China Growth Weakened Significantly in May. Crackdown on Credit is Biting
We expect the slowdown in China’s economic growth would be increasingly evident in coming months, reflecting the rapid moderation in credit growth in the first half of the year. PBOC left its policy rate unchanged, although FOMC lifted the Fed funds rate by +25 bps, in June. This was...
Traders Bet for Further Strength Despite USD’s Pullback
Both bulls and bears added bets on US dollar ahead of the June FOMC meeting, as suggested in the CFTC Commitments of Traders report in the week ended June 12. Both speculative long and short positions were increased in USD Index (DXY) futures, resulting in Net LENGTH of 4 663...
Bets for Higher Precious Metal Prices Increased Despite Fed’s Rate Hike
According to the CFTC Commitments of Traders report for the week ended Jun 12, net LENGTH for crude oil futures soared +11 717 contracts to 595 293. Net LENGTH for heating oil futures dropped -4 208 contracts to 34 597 while that for gasoline declined -7 965 contracts to 85 868....
Dollar Surged on Hawkish Fed, Trade War Threat Ignored
Dollar surged broadly last week as Fed policymakers finally made up their mind on hiking a total of four times this year, as reflected in the new projections. The greenback was also helped by ECB monetary policy decision, with traders disappointed on the rate path. The headlines were then...
Stocks to Suffer, But Forex Steady as Trump Ignores Americans and Fires Another Shot in Trade War
US stocks futures are rocked by the announcement on formalizing the Section 301 tariffs against China. DOW futures point to triple digit loss at open and could threaten 25000 handle. The forex markets are relatively calm though. Euro is paring back some of yesterday's post ECB losses and takes...
Dollar Extending Post ECB Gains, Section 301 Tariffs Against China to be Formalized
Dollar is trading as the strongest one as partly helped by the post ECB selloff in Euro. In part, there were delayed reactions to the hawkish Fed announcement too, which indicates it will hike two more times this year. The greenback in extending it's strong, broad based gains in...
ECB to End QE in December, No Rate Hike At Least Until Summer 2019
ECB's decisions in June came in largely in line with our expectations, although it might have contained surprises for other market participants. The central bank decides to reduce the size of its QE program to 15B euro/ month, from the current 30B euro/ month, from October. The entire purchase...
Euro Dives after ECB Announces to End QE this Year, But Interest Rates Will Stay Unchanged At least Through 2019 Summer
Euro drops sharply today as markets are not quite happy with ECB announcement. In particular, while deciding to end the asset purchase program this year, ECB said interest rate will remain at current level at least through 2019 summer. President Mario Draghi also sounds cautious as usual in the...
Trade War Offsets Hawkish Fed as Dollar Struggles, ECB to Take the Spotlight
Dollar got a very brief lift overnight as Fed delivered a hawkish rate hike. But it quickly lost steam as weighed down by concern over trade war between US and China. For today, the greenback is only trading slightly better than Australian Dollar, which is weighed down by its...
Fed Raised Policy Rate in June. Two More to Come amidst Upbeat Economic Developments
Decided unanimously, FOMC raised the Fed funds rate by +25 bps to a range of 1.75-2.00%. In a technical adjustment, it also lifted the interest rate paid on required and excess reserve balances, by +20 bps, to 1.95% so as to maintain the trading in the fed funds market...
Dollar Soft as Markets Look Through Strong PPI to FOMC, Pound Lower on CPI Miss
Dollar is trading in soft tone in range against most major currencies except versus Yen and Sterling. The greenback shrugs off stronger than expected PPI as markets are awaiting FOMC rate hike, economic projections and press conference. Sterling is trading as the weakest one today as headline UK CPI...
Dollar Staying Range Bound as Fed Rate Hike Awaited
Dollar is generally staying in familiar range, except versus Japanese Yen as markets await FOMC rate decision today. The federal funds rate is expected to be lifted by 25bps to 1.75-2.00%. There is practically no chance for Fed to disappoint the markets. Yet, there are a number of questions...
PM May Avoided Defeat in Brexit Vote as a Key Amendment Got Rejected
On June 12 and 13 the House of Commons, the lower house of the parliament, is due to vote on the 15 amendments proposed by the House of Lords, the upper house of the parliament. The key amendment – “meaningful vote”, has been rejected by the Commons, avoiding humiliation...
Markets Struggle for Direction Despite Strong US CPI, Weak UK Wage Growth
The forex markets are struggling to find a clear direction today despite all the high profile events. US headline CPI jumped to 6 year high in May while core CPI also accelerated. But Dollar is getting no lift from it. UK wage growth missed expectation even though the overall...
Markets Steady as Kim Meets Trump, UK Job and US CPI to Guide
The financial markets are steadily optimistic so far this week and that can be reflected in the rebound in German bund yield and US 10 year yield. Yen is trading broadly lower today, followed by the Swiss Franc. Australian, New Zealand and US Dollar are trading mildly higher. Eyes...
Sterling Weakens after Poor Economic Data, More to Care than Kim-Trump Summit for Traders
While the spats between US and G6 countries made a lot of headlines, they're not much bothered by the market-smart investors who know what are important. The summit between North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and US president Donald Trump is currently in the spotlight. But it will likely fade...
ECB Preview – Members to Discuss QE Tapering This Week, Attention Moves to Rate Hike Path and Forward Guidance
The recovery in euro since late-May gathered momentum last week after ECB Chief Economist and executive board member Peter Praet signaled the central bank would discuss QE tapering at this week’s meeting. We are not surprised by this as it is appropriate for the members to communicate with the...
Markets Shrug G7 Chaos and Trade War, Euro Higher on Italy
Asian markets open the week rather firmly, shrugging of the Trump triggered chaos in G7 leaders meeting over the weekend. At the time of writing, Nikkei is trading up nearly 0.6% while HK HSI is up 0.28%. Focus has quickly turned to Kim-Trump summit in Singapore but that's unlikely...
FOMC Preview – Fed’s Rate Hike A Done Deal, Focus Turned to Forward Guidance
A rate hike of +25 bps at the upcoming FOMC meeting is a done deal as the market has for months priced in over 90% chance of its occurrence. Recent macroeconomic developments indicate such rate hike is totally justified. The focuses are on the forward guidance on the future...
Bets for USD Trimmed as Traders Lacked Clues after Recent Rally
Both bulls and bears trimmed bets on US dollar after its rally to the highest level in over 6 months, as suggested in the CFTC Commitments of Traders report in the week ended June 5. Both speculative long and short positions were reduced but the latter overwhelmed, resulting in...