inflation projections

Rates Spark: Enough out there to nudge market rates higher Weak economic data dents the European Central Bank’s ability to push rates up. Even if July and September hikes were fully priced in, Bund and swap will find it hard to rise above the top of their recent range. Direction is far from clear, but our preference is to position for upward pressure on yields.     Soft economic data dents ECB hawkish rhetoric For financial markets, a flurry of weak economic activity data – most prominently in the manufacturing sector such as yesterday’s German factory orders and tofay's industrial production – sits awkwardly with the European Central Bank's (ECB) message that more monetary tightening is needed.   The pre-meeting quiet period starts tomorrow, making today the last opportunity to skew investor expectations but markets pricing a 25bp hike at this meeting are unlikely to move much. Another important clue as to future policy moves will be in the staff forecasts released at the same time as next week’s policy decision.   The 2025 headline and core inflation projections at the March meeting stood at 2.1% and 2.2% annualised, above the ECB’s target and a clear signal that more tightening is needed – even above and beyond the path for interest rates priced by the market in late February.   Dovish-minded investors can point to a decline in oil and gas futures since the March meeting, as well as a downtick in consumer inflation expectations in the most recent survey released yesterday. Will this be enough for the ECB to no longer signal that it has ‘more ground to cover’? Probably not, but markets may not care. The focus among hawks is squarely on core inflation and the modest decline from a 5.7% peak in March to 5.3% in May hasn’t been met with much relief by the Governing Council, but it has pushed euro rates down relative to their dollar peers.        

In the FX   The US dollar index consolidates at the lowest levels since April 2022, as the oversold market conditions certainly encourage short-term traders to pause and take a breather. Also helping are some dovish comments from European Central Bank's (ECB) Knot yesterday, who said that monetary tightening beyond next week's meeting is not guaranteed, while at least two 25bp hikes were seen as almost a done deal by markets until yesterday. Ignazio Visco also hinted that inflation could ease more quickly than the ECB's latest projections. So the comments sent the German 2-year yield to a 3-week low. The EURUSD bounced lower after hitting 1.1275, and rising dovish voiced from the ECB could keep the EURUSD within the 1.10/1.12 range into the next policy decision.   Across the Channel, inflation numbers freshly came in this morning, revealing that inflation in Britain eased to 7.9% in June versus 8.2% expected by analysts and 8.7% printed a month earlier. Core inflation on the other hand fell below the 7% mark last month. Cable slipped below 1.30 as a kneejerk reaction as softer inflation tempered Bank of England (BoE) hawks. But even with a softer-than-expected figure, inflation in Britain remains high and stickier than in other Western economies, and that keeps odds for further BoE action sensibly more hawkish than for other major central banks. The BoE raised its policy rate to 5% at its latest meeting, and is expected to continue toward 6.5 to 7% range in the next few months. If inflation slows, the peak rate will be pulled to 6-6.5% range, but not lower. And rising rates, that weigh on mortgages in Britain where Brits must renew mortgages every 2-5 years, pressure housing market and fuels the worst living crisis in decades, combined with political shakes into next year's elections are all factors that could stall the rally in sterling against major peers. Cable benefited from a broad-based weakness in the US dollar since last September dip, but gaining field above the 1.30 mark could prove difficult.    

FX Daily: Asia in the driver's seat The dollar is softer and pro-cyclical currencies are following the yuan higher after news that China is preparing a CNY 2tn rescue package for the stock market. The BoJ revised inflation expectations lower but signalled further progress towards the target, keeping anticipation for a hike in June alive. We expect New Zealand CPI to be soft tonight.   USD: China and Japan in focus The dollar has been mostly moved by developments from outside of the US since the start of the week. China remains the centre of attention before key central bank meetings in the developed world. Risk sentiment was boosted overnight as the Chinese government is reportedly considering a large CNY 2tn package to support the struggling stock markets. The rescue plan should be mostly targeted to the Hang Seng stock exchange, which has sharply underperformed global equities of late. This is a strong message that conveys Beijing’s intention to artificially support Chinese markets in spite of the deteriorating economic outlook in the region, and it is reported that other measures are under consideration. It does appear a temporary solution, though. Ultimately, stronger conviction on a Chinese economic rebound is likely necessary to drive a sustainable recovery in Chinese-linked stocks. For now, the FX impact has been positive; USD/CNY has dropped to 7.16/7.17 and we are seeing gains being spread across pro-cyclical currencies as safe-haven flows to the dollar are waning. Doubts about the impact of Beijing rescue package’s effects beyond the short-term automatically extend to the FX impact. It does seem premature to call for an outperformance of China-linked currencies (like AUD and NZD) and softening in the dollar on the back of this morning’s headlines. Another important development in Asian markets overnight was the Bank of Japan policy announcement. In line with our expectations and market consensus, there were no changes to the yield curve control, and forward guidance remained unchanged. Inflation projections were revised lower from 2.8% to 2.4% for the fiscal year starting in April. The revision was mostly a consequence of declining oil prices, and the inflation path continues to show an overshoot of the target for some time. All this was largely expected, and markets are focusing on Governor Kazuo Ueda’s claim that Japan has continued to inch closer to the inflation goals, keeping expectations for an eventual end to the ultra-dovish policy stance some time this year. The yen is experiencing a rebound which is likely boosted its oversold conditions. Money markets currently price in a 10bp rate hike in June. Extra help from a declining USD this morning might push USD/JPY a bit lower (below 147) today, but we suspect that markets may favour defensive USD positions as the Fed meeting approaches. Domestically, the only release to watch today in the US is the Richmond Fed Manufacturing index, which will give some flavour about the state of the sector ahead of tomorrow’s S&P Global PMIs. DXY may stabilise slightly below 103.00 once the China-led risk rally has settled.