Category Archive: 4.) Marc to Market

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FX Weekly Preview: Trade Trumps US Jobs and Rising Stress in Spain and Italy is More Important than the PMI

2018-09-03

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2018-09-03

The first week of a new month features the US jobs data.  It is the most important economic report of a new month.  It sets the broad tone for much of the economic data over the next several weeks,  including consumption, industrial production, and construction spending. However, there are two reasons why it may not pack the punch it has in the past. 

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The Big Picture 18-24-Month Outlook: Some Preliminary Projections

2018-09-01

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2018-09-01

The winding down of the North's summer provides a suitable time to consider not the near-term outlook, which many investors do on a daily basis, but to reflect on where we are heading down the road a bit. What will the next 18-24 months hold? Of course, we harbor no illusions of prescient vision and accept the hazards of the assignment and so should the reader.

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FX Daily, August 31: Month-End Adjustments and Tentative Stabilization in Emerging Markets Ease Demand for Dollars but Not Yen

2018-08-31

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2018-08-31

The dramatic price action seen yesterday among several emerging market currencies is eased today, but here at month-end, demand for risk-assets is tentative at best. The macro backdrop, including the increase in US core inflation, expectations for continued hikes by the Federal Reserve, and unambiguous signals that trade tensions will increase in the coming weeks dampens the risk appetite.

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FX Daily, August 30: Brexit Optimism Underpins Sterling

2018-08-30

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2018-08-30

The US dollar is mostly firmer, while global equities are softer and bonds little changed.  The Turkish lira and South African rand remain under pressures.  However, there does not appear to be an overall theme in today's markets.   Disappointing data from Australia and New Zealand has seen the Antipodean currencies move lower.  New Zealand's business confidence fell to a ten-year low, and this sent the Kiwi tumbling.  Its nearly 0.9% fall...

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FX Daily, August 29: Dollar Finds Support, but Downside Correction May Not be Over

2018-08-29

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2018-08-29

The US dollar has steadied after pulling back in recent days, but the downside correction does not appear complete, and month-end flows are still a risk to picking a dollar-bottom. The Australian dollar is the weakest of the majors. The main drag is paradoxically Westpac, one of Australia's largest banks, raised the variable rate mortgage by 14 bp to 5.38%. Others are expected to follow.

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FX Daily, August 28: Greenback Remains On Defensive

2018-08-28

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2018-08-28

Corrective forces continue to weigh on the US dollar. Sometimes the narratives drive the price action and sometimes the price action drives the narratives. Currently the latter appears to hold sway. The dollar's downside correction began around the middle of the month, well before Powell's August 24 Jackson Hole speech.

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FX Daily, August 27: A Dog Day of Summer

2018-08-27

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2018-08-27

Last week's dollar losses were initially extended in Asia before it came back bid. The euro briefly poked through $1.1650 for the first time in three weeks. However, the gains were sold into, and the euro finished the Asian session near $1.16, where there is a 782 mln euro option expiring, and 2.4 bln euros struck at $1.1625.

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FX Weekly Preview: Macroeconomic Considerations

2018-08-27

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2018-08-27

The force that had pushed the US 10-year Treasury yield to 3% and the dollar above JPY113 at the start of the month, and the euro to $1.13 a couple of weeks ago has dissipated. The 10-year yield is near 2.80%. The dollar was near two-month lows against the yen a week ago, and the euro was back toward the middle of its previous $1.15-$1.18 trading range.

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5 Things Investors Should Know About US Strategic Petroleum Reserves

2018-08-26

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2018-08-26

US Department of Energy announced yesterday offered for delivery between October 1 and November 30, 11 mln barrels of sour crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserves. The move has nothing to do with operationalizing President Trump's complaint that oil prices were too high. Instead, the sales are part of the fiscal compromise in 2015 budget legislation and the health care act of 2016.

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Merkel, European Autonomy, and the ECB

2018-08-25

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2018-08-25

Merkel has again shown herself to be more wily than most. While pundits, investors, and politicians anticipated she would push hard for a German to replace Draghi as ECB President when his term ends next October. After all, it is German's turn at the helm, and its interests were ridden roughshod over by the extraordinary and prolonged monetary policy.

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FX Daily, August 24: Greenback Marks Time Ahead of Powell

2018-08-24

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2018-08-24

The US dollar is paring some of yesterday's gains in quiet turnover ahead of Fed Chief Powell's speech at Jackson Hole, the week's last highlight. The euro and sterling are trading inside yesterday's ranges, which the dollar has extended its gains against the yen to reach a two-week high near JPY111.50.

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FX Daily, August 23: Dollar Rebounds

2018-08-23

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2018-08-23

After correcting lower since the middle of last week, and pushed faster if not further by President Trump's comments, the US dollar is rebounding against most of the major and emerging market currencies today. After an initial wobble on the back of the FOMC minutes, the greenback's recovery began in earnest.

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Three Things that may Disappoint Investors

2018-08-23

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2018-08-23

There are three areas that we suspect that many investors are vulnerable to disappointment. NAFTA, trade talks with China, and Powell speech at Jackson Hole on Friday. With problems elsewhere, the Trump Administration has been playing up the likelihood of an agreement as early as today with Mexico, which would be used, apparently to deliver a fait accompli to Canada.

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FX Daily, August 22: Markets Take US Political Developments in Stride

2018-08-22

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2018-08-22

News that President Trump's personal lawyer claimed he was instructed by the candidate to commit a federal crime and, separately, his the former campaign manager was found guilty on eight counts is hardly impacting the global capital markets.

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Cool Video: Bloomberg TV Clip-Dollar Developments

2018-08-22

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2018-08-22

Bloomberg Cool Video
The US dollar was sliding as I joined Vonnie Quinn and Shery Ahn on the Bloomberg Markets show. I tried making the case, as I have in recent posts, that the dollar's rally in the first half of the month had left it over-extended. Most of the major currencies were outside of their Bollinger Bands a week ago and had begun correcting since August 15.

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Great Graphic: Head and Shoulders Top in Dollar Index

2018-08-21

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2018-08-21

This Great Graphic depicts what appears to be a head and shoulders top in the hourly bar chart of the Dollar Index. The neckline is found near 96.00 and rotating the pattern along it produces a measuring objective near 95.00. The bearish pattern was formed in the last few days, and the Dollar Index was resting near the neckline before Trump's comments gave it the push.

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FX Daily, August 21: Trump Comments Hit Dollar, Little Impact on Rates

2018-08-21

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2018-08-21

The US dollar is broadly lower following President Trump's comments yesterday, criticising Fed policy and reiterating his previously made claim that China and the EU are manipulating their currencies. We suggested that last week's presidential tweet that identified strong capital inflows into the US may not have been written by President Trump.

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FX Daily, August 20: Greenback Consolidates Pre-Weekend Pullback in Quiet Turnover

2018-08-20

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2018-08-20

The US dollar is slightly firmer against most of the major currencies, as the light participation and lack of fresh news see a consolidative tone emerge after the pullback at the end of last week. Although markets in Turkey are closed for a nearly week-long holiday, it has not prevented the lira from weakening. After closing a little below TRY6.02 before the weekend, the greenback has moved to TRY6.15 in the European morning.

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FX Weekly Preview: Five Traps in the Week Ahead

2018-08-20

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2018-08-20

Officials have taken steps to make it more difficult and more expensive to short the lira, but that did not prevent a 5% slide ahead of the weekend. There is no interest rate, within reason, that can compensate for such currency risk.

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Capital Flocks to the US

2018-08-19

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2018-08-19

The US policy mix gets a privileged place in our understanding of what is the dollar. Tighter monetary policy and looser fiscal policy could be the closest thing to an elixir for currencies.  It is the policy mix that the US is pursuing.  

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