform well for now and the jobs market remains tight, but there is growing evidence that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate increases and the associated tightening of credit conditions are starting to have the desired effect. We look for 150bp of rate cuts in 2024, with a further 100bp in early 2025.