Category Archive: 4) FX Trends

Main Author Marc Chandler
Marc Chandler
He has been covering the global capital markets in one fashion or another for more than 30 years, working at economic consulting firms and global investment banks. After 14 years as the global head of currency strategy for Brown Brothers Harriman, Chandler joined Bannockburn Global Forex, as a managing partner and chief markets strategist as of October 1, 2018.

Is The US Dollar Set To Soar?

Hating the U.S. dollar offers the same rewards as hating a dominant sports team: it feels righteous to root for the underdogs, but it's generally unwise to let that enthusiasm become the basis of one's bets. Personally, I favor the emergence of non-state reserve currencies, for example, blockchain crypto-currencies or precious-metal-backed private currencies--currencies which can't be devalued by self-serving central banks or the private elites...

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FX Weekly Preview: Next Week’s Two Bookends

The start of next week will likely be driven by Deutsche Bank's travails and dollar funding pressures, which may or may not be related. The end of the week features the US monthly jobs report. Despite being a noisy, high frequency time series subject to significant revisions, this report like none other can drive expectations of Fed policy.

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FX Weekly Review, September 26-30: Dollar vulnerable at the Start of Q4, CHF collapses at Quarter End

The US dollar fell against most of the major currencies in Q3. The Norwegian krone was the best performer, gaining 4.4% against the greenback, followed by Aussie and Kiwi. The Swiss Franc collapsed on Friday at quarter end.

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Weekly Speculative Positions: Speculators Closing their CHF Longs

  Marc Chandler speaks of the volatility of the CHF speculative positioning. For us this was window dressing by the SNB that wants to improve the quarterly results. Traders react to the strong market movement caused by the SNB and they close their long CHF positions. If it was really the SNB, we will see on Monday

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Renzi and the Italian Referendum: Disruption Potential Minimized

Italian Prime Minister has set the date for the constitutional referendum as late as practically possibly. It will be held on December 4. The issue is the perfect bicameralism that gives as much power to the Senate as the Chamber of Deputies. Renzi's argument is that the political reform is necessary to make Italy governable. Italy has had 63 governments since the end of WWII. In order to address the economic challenges the country faces, political...

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FX Daily, September 30: SNB Intervenes to Polish Q3 Results

True to its recent habit, the US dollar is finishing the week on a firm note. On the month, though, the greenback has fallen against most of the majors, but sterling, the Canadian dollar, and the Swedish krona. Global equities are trading heavily, and investors' angst is lending support to bond markets.

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Divergence: Norway and Sweden

Sweden has one of the weakest of the major currencies this year. Norway has one of the strongest of the major currencies this year. The key driver is divergence of monetary policy and that divergence is likely continue into next year.

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FX Daily, September 29: Dollar Quietly Bid, while Market is Skeptical of OPEC Deal

The US dollar has firmer against most major and emerging market currencies. It remains well within its well-worn ranges, which continue to be narrow. A notable exception today is the yen's weakness. While the majors are mostly off marginally and now more than 0.3%, the yen is 0.75% lower. That puts the greenback at a six-day high (~JPY101.75) at its best.

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Quick Look at Why the September Jobs Data will Likely Be Strong

There are several economic data points that suggest a healthy gain in jobs in September. College educated unemployment is 2.5% with high school graduate unemployment at 5.5%. The jobs report we expect is consistent with a Fed hike in December.

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Great Graphic: Growth in Premiums of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance

Upward pressure on US consumer prices is stemming from two elements. Rents and medical services. Due to the differences the composition of the basket of goods and services that are used, the core personal consumption deflator, which the Fed targets, typically lags behind core CPI.

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FX Daily, September 28: Dollar Mostly Firmer, but Going Nowhere Quickly

The US dollar is enjoying a firmer bias today, but it remains narrowly mixed on the week. It is within well-worn ranges. Of the several themes that investors are focused on, there have not significant fresh developments. In terms of monetary policy, both Draghi and Yellen speak today. The former is behind closed doors with a Germany parliamentary committee.

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Great Graphic: Stocks and Bonds

The relationship between the change in Us 10-year yields and the change in the S&P 500 has broken down. The 60-day correlation is negative for the first time since late Q2 2015. It is only the third such period of inverse correlation since the start of 2015.

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FX Daily, September 27: US Debate Lifts Peso, but Leaves the Dollar Non-Plussed

Since the monetary assessment meeting, the EUR/CHF is trending downwards. Sight deposits indicate that the SNB is intervening 0.9 bn per week. We emphasized that the preferred intervention corridor is between 1.08 and 1.0850. The first US Presidential debate may not sway many voters but has lifted the Mexican peso. The peso, which has fallen by about 1.3% over the past two sessions, has stormed by 1.5% today as the seemingly biggest winner of the...

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FX Daily, September 26: Dollar Mixed while Stocks Slide to Begin Last Week of Q3

The US dollar is narrowly mixed. The euro, yen and Swiss franc are higher, while the dollar-bloc and sterling are softer. The moving element here is not so much the greenback, which serving more as a fulcrum, but idiosyncratic, country-level developments.

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Great Graphic: Nearly Five-Month Uptrend in the Dollar Index Set to be Tested

DXY has been holding an uptrend since early May. It looks set to be tested near-term and technical indicators suggest it may not hold. Here are the two scenarios of penetration.

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FX Weekly Preview: Politics to Overshadow Economics in the Week Ahead

The major central banks have placed down their markers and have moved to stage left. There are the late-month high frequency data, which pose some headline risks in the week ahead. The main focus for most investors will be on several political developments. The first US Presidential debate is wild card, in the sense that the outcome is unknown. In recent weeks, the polls have drawn close. In early August, Nate Silver’s fivethirtyeight.com, the gold...

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FX Daily, September 23: It is Friday and the Dollar is Firmer Again

As Nassim Taleb instructed, we should not be fooled by randomness. If you see six red results in a row at a roulette table, do not conclude the game is rigged. If you flip a coin, and it is tails six consecutive times, the contest is not necessarily rigged.

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FX Daily, September 22: Swiss Franc Strongest Currency Again

Once again the Swiss Franc was the strongest. The EUR/CHF depreciated to 1.0875. As said yesterday, the reasons: the Fed and the strong Swiss trade balance.

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FX Daily, September 21: BOJ Can’t Weaken Yen, Fed keeps Rates Unchanged, CHF Stronger

The EUR/CHF accelerated its decline since yesterday's strong Swiss trade balance data. The second reason was certainly the Fed decided to keep rates unchanged. We know that the Swiss Franc has similar "counter-dollar" status as gold.

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FX Daily, September 20: The Swiss Franc Continues To Rise.

The trade balance express if a currency is overvalued or not. The Swiss trade surplus is constant or rather rising, hence the Swiss Franc is correctly valued or rather undervalued. And the franc continues to appreciate.

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