Longdollar
Bullish bias on the Dollar - DXYWith the FOMC rate decision behind us and the committee deciding to raise rates every other meeting for the next two years. I expect the currency majors to move in the direction of the dollar. So whether the dollar is in the quote or base position buy the dollar on dips. The market is pricing in the rate hikes now. The short term D1 target is $97.35.
DXY long from current levelsMajor lines of support holding USD Index from going down. I think the price starts to reverse to the upside. If you look on the left you can see the same pattern formed before price went up. Decision is based on the analysis the currency pairs included in the DXY (euro, aud, nzd, gbp) which appear to turn in the direction of the stronger dollar.
Expecting to reach at least 101.00 and then breakout to the upside from the higher degree structure.
LONG USD VS JPY, EUR, GBP: HAWISK FED BULLARD - FED FUNDS RALLYBullard is the lone Fed official forecasting just one additional rate increase, and expects modest growth over the next two and a half years. But he reiterated Tuesday he's not expecting the economy to head south. However, did go out of his way to mention a relatively dovish point "We Have Some Ammunition if We Need it During Next Recession". Nonetheless he remained hawkish net on the margin, reiterating FED Georges hawkish comments regarding the labour market "About as Good as It's Ever Been", whilst using the June NFP print to flatten any questions regarding the low May print saying "Strong June Jobs Gains Showed May Report Was 'An Anomaly'". Similarly Bullard continued with Georges sentiment of the US's post-brexit robustness stating that the "Market Reaction to Brexit Shock Was 'Satisfactory,' 'Orderly'" - and infact surprisingly pushed this hawkish brexit sentiment on to new levels of "Ultimately the Brexit Impact on U.S. Economy Will be 'Close to Zero'". This is perhaps the most hawkish/ upbeat statement i have heard form a key Fed member since the decision which is positive given Bullard's naturally dovish stance.
Bullard also stressed the need for a solid US Fiscal package to boost demand, where i have to say fiscal stimulus has almost gone forgotten about in the last 7-years post crash, given the dominance of the central banks, quoting "U.S. Badly Needs Fiscal Agenda for Boosting Economic Growth".
Once again todays "FED speaker tracker" continues to add to my long $ view in the medium term. Today already we have seen front end rates continue their aggressive recovery this week, with the fed funds rate implied 25bps hike probability now trading for Sept/ Nov at a whopping 18% vs 11.7%Mon, with Dec trading at 36.3% vs 29.2%Mon .
10y UST (TNX) rates trade up another 4% today after a 5% gain yesterday, whilst 30yrs trade 3% up on the day (TNY) - as global risk rallies. Whilst USD is trading a little weaker in the immediate term as it readjusts lower for risk-on USD selling, long USD/ DXY is my medium term view as we continue to see the US FOMC Rate curve aggressively steepen, which is likely to continue for the next week at least - steeper implied curve means hike is more likely - more likely or realised hikes = increased (in the medium-term) dollar strength. Further, we expect dovish/ easing BOJ BOE ECB over the same period, this monetary policy divergence compounds the long $ view against its 3 biggest crosses (hence the long DXY expression)
Medium term trading strategy:
1. The best expression of this medium term USD view is long DXY - as above I hold 8/10 conviction views for a number of the heavily weighted USD basket crosses based largely on likely monetary policy divergence in the medium term (FOMC Hiking whilst BOE, BOJ & ECB ease/ cut) e.g. LONG USDJPY @104 - 106.3TP1 109.5TP2; SHORT EURUSD @1.11 - 109.3TP1 107.5TP2; GBPUSD @1.34 - 131.2TP1 128.5TP2
SELL EURUSD/ LONG USD, DXY: HAWKISH FED GEORGE SPEECH HIGHLIGHTSIMO FOMC George was largely bullish/ Hawkish $ on the margin; surprisingly coming out and stating for one of the first times that "Fed rates are too low" and "Not Raising Rates in June Was Due to Timing Issues" - these two statements imo hint that a hike coUuld be on the cards earlier than perhaps was expected (Dec), in-light of his opinion of them being too low and that the missed June hike was merely due "timing issues".. could these timing issue be corrected in July? Unlikely given the Brexit result (likely if the vote was bremain), but nonetheless this was more than encouraging.
On the wider economy George remained upbeat, highlighting last weeks NFP report as "welcomed news", and in the medium term reaffirming that "pace of job market growth has been notable" and "economy nearing full employment.
The only downers were his comments regarding business investment which he said was "weak" but after went on to assure that "outside of energy, business investment levels were better". Further, he cited that brexit issues were "longer run" uncertainties that the FOMC will watch.
Federal Funds Rate Implied Hike/ Cut Probability curve updates:
On the back of the strong 100k+ beat NFP print last week, going into this week we have seen an aggressive steepening in the Fed Funds implied prob curve across the tenors; Fridays steepening trend has continued into this week, where now a September/ Nov Hike trades at 12%/11.8% vs 5.9%/5.9% on Friday and 0%/0% on Thursday, with a Dec hike trading at 29.6% vs 22.5% Friday.
- This aggressive steepening, especially in the front end (where probabilities have doubled), is likely a function of FOMC member Georges Hawkish comments today, the NFP print and the aggressive recovery in risk across the board in the past few days which have all collectively improved confidence, which in turn has eased sell-side pressure on UST rates - today 10y UST rates have managed to trade 4.4% higher on the day (tnx), with 30y yields also up +0.95% - this is the first real break of downside pressure we have seen in rates for the past month.
Trading strategy:
1. The above combined has helped my broad long $ view with my favourite expressions short term being in NZD$ and AUD$ downside (See attached posts). In the medium term, EUR$ and $JPY dollar upside are my favourite trades for the risk-on element that will readjust the USD higher in the backend of this year (see attached posts); And the Monetary policy divergence + brexit uncertainty that should bring EUR$ to a lower equilibrium in the future also. Alternatively, this view can be aggregated as pictured into a long DXY play, where imo, it trades 3-4% below equilibrium - index should be near 100.
FOMC Member George Speech Highlights :
-Fed's George: June Jobs Data Was 'Welcome News'
-Fed's George: U.S. Economy Has Proved 'Resilient'
-Fed's George: Expects to See 'Fairly Steady Pace of Growth'
-Fed's George: Consumers Strong, But Business Investment Weak
-Fed's George: Outside of Energy, Business Investment Levels Better
-Fed's George: Pace Of Job Market Growth Has Been Noteworthy
-Fed's George: Economy Close to Full Employment
-Fed's George: Labor Market Recovery Not Evenly Shared by Workers
-Fed's George: Labor Pressured by Loss of Middle Skilled Jobs
-Fed's George: Fed Policy Limited in Role For Long Term Labor Trends
-Fed's George: Fed Rates Are 'Too Low'
-Fed's George: Fed Should Raise Rates Gradually
-Fed's George: Not Raising Rates in June Was Due to 'Timing Issues'
-Fed's George: Brexit Issues Are Longer Run Items to Watch
USD/ DXY: FOMC DUDLEY & WILLIAMS - BREXIT & US ECONOMY SPILLOVER1. IMO Dudley tipped to the dovish side, especially on key inflation highlighting that it is " rising again, but still low". Other rhetoric reaffirmed much of what has been said post the brexit vote e.g. Uncertainty being the biggest factor.
2. Meanwhile, Williams was notably more upbeat/ optimistic, shrugging off the US's shock miss NFP report to instead point out that the underlying trend remains upward. He also relatively underplayed Brexit by saying his baseline view is that it will have a "modest impact" vs Dudleys sitting on the fence of "too soon to say". Further, Williams went on to underplay Brexit as a "normal global economic uncertainty".
3. Nonetheless, both found common ground regarding the "Uncertainty" surrounding the Brexit US spillover effects and "data dependency" being key for FOMC decisions. This has been the case not only between the two today but also for several members in the past few weeks/ months.
4. USD now looks to FOMC Minutes from the June Meeting for any further hints of net member direction and NFP on Friday. I expect much of the same, with bias to Dudley's more cautious/ dovish approach likely to underlie the Minutes but hopefully an outstanding NFP report to spur the USD.
5. The 30-day Federal Funds Rate futures market sold-off Fridays Hawkish gains today, with the Implied Probability of a 25bps FOMC rate hike significantly flattened across the curve, with a Sept/ Nov Hike now at 0% vs 5.9%, Dec at 13.7% vs 22.3% and Feb 2017 at 13.4% vs 21.8%. We also saw a dovish skew across the tenors in favour of a 25bps cut, with Sept/Nov probabilities increasing to 2.4% vs 2.2% Sept and 4.4% vs 2.2% Nov. July expectations traded flat at 97.6% no change.
6. Nonetheless, it was William's bias that won the day as DXY Traded well offered, up 66pips at 96.21, much of which driven by the risk-off turn markets have taken, sending USD higher across the board, most notably against the antipodeans (RBA driven), CAD (oil 4% lower) and GBP (down 2%) as BOE Gov Carney continued to provide dovish sentiment. Also imo earnings season $ demand may have started to price the index higher.
7. Going forward I expect to see continued USD strength across the board as GBP, the Antipodeans, CAD and JPY are likely to realise weakness on the back of poor economic fundamentals, brexit, and further oil falling (global growth worries - brexit/ china linked). Also I expect BOJ easing to price UJ higher in the near future which, all in all, should provide the perfect environment for a higher DXY and USD especially against JPY, NZD and GBP over the next 4-6wks for the attached reasons. End of week DXY should close up 3%+ if NFP comes in firm/ strong - 98.5 target
Dudley on US Economy:
- Dudley: Brexit Main Uncertainty, Too Soon to Say Impact Yet
- Dudley: Investment in U.S. Also an Uncertainty
- Dudley: Inflation Is Rising Again, But Still Low
- Dudley: Fed Policy Remains Data Dependent
- Dudley: Uncertain Outlook Means Can't Predict Fed's Next Move
Williams on Brexit:
- "I think the economic effects, on the baseline scenario, are relatively modest, but there still is the uncertainty about how things are actually going to play out,"
- "I would say that what's happened with Brexit has been just one of the normal uncertainties that always occur in the global economy and things that we just have to take into account,"
- On the poor US Jobs Report - "the underlying trend continues to be good, continues to be above trend and continues to show that the economy is strengthening and not weakening,"