Tag Archives: Macroview

Macroview No change in base rates, but currency intervention on the cards as franc continues to strengthen Read full report hereThe Swiss National Bank (SNB) decided to leave its monetary policy unchanged at its quarterly meeting on 16 June. The main messages were unchanged from its March meeting. The target range for the three-month Libor was kept between -1.25% and -0.25%; the interest rate on sight deposits with the SNB was maintained at a record low of -0.75% and the SNB reiterated its...

A generally more cautious Fed emerged from its 14-15 June meeting. We continue to expect just one Fed rate hike in 2016, probably in September Read full report hereFollowing a very weak job report for May, and just one week before the EU referendum in the UK, it should be no surprise that the Fed is in no rush to tighten monetary policy, or to send a strong signal about the timing of the next rate hike. Indeed the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement struck a more cautious tone,...

We remain relatively upbeat about euro area growth, but the pressures on banks are a concern, and decisive pro-investment moves remain in abeyance Leaving aside the possible disruptions surrounding the Brexit referendum and other near-term political events, a number of fundamental factors — most notably strengthening domestic demand — mean we are cautiously optimistic about the euro area economy over the short term, with an above-consensus GDP growth forecast for this year of...

But investors should keep in mind that yields on government bonds could easily spike Global bond yields have plunged to new lows in recent days, as markets have switched to ‘risk off’ mode. This is just the latest manifestation of a trend: sovereign bond yields have been under downwards pressure for several years. Central bank QE and economic uncertainty are partly to blame. But investors should remember that sovereign bonds are not risk-free assets. And yields could easily jump over the...

Just one rate hike this year will limit the greenback’s gains, but Asian currencies will be worth watching The US dollar has been in a long-term upward cycle, at least since July 2011. But the dollar stuttered in April after the release of some poor economic data, and again at the beginning of June, when poor nonfarm payrolls data was released, leading some to believe that we are at the end of this cycle. But we think this is not necessarily the case for at least two reasons. First, the...

Macroview Although there were positive components in the Q1 GDP report, we are reducing our full-year growth forecast for Switzerland to 0.9% this year Read full report hereGrowth estimates from SECO (the Swiss economic affairs secretariat) released on June 1 suggest that real GDP in Switzerland expanded by 0.1% q-o-q (0.3% q-o-q annualised, 0.7% y-o-y) in Q1, lower than consensus expectations of 0.3% and Q4 2015 growth of 0.4%.But the GDP components were more encouraging than what the...

Macroview Several factors have led us to revise downward our target 10-year U.S. Treasury rate for end 2016. Read full report hereAs we arrive close to the end of the first half of 2016, it is time to revisit our 2016 scenario for US Treasuries. Since we formulated our scenario in October 2015, giving a target 10-year US Treasury yield of 2.7% for the end of 2016, many things have changed. First, the beginning of the year saw considerable turmoil in financial markets, with negative...

Macroview Weak job creation figures reinforce our scenario that the Fed will likely wait until September to act Read full report here The May US employment report released on 3 June was clearly weak. Job creation surprised heavily on the downside (with downward revisions for the previous two months), and the unemployment rate fell, but for ‘bad’ reasons (a fall in the participation rate). Moreover, the pace of wage increases year over year did not pick up further and the proxy for...

Macroview There were few surprises at the ECB's Vienna meeting, apart from the modesty of staff projections for inflation. Greek banks' funding was left on hold. Read full report here The ECB left all its policy settings and its forward guidance unchanged at its 2 June Governing Council (GC) meeting in Vienna, implying low interest rates for an extended period of time. The bank’s focus remains on the implementation of new policy measures, with corporate bond purchases starting on 8 June...

Macroview Latest data suggest spending growth could top 3% this quarter and remain buoyant for rest of the year Read full report here As widely expected, US consumer spending data for April were quite strong. The data, released on 31 May, showed that real personal consumption rose by a strong 0.6% month-on-month, slightly above consensus estimates (+0.5%). Data on April retail sales, car sales and output of utilities already published had been quite upbeat, suggesting a solid reading...