USD: Eyes on Fed speakers, and on the BoC's rate hike
The dollar has remained bid since the start of the week, and was bolstered yesterday by a surprise rise (albeit marginal) in the US ISM service index. Our economist thinks yesterday’s figures endorse our 3%+ 3Q GDP forecast for the US. A solid growth story is indeed a key source of momentum for the dollar rally as markets feel increasingly confident with their pricing for more aggressive Fed tightening. A 75bp hike in September is almost fully priced in now (69bp are embedded into the swap market), but barring any big data disappointment, the room for any dovish re-pricing appears limited at this stage.
The sharp underperformance of the Chinese yuan and Japanese yen has continued to fuel dollar strength too. This morning, a miss in Chinese trade data sent USD/CNY to test 9.9800, erasing efforts by the People's Bank of China to support the yuan. It remains to be seen how much Chinese authorities see 7.00 as a pivotal level: it’s possible that policymakers may want to keep USD/CNY below such a level, at least until the party congress is over. Further east, Japanese authorities are again trying verbal intervention as a way of supporting the yen, but markets appear quite happy with testing their tolerance. 145.00 might be the line in the sand: expect any FX intervention around the US or European open when markets are most liquid.
Today, the Fed’s Beige Book will be scanned in search of regional economic trends, but the main focus will be on a few Fed speakers. Quite interestingly, we’ll hear from both sides of the spectrum: the quite dovish Lael Brainard and the hawk Loretta Mester. Both are voting members in 2022. Thomas Barkin is also due to speak today, while Chair Jerome Powell will deliver remarks tomorrow.
For now, we see little reason to call for any reversion in the strong dollar pattern. The domestic story was fortified by yesterday’s data and there are no major data releases today, so ultimately the Fed pricing should not be too heavily affected even in the event of some dovish Fedspeak. DXY should remain around its highs.
Elsewhere in North America, the Bank of Canada will announce monetary policy today. In our meeting preview, we highlight how the recent jitters to Canada’s growth story suggest another 100bp move is unlikely, but a 75bp rate hike (to 3.25%) is our base case considering that the employment picture remains rather strong and the BoC has remained firm in its intent to fight elevated inflation.
75bp appears to be the call from both economic consensus and the market, and we therefore think forward-looking language will drive most of CAD's reaction today. With “data-dependent, meeting-by-meeting” having become the leitmotiv of developed central bank policy communication lately, there’s surely a risk the BoC will refrain from offering any strong hint on future policy, but a reiteration that more substantial tightening is needed could be enough to see markets push their expectations for peak rates from the current 3.8% to 4%+.
CAD is currently going through a rough period, and any support from the BoC today may fade rapidly. However, aggressive tightening by the central bank does raise the upside potential for the loonie beyond the short-term, when a stabilisation in sentiment and solid fundamentals may allow it to recover. We target a return to sub-1.25 levels in USD/CAD early next year.
Francesco Pesole
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