Tag Archive: ECB

The Real Tantrum Should Be Over The Disturbing Lack of Celebration (higher yields)

Bring on the tantrum. Forget this prevaricating, we should want and expect interest rates to get on with normalizing. It’s been a long time, verging to the insanity of a decade and a half already that keeps trending more downward through time. What’s the holdup?

Read More »

Rate Adjustment Continues and the Greenback Pares the Week’s Losses

Overview:  Disappointing Apple and Amazon earnings news after the NASDAQ set a record high set the stage of a weaker bias in the Asia Pacific region today.  China and Japan still posted gains, while local developments, like an unexpected drop in South Korea's industrial output, and Australia struggling to exit its yield-curve control, saw equities lose more than 1%.  Europe's Stoxx 600 is paring this week's gains but is holding on to some for the...

Read More »

Eyes Turn to the ECB and the First Look at Q3 US GDP

Overview:  The market awaits the ECB meeting and the first look at the US Q3 GDP.  The pullback in US shares yesterday was a drag on the Asia Pacific equities.  It is the first back-to-back loss of the MSCI Asia Pacific in a few weeks.  Europe's Stoxx 600 is recovering from early weakness and US future indices are firm.  The US 10-year yield is flat, around 1.55%, after falling around 15 bp over the past four sessions.  European bonds are paring...

Read More »

Week Ahead: The First Look at US and EMU Q3 GDP and more Tapering by the Bank of Canada

The macro highlights for the week ahead fall into three categories.  First are the preliminary estimates for Q3 GDP by the US and the EMU.  Second, are the inflation reports by the same two.  The US sees the September PCE deflator, which the Fed targets, while the eurozone releases the first estimate for October CPI.  Third are the meetings of three G7 central banks, the BOJ, the ECB, and the Bank of Canada. The broad backdrop includes softening...

Read More »

Markets Turn Cautious

Overview: After a couple of sessions of taking on more risk, investors are taking a break today.  Equities are mostly lower today after the S&P 500's six-day advance took it almost to its record high, while the NASDAQ's streak was halted at five sessions.

Read More »

Hope Springs Eternal, or at least enough to Lift Risk Taking Today

Overview:  The animal spirits have been reanimated today.  Encouraged by the dramatic reversal in oil and gas prices, a deal in the US that pushes off the debt ceiling for a few weeks and talk of a new bond-buying facility in the euro area spurred further risk-taking today, ahead of tomorrow's US employment report. 

Read More »

Tapering Or Calibrating, The Lady’s Not Inflating

We’ve got one central bank over here in America which appears as if its members can’t wait to “taper”, bringing up both the topic and using that particular word as much as possible. Jay Powell’s Federal Reserve obviously intends to buoy confidence by projecting as much when it does cut back on the pace of its (irrelevant) QE6.

Read More »

Don’t Make a Fetish Out of What may be a Minor Change in the Pace of ECB Bond Buying

Overview: Yesterday's retreat in US indices was part of and helped further this bout of profit-taking. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index ended an eight-day advance yesterday and fell further today. Japanese indices, which had set multiyear highs, fell for the first time in nine sessions. Hong Kong led the regional slide with a 2.3% decline as China's crackdown on the gaming industry continued. 

Read More »

The Greenback Continues to Claw Back Recent Losses

Overview:  The US dollar continues to pare its recent losses and is firm against most major currencies in what has the feel of a risk-off day.  The other funding currencies, yen and Swiss franc, are steady, while the euro is heavy but holding up better than the Scandis and dollar-bloc currencies.  Emerging market currencies are also lower, and the JP Morgan EM FX index is off for the third consecutive session. 

Read More »

FX Daily, July 22: Enguard Lagarde

Overview: The rally in US shares yesterday, ostensibly fueled by strong earnings reports, is helping to encourage risk appetites today.  The MSCI Asia Pacific Index is posting its biggest gain in around two weeks, though Japan's markets are closed today and tomorrow.  The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is building on yesterday's rally, and with today's ~0.8% gain, it is up on the week.

Read More »

Inching Closer To Another Warning, This One From Japan

Central bankers nearly everywhere have succumbed to recovery fever. This has been a common occurrence among their cohort ever since the earliest days of the crisis; the first one. Many of them, or their predecessors, since this standard of fantasyland has gone on for so long, had caught the malady as early as 2007 and 2008 when the world was only falling apart.

Read More »

FX Daily, July 16: BOJ Tweaks Forecasts

The markets head into the weekend with little fanfare. Most large equity markets in the Asia Pacific region slipped earlier today. Hong Kong, which will be exempt from the need to secure mainland's cybersecurity approval for foreign IPOs, and Australia were notable exceptions. European bourses are edging higher, while US futures are oscillating around unchanged levels.

Read More »

FX Daily, July 12: Markets Adrift ahead of Key Events

The new week has begun quietly. The dollar is drifting a little higher against most major currencies, with the Scandis and dollar-bloc currencies the heaviest. The yen and Swiss franc's resilience seen last week is carrying over.

Read More »

Measuring Inflation and the Week Ahead

There is quite an unusual price context for new week's economic events, which include June US CPI, retail sales, and industrial production, along with China's Q2 GDP, and the meetings for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, the Bank of Canada, and the Bank of Japan.

Read More »

FX Daily, June 16: Will the Fed Talk the Talk?

With the outcome of the FOMC meeting awaited, the dollar is narrowly mixed in quiet turnover. The Scandis are the weakest (~-0.3%) among the majors, while the Antipodeans are the strongest (~+0.25%). JP Morgan's Emerging Market Currency Index is snapping a three-day decline

Read More »

FX Daily, June 10: ECB Meeting and US CPI: Transitory Impact

The ECB meeting and the US May CPI report is at hand. The US dollar is consolidating at a higher level against most of the major currencies. Softer than expected, inflation readings are weighing on the Scandis, which are bearing the brunt. The US 10-year yield closed below 1.50% for the first time in three months yesterday, and this may have helped underpin the Japanese yen.

Read More »

FX Daily, May 28: The Yuan Extends Gains, While Sterling’s First Close above $1.42 in Three Years Goes for Nought

The recovery of the US 10-year yield, so it is flat on the week near 1.61% coupled with month-end demand, is helping the US dollar firm. While the yen is bearing the burden on the week, with a 0.8% loss, the Antipodeans are leading the downside on the day.

Read More »

FX Daily, May 27: Narrow Ranges in FX Prevail Amid Month-End Considerations

Dollar demand linked to the month-end gave the greenback a bit of a reprieve, helped by firmer bond yields. Some momentum players may have been forced out of the euro and yen when the $1.22 and JPY109 levels yielded. However, follow-through dollar buying has been limited, and it has come back a little softer but broadly so.

Read More »

FX Daily, May 13: Long Lost Bond Vigilantes Sighted, Gives Dollar Fillip

It is as if the bond vigilantes were pushed too far. US inflation is accelerating more than expected, and it cannot all be attributed to the base effect, and the Federal Reserve, to many investors, is tone-deaf. With powerful fiscal stimulus, nominal growth above 10%, and the economy re-opening, albeit unevenly, does the monetary accelerator need to be fully engaged?

Read More »

FX Daily, April 28: Biden and Powell are Center Stage

Overview: It appears that the backing up of US yields is giving the dollar a better tone and challenging the Eurosystem, which has stepped up its bond purchases.  The US 10-year yield is around 1.65%, roughly a two-week high and back above the 20-day moving average. 

Read More »