Category Archive: 4.) Marc to Market
Brown Brothers’ Chandler Says Low Yields Aren’t Driving Stock Market
Feb.20 — Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman, discusses markets, yields, inflation and the dollar on “What’d You Miss?”
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FX Daily, February 20: Dollar Trades Higher, but Stocks Challenged at Key Chart Point
The dollar is finding better traction today, building on the upside reversal seen before the weekend. The news stream has been light and it seems like primarily an issue of positioning rather than a change in sentiment or the consensus narrative. The focus has shifted from monetary policy and idea that the ECB and BOJ are exiting their extraordinary monetary policy to return of the twin deficit problem in the US.
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FX Daily, February 19: Monday Market Update
The US dollar is narrowly mixed in uneventful turnover. Of note, the dollar selling seen in Asia last week slacken today and the greenback moved above the pre-weekend highs seen in the US. It is the first time in eight sessions, the dollar has risen above the previous day’s high against the yen. Europe seems to be losing interest though, with the dollar near JPY106.60.
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FX Weekly Preview: Four Key Numbers in the Week Ahead
The US markets are closed on Monday, and many parts of Asia will continue to celebrate the Lunar New Year. The economic schedule is fairly light, and market psychology appears fragile after the dramatic activity in equities and what appears to be shifting macro-relationships. To help navigate the challenging investment climate, we identify four "numbers" that can illuminate the path ahead.
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FX Daily, February 16: Worst Week for the Dollar since 2015-2016, While Stocks Continue to Recover
Nearly all the major currencies have risen at least two percent against the US dollar this week. The Canadian dollar is an exception. It has risen one percent this week ahead of today's local session. Sterling is becoming another exception after disappointing retail sales. It is up just shy of two percent. The Dollar Index is off 2.3% on the week, which would be the biggest weekly loss since 2015.
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Great Graphic: Bears Very Short US 10-Year Ahead of CPI
The US reports January CPI figures tomorrow. The market seems especially sensitive to it. The main narrative is that it is an inflation scare spurred by the jump in January average hourly earnings that pushed yields higher and unhinged the stock market. This Great Graphic comes from Bloomberg and is derived from data issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
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FX Daily, February 15: Stocks Jump, Bonds Dump, and the Dollar Slumps
The significant development this week has been the recovery of equities after last week's neck-breaking drop, while yields have continued to rise. The dollar has taken is cues from the risk-on impulse from the equity market and the sales of US bonds more than the resulting higher yields. Asia followed US equities higher.
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FX Daily, February 14: Investors Remain Uneasy even as Equities Stabilize
There is an unease that continues to hang over the market. It is as if a shoe fell last week, and most investors seem to be waiting for the other shoe to drop. It is hard to imagine the kind of body blow that the equities took last week without some kind of follow through and knock-on effects. Moreover, the focus today on US CPI may prove for nought.
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Great Graphic: Stocks and Bonds
The relationship between stocks and bonds does not appear to have changed much. It is difficult to eyeball correlations. Question the meaning of a chart that has two time series and two scales and.
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FX Daily, February 13: Tuesday’s Two Developments
There are two important developments today. First, the recovery in the global equity markets is being challenged. Second, the yen has strengthened across the board, and is now at its best levels against the dollar since last September's low. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index extended Monday's recovery with another 0.5% gain. However, looking closer, the momentum faltered.
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FX Daily, February 12: Equity Markets Find Firmer Footing, Dollar Softens
The most important development today has been the stability in the equity markets after last week's meltdown. The recovery from new lows in the US before the weekend set the tone for today's moves. Tokyo markets were on holiday, and the MSCI Asia Pacific Index excluding Japan snapped a seven-day slide with a nearly 0.6% gain.
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FX Weekly Preview: Recovering from Too Much of a Good Thing?
Too much of a good thing is bad. That, in a nutshell, is an important insight that Hyman Minsky offered about the financial sector, but has broader application. The low volatility that has been a characteristic of the capital markets for the past few years spurred financial innovation to profit from it.
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FX Daily, February 09: Equity Sell-Off Extends to Asia, but More Muted in Europe
The 100-point slide in the S&P 500 and the 1000-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrials yesterday spurred more bloodletting in Asia. The 1.8% drop in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index (for a 6.7% loss for the week) may conceal the magnitude of the regional losses. At one point the CSI 300 of the large Chinese mainland shares was off more than 6% before closing off 4.3% (and 10% for the week). The H-shares index was down 3.9% and 12% for the week.
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Great Graphic: FX Vol Elevated, but Still Modest
With the substantial swings in the volatility of equities that have captured the imagination of journalists and punished investors who bought financial derivatives that profited from the low vol environment, we thought it would be helped to look at the implied volatility of the leading currencies against the US dollar. The Great Graphic looks at the three-month implied volatility for the euro (white line), the yen (yellow line), and sterling (green...
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FX Daily, February 08: Dollar Firms, While Equities Search for Stability
The swings in the equity markets are subsiding, bond yields are firm and the US dollar is extending its recovery. Although US equities closed lower, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index snapped a four-day drop by posting a 0.25% gain. However, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index is off nearly as much, though the range was modest. European markets are also lower, and the range for the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is the smallest in more than a week.
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Great Graphic: Major Currencies Year-to-Date
This Great Graphic was created on Bloomberg. It shows five major currencies against the US dollar this year. To avoid giving a misleading impression, the currencies are index to start this year at 100 and all the currencies are quoted in the European style of how many dollars the currency purchases. These kinds of charts are not so much for trading, but they help illustrate the relative moves that can be masked by nominal price changes.
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Chandler Says Yield Curve Is One of the Best Predictors of the Economy
Feb.07 -- Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman, discusses the bond market and which yield curve he focuses on. He speaks with Tom Keene and Francine Lacqua on "Bloomberg Surveillance."
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FX Daily, February 07: Guns and Butter May Resolve US Legislative Logjam
After a volatile session in North America, the major equity indices closed higher. In fact, the 1.75% rise in the S&P 500 was the best since November 2016. Asian equities stabilized, and the MSCI Asia Pacific Index was able to eke out a small gain. The European markets are moving higher is also posting early gains and the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is about 0.45%, which threatens to snap the seven-day slide. However, the main challenge now is that the S&P...
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Marc Chandler Says BOE Is Comfortable on Hold
Feb.07 -- Marc Chandler, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman, discusses the upcoming Bank of England rate decision. He speaks on "Bloomberg Surveillance."
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Cool Video: Bloomberg Double Feature–BOE Meeting and the Yield Curve
The Bank of England meets tomorrow. Although no one expects a move, it has little to do with the recent market volatility. The FTSE 100 is poised to snap a six-day 7%+ slide. The FTSE 250 fell for seven consecutive sessions through yesterday, shedding 5.75% in the process. The UK's 2-year yield slipped about seven basis points from last week's close to58 bp before recovering to 63 bp today, around the middle of this week's range.
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