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Weaker economic data from the US have bolstered our view that the Federal Reserve will be able to cut rates by more than investors currently expect. As a result, we continue to think that Treasury yields will generally fall by the end of the year. …
15th February 2024
The rise in US bond yields has put renewed pressure on the yen, but we think further downside is limited. We still expect Treasury yields to resume their downward trend and for the yen to benefit most among G10 currencies vis-à-vis the dollar from this …
We think that UK inflation will continue to fall faster and further than many seem to be expecting, paving the way for the Bank of England (BoE) to cut interest rates by more than is now discounted in markets. That helps to inform our view that today's …
14th February 2024
Today’s hotter-than-expected US inflation data makes for another bump in the road for US bond and equity markets. But we think a full-scale return to the bad old days of the 2021-23 inflation scare is unlikely, and that the US equity market will continue …
13th February 2024
Chairman Thomas Jordan’s recent comments about the franc raise questions over whether the SNB might use FX interventions to loosen monetary conditions. But we think policymakers will use the policy rate as the main tool to achieve price stability, and …
The ways things are going, our upbeat forecast for the S&P 500 of 5,500 at the end of this year may be realised in a matter of months . We doubt the rally would end there, though. Admittedly, we might be inclined in that event to pencil in an earlier end …
12th February 2024
While the dollar has fallen back a touch over the past couple of days, it has held on to most of its post-payrolls gains. The DXY index is now up about 3% on the year, having regained roughly half its drop over the last two months of 2023. The greenback’s …
9th February 2024
“High-carry” emerging market (EM) currencies have not been immune to broad-based dollar strength so far this year, and we think they have further to fall. Although investors have pared back expectations for rate cuts by major central banks (notably the …
We expect government bond yields in emerging market (EM) economies to fall over the remainder of the year, helped by a broadening easing cycle and falling Treasury yields. While the big question around monetary policy in developed market (DM) economies is …
8th February 2024
Policy support for Chinese equities may facilitate a near-term rebound, but investors probably need to be convinced that the government's attitude towards the private sector has shifted if there is to be a more sustainable rally. Chinese equities have …
7th February 2024
While not our base case, continued strength in the US economy would probably be a tailwind for the US dollar over the coming months. But even in that event, we think the dollar would eventually weaken as bond yields fell in the US relative to elsewhere as …
Although last week’s renewed underperformance of US regional banks and equity office REITs sparked fears of another mini banking crisis, a fairly steady decline in the option-adjusted spreads (OAS) of private label commercial mortgage backed securities …
6th February 2024
Oil prices have had only limited impact on US Treasury yields recently, and we suspect that this will remain the case in the next couple of years. So far this month, oil prices have fallen back quite sharply. At around $72 per barrel (pb) at the time of …
5th February 2024
The US Employment Report , released today, showed that non-farm payrolls for January came in at a whooping 353,000 – even more than the upwardly revised 333,000 number for December and almost double analysts’ median expectation. Immediately after the …
2nd February 2024
The DXY index seems set to close this week at its strongest level in almost two months, breaking out of a narrow range amid a flurry of data releases out of the US. Consistent with Fed Chair Powell’s continued emphasis on data dependence, signs of …
We don’t expect the Australian and New Zealand dollars – which have been two of the worst-performing G10 currencies this year – to fall much further. It’s been a rough start to the year for the aussie and the kiwi: although all the non-US G10 currencies …
Despite the Bank of England (BoE) following the Fed in pushing back against imminent rate cuts, Gilt and Treasury yields are on track to post big falls today. That partly reflects renewed concerns over US regional banks, and offers a reminder that for …
1st February 2024
Ahead of the first Fed meeting of 2024, we think there are two points for investors to note about how the central bank might affect markets this year. First, while the Fed may be cautious today, we see scope for Treasury yields to drop a bit more. Despite …
31st January 2024
After its sharp fall at the end of 2023, the US dollar has risen against most major currencies so far this year. Interest rate expectations have rebounded a bit in the US and in most places outside Asia, weighing particularly on the region's currencies. …
30th January 2024
The US Treasury’s latest borrowing estimates pushed long-dated yields down, and the Quarterly Refunding Announcement (QRA) on Wednesday may add to positive sentiment. But we think that a poor fiscal outlook in the US and more price-sensitive buyers will …
We think the best days for US investment-grade (IG) corporate bonds will soon be over. One reason is that credit spreads are now already very low. The option-adjusted spread (OAS) of ICE BofA’s index of US IG corporate bonds, for example, dipped below …
29th January 2024
The US dollar seems set to remain within a tight range against most major currencies this week. At face value, the stronger-than-expected GDP data out of the US might point to a return to “higher for longer”, but the growing evidence of disinflationary …
26th January 2024
Similar to the late 1990s, we think the economic backdrop in the US won’t stand in the way of a bubble inflating in the S&P 500. But unlike then, we doubt it will help the dollar much. US equities have rallied since GDP data revealed yesterday that growth …
We think the current backdrop is not as favourable for the greenback as the one that prevailed during the dot com era, so we doubt the bubble in US equities we expect would be accompanied by renewed strength in the dollar over the next couple of years. …
25th January 2024
While the dovish reaction to today’s ECB meeting came as a bit of a surprise, we continue to think that the direction of travel for Bund yields – and most sovereign bond yields – will be down this year. Today’s ECB meeting played out broadly as had been …
This is a special Global Economics Chart Pack that provides clients with key analysis to make sense of the macro and market impact of the disruptions to maritime shipping. The charts in this document come from our brand-new shipping dashboard , which …
While we expect equities around the world to rebound – as a stock market bubble inflates on the back of growing hype around AI – we suspect that Latin American stock markets will keep lagging. Global stock markets are not off to a great start this year. …
24th January 2024
Although the Bank of Japan (BoJ) stood its ground at its meeting today, we still expect it to hike its policy rate before long; that, we think, could contribute to a higher 10-year JGB yield. The BoJ didn’t make much of a splash in markets earlier today …
23rd January 2024
Judging by the latest rally in some ‘big-tech’ sectors, renewed hype around Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems to explain why the S&P 500 has just racked up a new record high despite a recent rebound (if not today) in the 10-year Treasury yield. (See …
22nd January 2024
The US dollar’s rebound has gained momentum this week amid hawkish rhetoric from Fed officials and more evidence out of the US – notably retail sales and jobless claims – of continued resilience in the economy there. So far this year, currency markets …
19th January 2024
US large caps have vastly outperformed UK ones over the past year or so, but that is skewed by the performance of the biggest names on both sides of the Atlantic. Indeed, there is little difference between the two markets on an equal-weighted basis over …
We project decent near-term gains in China’s equities, think long-dated CGB yields will finish the year around their current levels, and expect the renminbi to rally against the US dollar. China’s equity, bond, and FX markets were on the back foot …
Although Gilt yields remain elevated and sterling resilient, we expect both to fall over the course of 2024 as disinflationary pressures build in the UK. Data out of the UK released so far this week have indicated mixed progress on the goal of bringing …
18th January 2024
We still forecast the renminbi to make ground against the US dollar by the end of this year, despite the seemingly stiff headwinds it faces. China’s equities and currency were back under pressure today, after the country’s Q4 activity data underwhelmed …
17th January 2024
A hawkish mood has prevailed in markets this year, and comments from the Fed’s Waller today seemed to add fuel to that fire, at least initially. But given how aggressively rate cuts were priced in late last year, investors are still discounting a huge …
16th January 2024
While sterling has outperformed other G10 currencies amid the dollar sell-off over the past couple of months, we expect it to reverse its gains against the greenback as short-term Gilt yields edge lower. So far this year, the pound has held up well …
Government bond yield curves in the US, Germany, and the UK seem to be once again on the path towards “normalisation”, or “disinversion”, as short-term yields are close to breaking below long-term ones. And while we think that 10-year yields will drop …
15th January 2024
In contrast to 2023, we expect a strong showing from UK equities this year, helped by a weaker pound and enthusiasm around AI technology. UK’s FTSE 100 started the day with a ~1% jump, after GDP data for November released this morning came in a bit above …
12th January 2024
After a strong start to the year, the US dollar seems set to end the week broadly unchanged against most currencies, as inflation data releases out of the US this week failed to generate much of a reaction. This stalemate in currency markets has been a …
We think that most major currencies in Latin American will fall against the US dollar this year. As a result, the relatively poor returns that we expect from equities in the region in local-currency terms are likely to be even worse in US dollar terms. …
We wouldn’t be surprised if US bonds and equities fell a bit further in the near term. But, in our view, the Fed remains on track to start easing in March, pointing to renewed gains in US asset prices. December core CPI data out of the US, released …
11th January 2024
We still think that China’s equities could fare well relative to others in the near term, but also that their longer-run prognosis is fairly bleak. The challenging times for China’s stock market have continued today, with the country’s major indices …
10th January 2024
A continued pull-back in the spreads of US private-label commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) since the start of 2024, at a time when those of US high-yield corporate bonds have edged up (see Chart 1) and “risky” assets in general have come under …
9th January 2024
Despite bouncing back a bit in recent days, the spreads of corporate bonds remain near their lowest levels in two years, making them vulnerable to a deterioration in economic conditions. Financial markets are starting the year on the back foot. After a …
8th January 2024
The dollar’s strong start to 2024 has partly reversed today as the surprisingly weak US ISM non-manufacturing survey has more than offset another robust US non-farm payrolls report . Even so, the greenback remains up on the week as interest rate …
5th January 2024
Today’s plunge in the employment component of the US ISM services survey more than took the shine off a slightly stronger than expected US Employment Report . In doing so, it appears to have called at least a temporary halt to the recent correction in the …
While we estimate the US dollar remains only somewhat above “fair value”, the valuations of some other major currencies are at extreme levels. For these currencies – notably the Mexican peso and Czech koruna – we think reversion towards fair value could …
4th January 2024
We expect the Japanese yen to make larger gains this year than the Chinese renminbi. The yen and the renminbi, which had rallied over November and much of December, have begun the year on the back foot. Soft PMIs in China earlier this week (even though …
With most major bond and equity markets on track for a second down day to start the new year, it’s fair to say that financial markets have started 2024 with something of a mild hangover. While reading too much into the first couple of days in the working …
3rd January 2024
Both bond and equity markets have started the year on the back foot. But, while a pause after the rapid rally in most asset prices over the last two months of 2023 would not be surprising, we think the outlook for both bond and, especially, equity prices …
2nd January 2024