support measures

Outlook for the CNY is negative There will doubtless be more support measures coming in the days and weeks ahead. And in anticipation of these, markets may rally. But the underlying story on the economy is extremely disappointing right now, and that suggests that apart from periods of temporary stimulus-generated relief, we should anticipate markets remaining soft in net terms.    The CNY gapped higher ahead of the data today, and there is nothing in the numbers that suggests that this gap should be closed. Our recently revised CNY forecasts already look out of date. 7.20 could be reached in days. And though the authorities will be keen not to see the currency weaken in an uncontrolled fashion, they will surely regard a weaker CNY as one of the policy tools they will need to lean on to help the economy out of its current state of weakness.    We will be returning to those CNY forecasts shortly. The profile will undoubtedly be raised further, and the turn probably pushed out too.   Contribution to year-on-year retail sales growth

FX Daily: Is equity rotation helping EUR/$? EUR/USD is nudging above 1.10 in quiet conditions. US interest rates are a little softer, but key drivers of EUR/USD such as interest rate differentials and energy prices have barely budged. Reports suggest that hedge funds may be rotating away from the narrow rally in US equities towards better valuations in Europe. If so, the dollar could soften further.   USD: Let's see if this dollar softness can extend The dollar has started the week on the soft side. There has not been too much data but the push factor of the Fed/US interest rate story versus the pull factor of overseas asset markets is slightly working against the dollar. On the former, US short-dated rates came off 10bp in the European afternoon yesterday seemingly on the back of a New York Fed consumer inflation expectations survey that in the one-year tenor fell to the lowest levels since April 2021. The market seemed to ignore three Fed speakers all sticking to the script that the policy rate would probably need to be hiked another 25bp or 50bp this year.   And in terms of the pull factor, some very modest support measures announced for the Chinese property sector seem to be raising speculation that broader support for the private sector will be forthcoming this summer. Asian equities are modestly bid today.  However, a story that caught our eye in today's Financial Times may be partially explaining this soft dollar tone. The report suggests hedge funds have slashed their positions in US equities to the lowest in a decade and are turning their attention to under-valued European equities. Obviously, there are myriad factors that drive FX rates, but one can argue that the dollar trading to the weak side of what interest rate differentials suggest may be partially down to this kind of rotation. Remember that unlike bond market flows, equity flows are normally left FX unhedged. Back to today and the best chance for this dollar decline to extend a little further will be the release of the NFIB small business optimism data for June. As our US economist James Knightley points out in our week ahead, a further decline in pricing intentions in this survey will add weight to the view that inflation is coming lower. (The main event, however, remains tomorrow's release of June CPI.) We do not expect big FX moves today, but DXY could continue drifting toward the 101.50 area.

The Commodities Feed: Key US CPI release The oil market rallied more than 2% yesterday, leaving it at the top end of its recent trading range. US CPI data later today will be key for price direction in the immediate term.   Energy: Oil looking to breakout Oil prices pushed higher yesterday with ICE Brent trading to its highest level since early May and leaving it within striking distance of US$80/bbl. A break above US$80/bbl would see the market finally breaking out of the US$70-80/bbl range that it has been stuck in for more than two months. The market appears to be finally starting to reflect the tighter fundamentals that we see over the second half of 2023. Obviously, additional cuts announced by Saudi Arabia last week will be helping, while hopes of support measures for China’s economy will be offering some further optimism. However, macro developments are still likely to be key for the market in the near term. And today there will be plenty of focus on US CPI numbers. Expectations are for a print of 3.1% year-on-year for June, down from 4% in the previous month. We will need to see the number come in well below consensus to see any significant change to current expectations for the Federal Reserve to hike at its next meeting. API numbers released overnight were more bearish than expected, with US crude oil inventories increasing by 3MMbbls, while gasoline and distillate stocks also increased by 1MMbbls and 2.91MMbbls, respectively. The market had been expecting some small draws across crude and products. The more widely followed EIA inventory report will be released later today, but obviously, it is likely to be overshadowed by the US CPI release. Bloomberg ship tracking data shows that Russian seaborne crude oil exports fell by a little more than 1MMbbls/d WoW to 2.86MMbbls/d for the week ending 9 July. This also drags the four-week rolling average down to a little over 3.2MMbbls/d, which is the lowest level seen since January. The market will be watching Russian exports closely, as up until now there have been doubts over whether Russia is actually making the full supply cuts it announced earlier in the year. Yesterday, the EIA released its latest Short Term Energy Outlook, in which it forecasts 2023 US crude oil production to grow by 680Mbbls/d YoY to average a record 12.56MMbbls/d. Meanwhile, for 2024, supply growth is expected to slow to a little over 280Mbbls/d YoY, which would see output averaging 12.85MMbbls/d. This ties in with the slowdown in drilling activity that we have seen for much of this year. The number of active oil rigs in the US has fallen from a year-to-date high of 623 in January to 540 last week.

FX Daily: European pessimism, Chinese optimism In quiet markets ahead of G3 central bank meetings later this week, currency pairs are being driven by the soft set of eurozone July PMIs and also the prospect of some renewed Chinese stimulus after China's Politburo promised 'counter-cyclical' measures. These look like short-term trends. We would wait for the policy meetings to set the true FX tone.   USD: China stimulus – here we go again In quiet markets ahead of G3 central bank meetings, the FX market's focus has once again fallen on China. Having broadly disappointed investor expectations this year, China's economy is seen as enjoying a lift after China's Politburo yesterday promised 'counter-cyclical' measures. These follow a drip feed of support measures over recent weeks, such as the easing of restrictions in the mortgage sector, the encouragement to buy cars and electronics, and perhaps some support to local governments saddled with debt. None of these seem to be a game-changer so far, but the market optimists are hoping that this new directive from the Politburo will be turned into powerful stimulus at the State Council level.  Tellingly, USD/CNH did not move much when these measures were announced during the European session yesterday, but Asian investors are running with the story and driving the renminbi some 0.6% higher this European morning. Chinese equities are having a decent run too. These short-term trends may well fizzle out – we've been here before with prospects of China stimulus – but they could provide some mild support to emerging market and commodity currencies through the session. The reason why we warn against pursuing a full 'risk-on' rally in Rest of World (RoW) currencies is that the European economy looks weak and tomorrow's FOMC meeting will probably see the Fed's foot remaining firmly on the monetary brakes. Additionally, there was an overnight Wall Street Journal article by Fed watcher Nick Timiraos entitled: 'Why the Fed isn't Ready to Declare Victory on Inflation' – perhaps a nod to a still hawkish FOMC statement tomorrow.  Today's US data releases are second tier, but the consensus is expecting a decent tick-up in the July consumer confidence reading. As in the UK, there is a growing sense that consumers have so far been able to handle the pain of higher rates, diluting the case for any early easing cycles.   DXY can trade a tight 101.00-101.50 range ahead of tomorrow's Fed meeting.

Metals – Further Chinese support measures China’s Politburo meeting brought some optimism back into metal markets with the promise of additional support measures for the property sector. However, a stronger dollar capped the rally, while the market still needs to see what actual policies the government announces. Signs of weakening in European manufacturing further weighed on market sentiment yesterday. Nickel output at Nornickel fell 4% quarter-on-quarter to 45kt in the second quarter, while cumulative production was down 9% year-on-year at 91kt in the first half of the year. The decline in output was primarily due to planned repair work at the Nadezhda metallurgical plant and a grinding mill at the Talnakh concentrator in the first quarter. The company expects production guidance for nickel at 204kt-214kt for 2023. Among other metals, copper output fell by 13% QoQ to 94.89kt, while palladium production increased by 6% QoQ to 761koz in the second quarter of the year.

The Commodities Feed: All eyes on the Fed The Federal Reserve is expected to raise rates by 25bp today, and markets will be on the lookout for any signals suggesting this could be the central bank's final hike or whether there could be more still to come.   Energy – Fed key for short term price direction Sentiment in the oil market has improved with ICE Brent settling a little more than 1% higher yesterday. The market is more optimistic following China’s Politburo meeting,  where there were promises for more support measures for the domestic economy. However, up until now, there haven't appeared to be any actual policies that have been announced. Overnight, the API also released US inventory numbers which showed that US crude oil inventories increased by 1.32MMbbls, whilst crude stocks at Cushing fell by 2.34MMbbls. On the product side, gasoline inventories fell by 1.04MMbbls, whilst distillate stocks increased by 1.61MMbbls. The report was a bit of a mixed bag, with little in the way of a strong takeaway from the numbers. The more widely followed EIA report will be out later today. The market will be watching closely the outcome of the FOMC meeting later today. Expectations are that the Federal Reserve will hike rates by 25bp, which could very well be the last hike in this cycle. However, any signal from the Fed that they have more to do will likely put some downward pressure on risk assets, including oil. The Saudis will be happy to see Brent trading back above US$80/bbl with their additional voluntary cut of 1MMbbls/d starting to have its desired effect. However, the broader OPEC+ cuts are leading to some distortions within the market (tightness in medium sour crudes) and this is evident in the unusual discount that Brent continues to trade at relative to Dubai. However, the decision that Saudi Arabia will need to make in the coming weeks is whether they will roll this additional cut into September or start to unwind it. The recent price strength might give the Saudis the confidence to start unwinding these cuts, but expectations will have to be managed and they will have to be careful how they go about it – too aggressively and it could put renewed pressure back on the market.

China: Momentum waned in October PMI data for October showed momentum in China's economy waned following recent improvements in hard activity data. The manufacturing PMI dropped back into contraction territory and the non-manufacturing PMI also fell.   Economic momentum slowed in October China's Official PMI numbers fell in October, which comes as a slight shock as recent activity data had been firming, and this suggests that the economy is still struggling despite the better-than-expected 3Q23 GDP figures reported recently.  China's composite PMI dropped from 52.0 to only 50.7 - consistent with only very slow overall economic growth. Within this total, the manufacturing PMI index fell into contraction territory (49.5, down from 50.2). There was a bigger fall in the non-manufacturing index to 50.6 from 51.7, but it managed to remain in expansion territory (just).    China's Official PMI indices (headlines)   Most industries saw growth slow By industry type, most manufacturing sectors experienced a slowdown in growth in October, though for companies that are heavy consumers of energy, activity actually declined slightly, perhaps affected by recent increases in the prices of crude energy.  Focusing on the manufacturing sector, the sub-components of the PMI index were quite mixed. Weak export orders and an inventory buildup, together with weak imports weighed on the headline index. Manufacturing production itself was not so bad, and employment also looked stronger, though quite a lot of the increase can be attributed to higher purchasing prices, which isn't necessarily a good thing.    October 2023 Manufacturing PMI - subcomponents   4Q23 GDP could slow If reflected in hard activity data, today's PMIs suggest that the momentum of China's economic growth ebbed at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Talk of recent support measures, including a wider central government deficit, will help offset any tendency for the economy to slow, though such measures will probably have more of an impact on growth at the beginning of 2024, given that we are already a third of the way through 4Q23.  Even so, today's data suggest that although it has weakened, economic growth is still ongoing. And if this initial set of data is representative of what will follow for the rest of the quarter, it should still be enough for China to hit its 5% GDP target for 2023 though on slower incremental growth in the fourth quarter of 2023. That said, 5% is a low hurdle, and reaching it doesn't mean that all of China's growth worries are over.

Poland’s uncertain inflation prospects as commodity prices drop sharply October CPI inflation was revised to 6.6% YoY, against a preliminary estimate of 6.5%. The inflation outlook is exceptionally uncertain due to administrative decisions. Our baseline scenario assumes 2024 CPI as high as 6%, leaving no room for additional NBP rate cuts. Food and non-alcoholic beverage price growth in Poland was revised from 0.4% MoM to 0.5%. Commodity prices rose 5.7% YoY, while service prices increased 9.3% YoY, compared to 7.6% and 9.7%, respectively, in September. The deceleration of services price inflation is noticeably slower than that of goods prices. The biggest contributors to last month's decline in the annual inflation rate, relative to September, were a further slowdown in food price growth (7.6% in October vs. 10.1% YoY in September), a deeper decline in fuel prices than a month ago (-14.4% vs. -7.0% YoY) and slower growth in energy prices (8.3% vs. 9.9% YoY). We estimate that core inflation, excluding food and energy prices, declined to around 8.0% from 8.4% in September. On a monthly basis, however, we saw a high increase in core prices (about 0.6% MoM). The inflation outlook is exceptionally uncertain due to the lack of any final decision on the zero VAT rate on food and support measures in the energy market, as well as a decision on electricity and gas prices for households in 2024. Based on past declarations by representatives of the future government coalition, we assume that the VAT rate on food will be raised from January 1, 2024, and electricity prices will be frozen until the middle of next year. In such a scenario, average annual CPI inflation in 2024 could be as high as 6%, leaving no room for interest rate cuts. We forecast that they will remain unchanged until the end of next year (the main NBP rate at 5.75%).