Week in a Glance: Trump and coronavirus, stimulus and BrexitThe past week main events took place more in the political sphere than in the economic one. But they did not become less significant for the financial markets because of this. Trump's coronavirus unexpectedly hit the main focus of the past week (stimulus in the US, Brexit and statistics from the US labor market) on Friday. About this and much more in today's review.
Let's start with the main shock of the past week: Trump and his coronavirus. The news is important not even because Trump is at risk (age plus overweight), but because it means that the presidential campaign is on the verge of collapse. Recall that Trump's situation was already extremely deplorable: according to The Economist's models, Biden's chances of winning 7 out of 8, judging by the bookmaker rates, Trump loses 61 to 39. The presidential debate last week only worsened the situation for Trump, because otherwise as a shame what was happening the press has not named. In general, it is worth preparing for the new president and the corresponding changes.
But the stock markets are trying their best to put on a good face with a bad game. The expectations now are on the adoption of a new stimulus package. To be honest, expectations are overestimated. During the past week, Democrats and Republicans have tried to come to an agreement and work out a common position. But the size of the discrepancy between them is still $600-$700 billion. As a result, the Democrats could not stand it and voted their package of 2.2 billion. This act will be buried in the Senate. So, the markets are wrong. Which gives us a reason to recommend sells in the US stock market.
Statistics on the US labor market sent another clear signal in favor of sells in the stock market: the economy is clearly losing momentum in its recovery and one should not expect a quick return to pre-pandemic levels. NPP data came out worse than forecasted.
Another key event of the past week was the final (or not) round of negotiations between the UK and the EU. The results were not announced even on Friday. But on Saturday at a joint press conference, EU and UK leaders said that there is progress in negotiations. Still, there is no deal on table yet.
The upcoming week promises to be relatively calm in terms of macroeconomic statistics. But in terms of politics, everything will remain uncertain: what about Trump and the presidential race in the United States? What about stimulus? Brexit?
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Crucial Friday: US Labor Market, Stimulus and BrexitThe list of major events yesterday was the same as on any other day of this week - stimulus in the US, Brexit and situation in the US labor market. On each of these issues, rather contradictory information was received and there is still no clarity in any of them.
Let’s take Brexit as an example. The European Union announced yesterday morning that it is starting a legal action against the UK over Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plan to break the terms of the Brexit divorce. As a result, the pound rapidly lost about a hundred points.
But later there was information from a number of British officials that there is significant progress in negotiations between UK and EU. After that the pound not only won back the previous losses, but also added about 50 points from above. However, the EU did not confirm this information and the further growth of the pound stalled and downward pressure returned. Today, in theory, the sides should summarize this week of negotiations and possibly shed light on the real level of progress. As a reminder, we believe that there will be a deal, and accordingly this week we recommend to be very cautious with shorting the pound.
The situation is similar with incentives in the United States. On the one hand, Republicans say that $2.2 trillion is not a subject for conversation in principle, but on the other hand, they offered $1.6 billion package. Democrats ultimately do not vote on their bill, hoping to vote for that version, which will have a chance of passing the Senate and Trump. But at the same time, they note that $1.6 billion is a half-hearted measure, and there is no point in agreeing to it. As a result, the question continues to hang in the air. As a reminder, we believe that the parties will not come to an agreement before the US elections, which means that the current growth of the US stock market is an excellent opportunity to sell higher.
With the US labor market, everything is far from clear as well. On the one hand, the numbers from ADP and statistics on jobless claims set up positive expectations. On the other hand, massive layoffs by Disney, Shell, American Airlines and a number of other large companies, coupled with a sharp increase in the number of bankruptcies in the United States, speaks in favor of a serious crisis in the US labor market.
In general, Friday may well be the day when answers to all the main questions of the week will be found. This means that potentially financial markets can literally explode. 200-300 or even more pips for pound pairs are quite possible today. The same goes for the behavior of the US stock market, gold prices, etc. In general, we are preparing for a very busy day and do not forget that today the dynamics will be directly determined by factors of a fundamental nature. So, follow the news and make decisions after the facts.
K-shape, ADP data, layoffs and bankruptciesSince the current week is the week of the US labor market data, let's talk about what is worth and what not to expect from Friday's statistics. Formally, yesterday's data from ADP tunes in a positive mood (+ 749K against the forecast of + 650K), but the real picture is somewhat different.
The jobless claims figures show that there are still many months (at best) to return to normal. The number of people constantly receiving unemployment benefits is 6-7 higher than it was before the pandemic.
One of the consequences of the pandemic and the economic crisis was a sharp increase in the number of bankruptcies and mass layoffs by leading companies. A recent example is Disney's firing of 28,000 employees. With about 6,000 stores closed in retail alone in the US, Disney's numbers are just the top of the iceberg. So it is extremely naive to expect a sharp increase in the number of new jobs against such a background.
The illusion of a rapid economic recovery (the so-called V-shape) is becoming less visible every day (only Trump and the Republicans see it now). It is more appropriate to speak of either the W-form or the K-form. The gist of the latter is that the stock market may be doing well and rich people are recovering relatively quickly, but for others the situation is very different. Since the “others” are millions of low-paid workers, there is no reason to expect a breakthrough in the labor market.
Democrats, meanwhile, continue to try to realize their vision of the economic recovery package. Judging by the position of White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow, who was skeptical about the need for such a large package, there is little chance of its approval in the Senate. Still negotiations with Mnuchin are in progress and markets prefer to think that chances are.
Winter is Coming, stimulus and Presidential Debate, BrexitThe number of deaths from coronavirus in the world has exceeded 1 million people. That is, in terms of the absolute number of deaths, the coronavirus is almost like tuberculosis and is close to deaths on the roads. And given how things are going and the fact that it is far from the end of the year and many experts say that winter can sharply intensify the incidence of diseases, there is every chance of catching up and overtaking diabetes and entering the top 5 causes of death in 2020. That in itself makes one think about the seriousness of the problem and its not far-fetched, as many still think.
Democrats in the United States, meanwhile, have finalized their vision for the new stimulus package. We are talking about the aid package to the US economy in the amount of $ 2.2 trillion. (in the previous version of HEROES act it was $ 3.4 trillion), which will include $ 1,200 stimulus check; $ 600 Extra Federal Unemployment Benefit; State and City Aid ($ 436 billion); Small business support; Funding For Airline Industry Workers; Education and childcare ($ 225 billion); and other items covering election security, U.S. Postal Service funding, worker safety, food security, and coronavirus testing, tracing, and treatment.
We have already noted that the chances of the adoption of the bill in this version are minimal, therefore the optimism associated with this aid package is clearly unfounded.
The UK and the EU started the final round of talks yesterday. Financial markets are waiting for a breakthrough in the negotiation process. The chances of this are quite high, given that both parties need a deal. But the contradictions between the EU and Britain are very significant. So we will observe with interest the progress of the negotiations and their outcome.
It was no less interesting to watch the US Presidential Debate yesterday. If we sum up the press, we get the following characteristics: the worst debate in history, disgrace, mess, circus. As it is not difficult to guess, the initiator of this was Trump, who was rude, constantly interrupted the opponent, lied and behaved extremely inappropriately, however, as usual.
Trump’s taxes, China slowdown, stock market risksAs the US Presidential Race reaches the final stage, the war of compromising evidences is gaining momentum. The attack of the Democrats at the start of the week looks pretty convincing. We are talking about information about the taxes paid by Trump, published by the New York Times. According to their information Trump in the year of his election, paid only $ 750 in income tax. Thus, almost any resident of the United States can now claim to have paid more taxes than the President.
In addition, information appeared that Trump is losing millions of dollars on his golf courses and has hundreds of millions of debts that need to be paid off in the nearest future.
Among other news, it is worth noting the return of optimism to the global stock markets. As a result, even the European stock markets have strengthened noticeably, and the Copenhagen Stock Exchange index was able to renew its historical highs.
Note that the markets generally have no particular reason for optimism. Stimulus in the US are far from the adoption, the second wave in Europe has not gone away, the number of deaths from COVID-19 exceeded 1 mln, and the recovery of the Chinese economy, according to Bloomberg estimates, has slowed in September amid weak real estate and car sales, declining stock market, and deteriorating confidence in the business environment. That is, economic growth in China began to lose momentum.
Morgan Stanley, meanwhile, named 4 main risks for the US stock market: budget crisis; the second wave of coronavirus in the United States; the exhaustion of the monetary policy potential and the Presidential elections of the US. So, the current rise in stock markets can be used as an opportunity to sell more expensive.
Week in a Glance: best week for USD and worst for stock marketIn terms of price dynamics in financial markets, last week was the best since April for the US dollar and one of the worst for the US stock market this year. There were many reasons for this behavior of assets: the week started with a banking scandal, and ended with the second wave of the pandemic in Europe. In addition, the head of the Fed, Jerome Powell, spoke three times in Congress, urging Congressmen to adopt a new stimulus package to save the economy. We will talk about this and other events of the past week in this report.
The week kicked off with the publication of an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), according to which several global banks were involved in transactions marked as possible money laundering. The total amount of these transactions exceeded $ 2 trillion over a nearly 20-year period. As a result, shares of these banks fell and pulled the stock market in general. According to BofA, the outflow of funds from the US stock market exceeded 26 billion, which was the third-largest weekly capital outflow on record. Our recommendation “sell” has worked well, but has not lost its relevance.
A full-fledged second wave of the pandemic began in Europe, as a result, some countries reached absolutely record values of new cases per day (for example, France). So, the V-shape economic recovery in such conditions looks less and less probable and, at best, it is worth counting on the W-pattern.
Against this backdrop, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell made three testimonies in Congress insisting on a new stimulus package. And it looks like his efforts were successful. Democrats have begun drafting a new stimulus bill that includes an estimated $ 2.4 trillion. The proposal could be voted on in the House of Representatives next week. However, there is a high probability that the Senate will block it again.
Against this background, the dollar took full advantage of the status of a safe-haven asset and showed the best week since April. In general, while the Dollar Index is above 93.60, we do not see any threats for its further growth, and therefore this week we will look for opportunities to buy it.
As for the coming week, the main event in terms of economic data will be the publication of statistics on the US labor market on Friday. In addition, a possible vote on the Democratic stimulus package and negotiations on Brexit will generate increased interest.
Speaking about our recommendations for the week, in addition to buying the dollar, we will sell oil and gold, as well as look for opportunities to sell in the stock market.
US unemployment and fake marketsYesterday's data on jobless claims (applications for unemployment benefits) gave further confirmation in favor of the fact that the "fast recovery" of the economy is a wishful thinking that cannot be passed off as real. And the point is not even that the data came out worse than forecasts, but that almost 4 months have passed since the United States formally left the lockdown, and the number of unemployed still remains 6-7 times higher than the pre-pandemic level (based on the Continuing Jobless Claims indicator).
Not surprisingly, more and more analysts refuse to deny the obvious: the US stock market has completely lost touch with reality. The perpetrators of this gap are generally understandable - the central banks, which literally flooded the financial markets with money. As a result, markets ceased to perform one of their basic functions - informational. Since the current stock prices do not give any idea of what is happening in the economies.
Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at Bank of America, suggests using the term “fake markets” to describe stock markets today. In general, it is difficult to disagree with him. Nevertheless, we believe that sooner or later this stage in their development will pass and the markets will return to normal existence. But this will not be possible without a radical reduction in prices. So, we continue to recommend selling on the US stock market.
There was some news in favor of bulls in the US stock markets. Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are working on a $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package that could be voted on next week. Another injection of money can lead to increase of demand in the market. Sales of new homes rose to their highest level in nearly 14 years in August which is also positive signal.
On business activity, oil prices and the W-formBusiness activity data from Markit were released yesterday, prompting markets to speculate about a W-shaped economic recovery. In Germany and Eurozone, the manufacturing sector continues to recover, but the services sector is experiencing problems (indices are below 50, that is, activity is declining). In the UK, the situation is generally better, but given the latest pandemic trends, one should not be too hopeful. In the US, both components are above 50, so buying the dollar against the euro and the pound remains the basic trading idea for the FOREX today.
Given such data and current statistics on the pandemic in Europe and the world as a whole, the economic recovery may well take a W-shape. That is, after a rather sharp recovery in the summer, the economy will sink to the bottom again. So short positions in the overpriced stock markets are our trading ideas for today and the nearest future.
As a result, the ECB, campaigning for additional stimulus. In particular, Board Member Fabio Panetta said on Tuesday that it would be better to do too much than too little. There are more and more voices from the Fed for additional support for the economy, but not by the Central Bank, but by the Government.
As for commodity markets, the dollar's rise is a reason for gold and oil sales. Moreover, news from Libya (a sharp increase in oil exports from the country is expected) is definitely set up for oil sales. The data for oil reserves in the United States (according to EIA, again decreased by 1.6 million barrels) are unlikely to be able to change the situation on the market.
Mnuchin and Powell, remote work and the second waveThe situation with the pandemic in the world is not improving: in a number of countries it is significantly worsening. Last week we wrote that Israel has already introduced a second lockdown and it is far from a fact that it will be an exception. The second wave is increasingly covering Europe, especially the UK. As a result, the UK government asks citizens to work from home, and if the situation does not begin to improve in the near future, a new lockdown may also be introduced in the country. According to one of the country's top scientific advisers, the number of new cases in the UK by mid-October may exceed 50,000 (so far, the number is 4,000). So, sells of EURUSD and GBPUSD look like a promising idea today in the FOREX.
In general, remote work is becoming a universal long-term phenomenon: many corporations, following the results of the first lockdowns, have come to the conclusion that this approach is cost-effective. Which, again, can radically change the current economic landscape in the world. In this light, for example, the return of demand in the oil market to pre-pandemic values becomes less and less likely, at least in the foreseeable future. According to Eurasia Group in 2020 global oil demand will decline by more than 10% from last year to about 90 million barrels per day (this will be the largest demand shock in the industry's history). So our recommendation to sell oil remains valid.
The pandemic continues to generate heightened economic uncertainty. In this regard, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell were testified in Congress yesterday. Both have expressed cautious optimism that the US economy is recovering from the recession caused by the pandemic. But the situation remains uncertain and the economy needs additional help from the government. In general, their speeches did not bring anything radical new.
"Battery Day" for Tesla was not so successful (a decrease in the company's shares by 5% hints at this). On the one hand, the new batteries will help Tesla reduce the size of its cars by about 10% and increase their range by 56% (the total range will be about 800 km) and, in the future, bring the price down to $ 25,000. On the other hand, if all this becomes a reality, then not earlier than 2022.
Laundering scandal, battery day, UK and lockdownThe week for the US stock market started on a minor note. Not only because Friday close for Nasdaq below 11,000, which looked like a verdict to buyers (at least from the standpoint of the current market sentiments), but also because the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published the results of an investigation where JPMorgan Chase & Co., Deutsche Bank AG and several global banks have been involved in transactions flagged as possible money laundering. The total amount of these transactions exceeded $ 2 trillion over a nearly 20-year period.
As a result, the shares of the banks mentioned in the report fell (shares of Deutsche Bank AG fell more than 7.5%, and shares of HSBC Holdings Plc fell to a 25-year low). This fall created the necessary background for the general decline in the US stock market.
However, today Tesla may give reason for some optimism. Company on Tuesday is holding an annual meeting of shareholders timed to coincide with "battery day". Tesla as expected will announce details about its new type of battery cells. We will not be surprised by the growth of Tesla shares by the end of the day, but we believe that they are extremely overpriced.
As for other trading ideas, in the foreign exchange market it is primarily the sale of the British pound. The country is on the verge of a second lockdown, will increase the downward pressure on the pound. Over the past 2-3 weeks, the number of new infections in the UK has increased several times and the process is clearly becoming uncontrollable.
The dollar rose quite well yesterday by the end of the day, having tested the upper boundary of the Dollar Index mid-term range, which in itself is a reason for selling it. So, buy EURUSD today or sell USDJPY seems like a pretty good trading opportunities, as well as buy gold.
Week in a Glance: Fed and Bank of England, mega-deals and oilThe past week turned out to be very eventful with all sorts of fundamental events. Three leading central banks announced their decisions on the parameters of monetary policy in the USA, Japan and the UK. The OECD has updated its economic forecasts and Japan has a new Prime Minister. Oil showed its best week since June, and a number of mega-deals took place in the US stock market. We will talk about this and much more in today's review.
The Fed, Bank of Japan and Bank of England left the parameters of monetary policy unchanged. And if the US Central Bank made it clear that zero rates are for a long time (at least until 2023), then the Bank of England decided to start discussing the issue of negative rates. For the pound, the news is more than negative, so this week we will continue to look for an opportunity to sell it intraday and mid-term, at least while there is no progress in the negotiations between the EU and the UK.
Also we will buy the Japanese yen this week, as the new Prime Minister of Japan, Yoshihide Suga, was approved last week, who, as Shinzo Abe's right hand, should continue the current economic policy of Japan.
The US stock market was also saturated. The reason is not only " the witching day" on Friday, when it was the day of expiration of futures and options contracts for major US stock indices, but also a large number of megadeals. For example, SnowFlake, which held the largest IPO of 2020 and the largest in the history of a software company. NVIDIA wants to buy British chip maker Arm from Japan's SoftBank Group Corp for $ 40 billion, and Gilead Sciences has offered to pay $ 21 billion for the biotech company Immunomedics.
It is symptomatic that against the backdrop of all this (mega deals, ultra-soft Fed), as well as improved forecasts for economic growth in 2020 from the OECD, the Nasdaq index closed the week below 11,000 (a very negative signal for bulls). Since we have been systematically recommending sells in the US stock market, this signal for us is positive, it proves our rightness.
Oil finished its best week since June. But we believe that this is just a reason for more aggressive sells, because now prices are just much better for this and nothing more. Last week OPEC lowered its forecasts for the oil demand in 2020. Same have done the International Energy Agency and British BP. Trafigura Group (the second largest oil trader in the world) warns that the oil market is again close to a surplus. As for the OPEC + meeting, we have an obvious failure in compliance (its level for the case of the UAE fell to 10%). Only the threats of Saudi Arabia to punish everyone can be treated as some positive for oil.
Bank of England hits pound, jobless claims and OPEC meetingCentral Banks of Japan and England announced the results of their meetings yesterday. Following the Fed, they decided to leave the parameters of monetary policies unchanged. But at the same time, the Bank of England dealt a rather painful blow to the British pound, noting that it will intensify the discussion of negative interest rates due to the increased uncertainty in the economy.
However, everything is unclear not only in England. Although the US economy is recovering, it has been doing it quite slowly lately. Yesterday's data on jobless claims is a vivid proof of this. On the one hand, the number of both primary and secondary applications has decreased. But, on the other hand, they are still several times higher than the pre-pandemic values. And if they continue to improve at such a pace, then it will take at least another six months to reach the pre-pandemic levels.
Republicans and Democrats have not stopped trying to negotiate a new stimulus package for the United States. Perhaps there has been some breakthrough. At the very least, Trump's words that he is open to additional costs and the final package of $ 1.5 trillion are definitely a step towards a compromise with the Democrats.
OPEC + members met online yesterday. Despite the downward revision of forecasts for oil demand, OPEC+ did not begin to expand the volumes of the voluntary production cuts. They can be understood because a number of countries do not even comply with the current obligations. According to the IEA, the UAE alone exceeded its oil production quotas in August by an average of 520,000 bpd. OPEC+ once again shook a finger at the violators. In total, nothing that can be interpreted as a reason for oil growth at the end of yesterday did not happen, which means that current prices are an excellent opportunity for sales.
New prime minister in Japan, ultra-low Fed and OECDYesterday was quite eventful for all sorts of events. For example, Japan has decided on a new prime minister to replace Shinzo Abe. Epoch is leaving for the Japanese economy (quite good one compared to the 90s) and the markets were very worried about the successor. It turned out to be Abe's right hand Yoshihide Suga. So, financial market participants breathed a sigh of relief, which triggered an increase in demand for the Japanese yen.
Another reason for the positive (if, of course, this word is appropriate to describe this situation) was given by the OECD. The organization has updated its own forecasts for economic growth in 2020. Quite unexpectedly, the forecasts were revised upward on average. China is now generally expected to increase its GDP by the end of the year.
Estimates for the US, EU and UK, as well as for the world in general, have been revised upward. Still, for a number of countries (especially emerging ones) forecasts were worsened. For example, for India, the forecast was deteriorated by more than two times. In this light, recall that sells in the Indian stock market and the Indian rupee, given the current prices of these assets, look very promising trading ideas, especially if you will take a look at the current pandemic situation in India.
The US retail sales data disappointed yesterday, its growth turned out to be much lower than expected (0.6% against the forecast of 1%), which once again reminded the markets that the economic recovery in August in the world has rapidly slowed down.
The main event of yesterday for the financial markets as a whole was the announcement of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting results. As expected, the monetary policy parameters were left unchanged. The central bank met the markets' expectations that ultra-low rates will last for a long time (13 out of 17 committee members expect rates to be unchanged until 2023). It would seem that the US stock market received a powerful reason for growth, and the dollar - for a decline. But in fact, the stock market was under pressure and the dollar was strengthening. Even Snowflake can’t help.
Perhaps this is due to a mixed revision of the Fed's forecasts for the future of the US economy. On the one hand, the central bank now expects the economy to contract 3.7% in 2020, up from a previous estimate of a 6.5% contraction. On the other hand, growth in 2021 and 2022 was revised downward to 4% and 3% from 5% and 3.5%, respectively.
Speaking about the Central Banks, we note that today the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England are announcing their decisions. Traditionally, the markets do not expect surprises. So, there is every reason to monitor these event on the background without trying to actively trade the news.
In addition, we are monitoring statistics on jobless claims, which can both increase fears about the pace of economic recovery in the US and reassure investors.
Preparing for the FOMC meeting results and selling oilYesterday for financial markets started with rather positive information: for the first time in 2020, China showed an increase in retail sales. However, this positive is easily broken by the news about the second lockdown in Israel, the expectation of a second wave of the pandemic in the UK and the general statistics on the number of cases in the world.
The fundamental background in the oil market is getting gloomier every day. As if there were not enough problems like price discounts from Saudi Arabia, increased fears about the recovery in demand for oil, a decrease in imports of oil products from China and an increase in oil reserves in the United States last week. The week started with a new negative.
Yesterday we already discussed the negative projections of OPEC and British BP, and today they were supplemented by forecasts from the International Energy Agency (reduced own forecasts for growth in demand for oil in the fourth quarter by 600K b / d) and Trafigura Group (the second largest oil trader in world, warning that the oil market is again close to a surplus).
To conclude, sell remains the only reasonable option for trading with oil, in our opinion. But with some reservations: another hurricane threatens floods on the US coast, which has already led to the shutdown of a number of oil refineries (production of offshore oil and gas in the US has been cut by a quarter). And the data from the API showed a sharp decline in US oil stocks (by 9.5 million).
Wednesday is interesting primarily by the results of the FOMC meeting. We expect for the details of inflation targeting based on average inflation. Recall that the chair of the Fed, Jerome Powell, at a symposium in Jackson Hole announced the transition to a new benchmark in inflation targeting, but at the same time there were no details provided about how the FED will calculate the average inflation rate, for what period, whether a simple average or weighted average will be used, etc. Answers to these questions will give an understanding of the potential speed of the Fed's reaction to changes in inflationary processes in the United States and, accordingly, it will be possible to more clearly understand the future actions of the Central Bank.
Also, do not forget about the data on retail sales in the United States, which will also be published today.
Mega Deals, Vaccines and the Doom of the Oil MarketFinancial markets started the week in rather high spirits. The growth of positive sentiments was facilitated by the mega-deals news. First of all, we are talking about NVIDIA's agreement to buy the British chip designer Arm from the Japanese SoftBank Group Corp for $ 40 billion. And although there is still ages before the deal is completed (it will take about 18 months to agree on the deal: it must be approved by the United States, China, Great Britain and the European Union) , it may well change the balance of power in the global semiconductor market.
In addition, Oracle said that together with the Chinese ByteDance, they will ensure the functioning of TikTok in the United States. Thus, Microsoft has lost the war.
Finally, Gilead Sciences has offered to pay $ 21 billion for the biotech company Immunomedics.
Information from AstraZeneca about the restoration of the third phase of trials, as well as from Pfizer about the start of the third phase and the promise of the head of the company by the end of October to provide a vaccine ready for production, also contributed to the positive background.
It should be noted that the markets traditionally work out not actual news, but future expectations. Because from the “here and now” position, there are no particular reasons for buying. The situation with the pandemic on a global scale continues to worsen, which increases the risks of a second or third wave. And this problem is here and now. Besides, here and now it is unsolvable.
Among those who have been consistently unlucky lately is the oil market. OPEC published its monthly report and extremely disappointed oil buyers with the forecasts for global oil demand (expected at 90.2 mb / d, which is 0.4 mb / d lower than previous estimates). And if we add to this the revision of the British BP's strategic forecasts for the peak of oil demand the situation looks even worse. BP expects in the middle of this decade, that the demand for oil will reach its peak, after that it will begin to decline for a long time (oil will be gradually replaced by alternative energy sources). So, in the long run oil market in its current form is doomed.
Week in a Glance: Trump, ECB, Brexit, Tesla and AstraZenecaThe past week turned out to be quite eventful with all sorts of fundamental events. Starting with the next portion of threats from Trump, ending with the Brexit problems and the ECB meeting.
President Donald Trump said he is going to "end" US dependence on China and threatened to punish any American company that creates jobs overseas, as well as to impose "massive tariffs" on imports from China. So now it seems that whoever wins the presidential race (Biden or Trump), the result will not be good for the US stock market.
In this light, Tesla's anti-record (the company lost about $ 80 billion in market value on Tuesday) can be considered a kind of warning.
But Tesla isn't the only problem. The UK internal market bill has provoked an ultimatum from the EU (and rejected it), and the likelihood of the Brexit negotiations failing has reached its maximum. The pound, accordingly, moved to the minimum levels.
The ECB meeting could potentially change a lot in the foreign exchange market, but in fact the parameters of monetary policy were left unchanged, as well as economic outlook in Europe. Although the issue of the euro exchange rate was raised, the Central Bank is not planning to do anything with it so far. So, nothing has been changed dramatically.
The US stimulus package continues to be the main concern for US investors. Democrats on Thursday failed a vote on a Republican stimulus package.
Global vaccine race leader AstraZeneca has suspended its COVID-19 clinical trials around the world due to an adverse reaction in a trial participant in the United Kingdom. This potentially means we will see the coronavirus vaccine a month or two later.
The oil market was also not happy: Saudi Arabia announced the deepest monthly decline in prices for supplies to Asia in five months, and optimism about the recovery in demand decreased amid the peak of the pandemic. So, oil prices were under strong downward pressure.
As for the upcoming week, it will be interesting primarily for the meetings of the Fed and the Bank of England. As well as a block of data on retail sales for almost all key countries of the world. In addition, we will follow the news on Brexit and the situation with the pandemic.
ECB, jobless claims, US stimulus, Brexit and oil stocksIn terms of news, yesterday was a pretty busy day. And although the world has not turned upside down at the end of the day, it is still worth analyzing what was happening.
The main event of the day is the ECB meeting and its decision on the parameters of monetary policy. That is, the markets did not expect any changes, but the latest inflation data pushed the Central Bank to at least additional comments.
The parameters of monetary policy were left unchanged. At the same time, the ECB left its own forecasts for economic growth in Europe unchanged. Let us remind, on Wednesday Bloomberg disseminated information that the ECB may improve its outlook.
The main positive for the euro was the lack of comments on the use of regulation of the euro exchange rate as one of the instruments of monetary policy. Many feared that the ECB might devalue the euro in order to unwind the inflationary spiral. To sum up, the universe of the euro has not changed by and large.
Weekly data on jobless claims traditionally aroused increased interest among financial market participants yesterday. This is understandable - they need a signal that the economy is recovering and has not fallen into a depression. Initial and continuing claims came out worse than expected and showed that the labor market continues to experience problems.
In addition, the day for buyers in the US stock market was darkened by a lack of progress between Republicans and Democrats on a new stimulus package for the US economy. What's more, Democrats yesterday flunked a vote on the Republican stimulus package.
The day turned out to be extremely gloomy for the pound, as the next round of Brexit talks failed.
Meanwhile, the situation on the oil market remains tense and rather uncertain. According to API data, US oil reserves increased by almost 3 million barrels over the week. Official figures from EIA showed an increase of 2 million barrels. This signal is definitely negative for buyers in the oil market.
Unlucky week, ECB decision and contango in the oil marketFor many (at least for buyers in the US stock market and in the oil market), the current week has not been the most successful. But as is often the case, one thing follows the other. Looks like the fall in US stock indices and Trump's threats were not enough.
This time, India and China contributed to the creation of the most gloomy fundamental backdrop. Sides have already moved on to fire clashes on the disputed border. In addition, AstraZeneca (the leader of the global vaccine race) has suspended the third phase of trials around the world due to an adverse reaction in one of the participants in the United Kingdom.
Today the unemployment data in the US may continue the losing streak. In addition, the ECB may surprise the markets with its economic outlook, as well as with the comments on euro exchange rate.
Traditionally, Brexit negotiations have been tough. Since the sides have reached the home stretch, the rates have been increased as much as possible and everyone is waiting for someone to sit out. Markets are increasingly being discounted for a possible failure, which naturally puts pressure on the British pound.
And if the hopes of buyers of the pound are that the sides will agree, then in the oil market they are more likely associated with the differential between spot and futures prices, which indicates the presence of contango (the price of an oil futures is higher than the current price on the market), which means , the prospects for earnings on oil storage are opening up. This may provide some support to oil prices.
Trump threatens, Europe is withering, prices are fallingThe main event that determined the dynamics in the financial markets yesterday was Trump's announcement that he was going to "end" US dependence on China. As an option for the practical implementation of the thesis, the threat to punish every American company that creates jobs abroad was voiced. And of course, us usual, tariff threats were declared.
Considering that the markets finished last week in a disassembled state (stock markets were falling, as well as oil prices), such statements only worsened the situation. As a result, the Fear Index jumped 15%, and the US stock market continued to form a correctional wave, which risks turning into full-fledged selloff and a bubble collapse.
Europe and Japan, meanwhile, reported results of the second quarter GDP revision. In both cases, the data were formally revised upwards, but overall the data confirmed that the economic situation in the second quarter was unprecedentedly bad.
In general, Europe is in a bad shape. The second wave of the pandemic, apparently, is set seriously with all the consequences for the Eurozone economy. So, perhaps, the ECB will not have to intervene in the dynamics of the euro, it will fall on its own. However, the risk of the ECB's interference in the fate of the euro will worry the FOREX participants until Thursday. So, it's not worth buying the euro yet.
Even against the British pound, which in the last week is desperately trying to discount the possible failure of negotiations with the EU and a "hard" Brexit. The British announcement that they are already preparing to exit without a trade agreement was made just before the start of the next round of negotiations. A great start for constructive negotiations.
Oil failures, Softbank and Tesla problems, Johnson's ultimatumIt seems that with the recent jumps in the US stock market, everything has become completely clear (in fact, no). Softbank was chosen as the last resort (it turned out to be the main buyer of US tech stocks), using options to generate short-term, highly leveraged profits.
Well Softbank has become a clear example of what happens to buyers in an overvalued market: its shares fell 7.2% on Monday to their lowest level in two months. And it is far from the fact that this is the bottom.
Tesla has been plagued by problems too. Buyers' hopes that the company would be included in the SP500 index were dashed after the index committee did not add an electric car manufacturer to the SP500. So the bears have every chance to build on their current success and drive the company's shares to $ 200 or below.
At the start of the week, the British pound was under strong downward pressure. The reason is Boris Johnson's ultimatum: Great Britain is ready to withdraw from the negotiation process if there will be no serious breakthrough in it in the nearest future.
The week for oil did not start well. Despite a rather strong decline in US oil inventories last week, the number of active drilling rigs in the US showed insignificant growth. In addition, Saudi Arabia has sharply reduced its oil prices for Asian buyers (the maximum decline in the last 5 months). Well, the situation in the world economy after the failures of India and Australia last week continues to indicate that a quick recovery in oil demand should not be expected. That is, the current fundamental background for oil is rather gloomy, which means that sales should be preferred.
Week in Glance: India and Australia, deflation and NFPLast week kicked off with the fact that the S&P 500 ended its best August since 1986. Well, the week ended with the biggest two-day fall in the Nasdaq Index since March. And it is far from the fact that the worst is over for buyers. Rather, on the contrary, the collapse of the bubble may become full-fledged with all that it implies.
We have already talked many times about the huge fundamental divergence that formed between the dynamics of prices in the US stock market and its economy. Statistics on the US labor market once again showed that a quick economic recovery should not be expected, which means that the divergence can be eliminated only due to a strong decline in prices in the stock market.
The data on the Australia GDP (decreased by 7% in the second quarter, and the country officially entered a state of recession) and India (the drop in GDP in the second quarter was 23.9%, which was the biggest in the entire history of observations) reminded that the economic crisis - this is not a local problem of the United States, but a global one, so external forces are unlikely to help the USA.
Another important event of the past week was the information about deflation in the Eurozone. Which provoked the comments of the ECB chief economist that the exchange rate is an important component of monetary policy. Markets took this as a signal of a possible devaluation of the euro. Considering that the next ECB meeting will take place this week, it is likely that the current week will not be the easiest for the euro.
In addition, revised GDP data for Japan, Eurozone and Great Britain will be published this week, so volatility spikes in currency pairs with the Japanese yen, euro and pound are also very likely.
As for the general situation in the foreign exchange market, the dollar is still under pressure. Despite the heroic retention of 92.20 support line, the downtrend still prevails and while the Dollar Index is below 93.60 its upside potential is limited. Accordingly, we will use any growth of the dollar for now as an opportunity for better sell points.
Brexit problems, NFP in focus, vaccination dateThe dollar continued to recover yesterday in the foreign exchange market, but for the transition to a full-fledged correction, the Dollar Index needs to strengthen above 93.60. And for this, in turn, today's data on the US labor market should at least not disappoint. But this is doubtful. ADP figures were two times lower than forecasted, the number of jobless claims in August averaged around 1 million on initial applications and 14 million on continuous ones, a consistently weak component of the labor market in basic business activity indices, an increase in the number of bankruptcies - absolutely everything indicates that the US labor market continues to be in bad shape.
So, the expectations of an increase in the number of new jobs outside of agriculture by 1.4-1.5 million, in our opinion, is an overly optimistic estimate. Accordingly, we would not be in a hurry to buy the dollar today. On the contrary, the current dollar growth is a good opportunity for its sales. At least as long as the Dollar Index is below 93.60 and the NFP numbers come out weak enough.
Among other news, it is worth noting another unsuccessful week of negotiations between the EU and the UK. The EU's chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said he was “worried and disappointed” with the UK's approach to the talks and said there was no progress. All of this is fueling fears that the UK will exit the bloc in January without a deal.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meanwhile, notified states that they should be ready to distribute the vaccine by November 1. In their opinion, the chosen date is needed to ensure that the infrastructure is in place to distribute any treatment when it becomes available. As a reminder, none of the experimental vaccines have yet completed trials.
The US stock market yesterday showed the maximum decline since June. Possibly the bubble collapse process has begun.