Overview: US interest rates and the dollar turned higher following comments by the Fed's Vice Chairman Clarida, who appeared to throw his lot with the more hawkish members. The dollar recovered from weakness that had seen it fall to almost JPY108.70, its lowest level since late May, and lifted the euro to $1.19. Still, there has been little follow-through dollar or Treasury buying today. The euro and yen are marginally softer, but most other major currencies post...
Read More »Bond Reversal In Japan, But Pay Attention To It In Germany
Yield curve control, remember that one? For a little while earlier this year, the modestly reflationary selloff in bonds around the world was prematurely oversold as some historically significant beginning to a massive, conclusive regime change. Inflation had finally been achieved across multiple geographies, it was widely repeated, and this would create problems, purportedly, as these various places would have to grapple with higher interest rates. The idea behind...
Read More »FX Daily, July 08: Capital Markets Remain Unhinged
Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.51% to 1.0852 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, July 08(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The dramatic move in the capital markets continues. The US dollar is soaring as yields and equities slide. The US 10-year yield has fallen below 1.30 to 1.26% European benchmark yields are 1-4 bp lower, while Australia and New Zealand have seen a 7-9 bp drop today. Signals that the...
Read More »FX Daily, July 07: Dollar Stabilizes at Elevated Levels After Surging Yesterday
Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.03% to 1.0922 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, July 07(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The dollar has steadied after surging yesterday and has so far retained the lion’s share of its gains, though it remains lower against most major currencies today. The dollar-bloc and Norwegian krone are the best performers while the yen is underperforming. The freely accessible...
Read More »German Banks Send Mixed Signals on Digital Euro
In the FAZ, Christian Siedenbiedel reports that Deutsche Bank questions whether a digital Euro as envisioned by the ECB (i.e., with tight quantity restrictions) would be successful: Die Argumentation geht so: Die EZB will den digitalen Euro einführen, um auf den verstärkten Währungswettbewerb zu antworten. … Um sich vor solchem Machtverlust sowohl durch Digitalgeld von anderen Notenbanken („Krypto-Dollars“) als auch durch privates Digitalgeld („Global Stable Coins“) zu schützen,...
Read More »A Clear Balance of Global Inflation Factors
Back at the end of May, Germany’s statistical accounting agency (deStatis) added another one to the inflationary inferno raging across the mainstream media. According to its flash calculations, German consumer prices last month had increased by the fastest rate in 13 years. Even using the European “harmonized” methodology (Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices, or HICP), inflation had reached 2.4% year-over-year which was the highest since 2012. Europe HICP and...
Read More »Green Returns
In the NBER working paper “Dissecting Green Returns,” Lubos Pastor, Robert Stambaugh, and Lucian Taylor argue that excess returns on green assets during recent years are unlikely to predict expected excess returns. At least that’s what theory suggests: … green assets have lower expected returns than brown, due to investors’ tastes for green assets, yet green assets can have higher realized returns while agents’ tastes shift unexpectedly in the green direction. … green tastes can...
Read More »FX Daily, June 08: Marking Time ahead of the Week’s Big Events
Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.20% to 1.0916 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, June 08(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The capital markets appear to be in a holding pattern ahead of this week’s big events, including the US CPI and the ECB meeting. Equities are little changed but with a heavier bias evident. Most of the large bourses in the Asia Pacific region were lower, except Australia, which eked...
Read More »FX Daily, June 07: The Greenback Steadies after Retreating on the Jobs Data
Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.04% to 1.0934 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, June 07(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: After falling to 1.55% after the US employment data, which, while mixing expectations, could hardly be considered weak, the US 10-year yield has come back firmer today (1.58%) This may be lending the greenback a better tone. Equity markets are quiet. Most markets in the Asia Pacific...
Read More »FX Daily, May 25: Softer Yields Weigh on the Greenback
Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.17% to 1.0976 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, May 25(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The decline in US 10-year rates to two-week lows below 1.59% is helping rebuild bullish enthusiasm for stocks and weighing on the US dollar. The NASDAQ reached two-week highs yesterday, and almost all the large markets in the Asia Pacific region rose, though India struggled. Europe’s...
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