It’s all about the European Central Bank’s hiking cycle. In our central scenario, we expect the 10-year Bund yield to rise gradually to 0.8% by the end of next year from 0.26% on 17 December. Underpinning this upward movement is our expectation of a cumulative deposit rate hike of 40 basis points (bps) by the ECB, against current market expectations of only 10 bps. The euro area economic activity has been decelerating...
Read More »Core euro sovereign bonds 2019 outlook
It’s all about the European Central Bank’s hiking cycle.In our central scenario, we expect the 10-year Bund yield to rise gradually to 0.8% by the end of next year from 0.26% on 17 December. Underpinning this upward movement is our expectation of a cumulative deposit rate hike of 40 basis points (bps) by the ECB, against current market expectations of only 10 bps.The euro area economic activity has been decelerating this year and the latest prints are not showing encouraging signs going into...
Read More »‘Paris’ Technocrats Face Another Drop
How quickly things change. Only a few days ago, a fuel tax in France was blamed for widespread rioting. Today, Emmanuel Macron’s government under siege threatens to break its fiscal budget. Having given up on gasoline and diesel, the French government now promises wage increases and tax cuts. Italy has found competition in the race to violate EU fiscal guidelines. Around the rest of Europe, the question is being asked....
Read More »FX Weekly Preview: The Week Ahead: Don’t Skip Steps on Escalation Ladders
United States The drop in US yields and disappointing economic data weighed on sentiment and the dollar last week. Even weakness in equities, which had seemed to lend the greenback support, failed to do so at the end of last week. With the real Fed funds rate (adjusted for inflation) below zero, employment at 50-year lows, and some fiscal stimulus still in the pipeline, the doom and gloom cant of a recession next year...
Read More »FX Weekly Preview: Powell and Draghi, Xi and Trump
The investment climate will be shaped by three events next week. ECB President Draghi’s testimony before the European Parliament to kick-off the week. Fed Chairman Powell speaks to the NY Economic Club in the middle of the week. Presidents Trump and Xi are to meet at the G20 meeting to end the week in hopes of dialing back the escalating trade conflict. Also at the G20 summit, the NAFTA2.0 is expected to be signed, and...
Read More »Harmful Modern Myths And Legends
Loreley Rock near Sankt Goarshausen sits at a narrow curve on the Rhine River in Germany. The shape of the bluff produces a faint echo in the wind, supposedly the last whispers of a beautiful maiden who threw herself from it in despair once spurned by her paramour. She was transformed into a siren, legend says, a tantalizing wail which cries out and lures fishermen and tradesmen on the great river to their death. While...
Read More »FX Daily, October 25: ECB Overshadowed by Equity Market Drama
Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.21% at 1.139 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, October 25(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates FX: The Dollar Index broke above 96.00 yesterday and is consolidating today. Provided the 96.00 area holds, the next target is the year’s high near 97.00. The euro has been confined to a little more than a quarter of a cent. Players seem...
Read More »FX Weekly Preview: What Can Bite You This Week?
Several major central banks will meet next week, including the European Central Bank, but it is only the Bank of Canada that is expected to hike rates. The flash PMIs and the first official estimate of Q3 US GDP are among the data highlights. Beyond the events and data, the volatility from global equity markets from Shanghai to New York will continue to have a strong influence on other capital markets. Also, the...
Read More »Europe Starting To Reckon Eurodollar Curve
We’ve been here before. Economists and central bankers become giddy about the prospects for success, meaning actual recovery. For that to happen, reflation must first attain enough momentum. If it does, as is always forecast, reflation becomes recovery. The world then moves off this darkening path toward the unknown crazy. The problem has been that officials mistake reflation for what it is. Each time they believe it...
Read More »Merkel, European Autonomy, and the ECB
Angela Merkel - Click to enlarge Merkel has again shown herself to be more wily than most. While pundits, investors, and politicians anticipated she would push hard for a German to replace Draghi as ECB President when his term ends next October. After all, it is German’s turn at the helm, and its interests were ridden roughshod over by the extraordinary and prolonged monetary policy. However, when one steps back and...
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