Bob's Currency Focus

EUR/USD
The dollar’s relentless rally continues unabated, sending the euro to a 2008 low on Thursday of 1.4327. This happened after the ECB’s ‘no bias’ monetary policy statement when the Governing Council voted to hold rates steady. The market did go after the euro after that event believing the ECB will be forced to cut rates sooner rather than later but the dollar gained ground against all currencies, excluding the yen, after the IS reported that the US Services Sector expanded in August, with the business PMI coming in at 50.6, moderately above the 49.0 expected. Global stocks have tanked today, but the dollar continues to benefit from an inflow of safe haven flows and today it registered its highest exchange rate of the year against many currencies. The dollar and the yen seem to be the only game in town right now with investors reluctant to load bets on European or commodity currencies. Friday will offer another litmus test for the US economy when the nonfarm payrolls report is released. The omens don’t look good however, after Thursday’s initial jobless claims numbers came in at the worst level in 5 years, while both the ISM services and manufacturing reports record contractions in employment during August. It may well be a case of damage limitation and if the figure is something better than -50,000, then the dollar should not be penalised. The euro is oversold, but with support at 1.4365 taken out on Thursday, there seems little to stop the pair quickly descending to test the 1.40 level. Momentum could take the dollar there over the next week. Caution is needed however as the dollar has now registered a 10% gain against the euro in little more than 6 weeks, while the chance of a US interest rate hike seems more distant now than it did back in July. This dollar rally is not supported by any major shift in the rate outlook, which would tend to suggest it is unjustified and over-extended. Another point worth noting is that the positive economic data seen recently out of the US is nearly exclusively down to a sizeable upturn in exports, but in the past month alone the dollar has wiped out all of its losses for the year and subsequently its competitive advantage in the export market. Be warned! This dollar run is not sustainable, even if the greenback continues to make gains in the short run.

GBP/USD
The nightmare continues for sterling and at one stage today the pound was down 23 cents on the price it was trading at on August 1st. The sell-off is extreme and it is not just a dollar phenomenon because sterling is also trading at a record low against the euro and a multi-year low against the yen. The Bank of England reneged on its duty today by pressing the mute button after they voted to keep interest rates unchanged. It beggars belief that the MPC did not see fit to offer some sort of statement to address the turbulence that has been unleashed in UK financial markets at a time when the Chancellor of the Exchequer states the economy is in the worst economic downturn for 60 years. We will have to wait 2 weeks to get an insight into the MPC’s thinking but given the Bank of England’s lack of foresight and indifference to the sort of creative monetary policy adopted by the Fed, much of the blame for sterling’s sudden collapse can be laid squarely at the door of the MPC. Sterling has had only one meaningful upside day since August 1st last and a depreciation of this magnitude is almost unprecedented, for the currency of a major developing economy. The technical indicators are nearly off the chart, so extreme is the sell off in the pound. One bright spark came today when the pound did at least manage to push the euro back to the 81 pence handle, but that is scant consolation for pound supporters that see GBP/USD record new lows on an almost daily basis. Cable has to rise above 1.80 before it is safe to buy. Another weak close today could se it hit 1.75 before the next shot at a recovery.

Bob B - Sep 4

Bob's Currency Focus

EUR/USD
The key question we would all like an answer to now is has the dollar rally gone too far? From 1.6035 in the middle of July to below 1.46 before the end of August is as aggressive a move as they come, but it has happened during a period when liquidity is markedly low and currency moves tend to become exaggerated. We must look for the change in interest rate differentials over this time period to determine whether or not the dollar’s rally is justified in the wider scheme of events. There is no doubting weaker euro zone data has had futures markets reassessing rate expectations for the euro area and the yield on the March forward contract has fallen to 4.11% today, from 4.61% on July 21, thus a narrowing of 0.5% in the rate differential. The yield on US treasuries has hardly moved over the past month, so therefore we can say since the euro hit its peak, rate expectations between the dollar and the euro have narrowed by 0.5%. Since the ECB started its current monetary tightening cycle way back in Dec 2005, a 1% shift in rate differentials between the US dollar and the euro has translated into an approximate 8% movement in the exchange rate. Therefore the 0.5% shift seen over the past 6 weeks should translate into roughly a 4% gain for the dollar. A 4% gain would mean EUR/USD should now be trading at around 1.5395 and not 1.4595. That suggests the current rally may be overdone by as much as 8 cents. Of course rate differentials are likely to narrow further in favour of the dollar through to the end of the year, when falling commodity costs should give the ECB greater wriggle room to consider cutting interest rates, while any pickup in economic activity in the US will bring closer the day when the Fed will be in a position to increases US rates. For now though, the market seems to have lost the run of itself and it is sheer momentum rather than economic fundamentals that is driving EUR/USD lower. It is therefore dangerous to sell the euro at the current price and while most traders would prefer to follow the trend down, one is best advised to only sell down at an attractive price (closer to 1.50), which is not currently on offer. We could witness a very sharp correction higher in the euro next week, when liquidity returns to normal after the August holiday period comes to an end. Today’s Ifo business survey for August shows sentiment amongst German business executives fell much more than expected, hitting new record lows and pointing a probable recession in the euro area’s largest economy. I previously remarked that the ECB’s rate hike in July could prove to have been a fatal error of judgement and all of the economic data we have seen since holds up that argument. Jean Claude Trichet and his colleagues have not been in touch with reality and their failure to accept the basic economic principle that slowing economic growth will always temper inflation reveals a level of naivety that is worrying. Having been largely responsible for guiding the euro’s meteoric rise over the past 2 years, the ECB may now be looking for ways of trying to cushion its fall.

GBP/USD
15 cents this month is what the dollar has gained against the pound. Gains of this magnitude in such a narrow time span are unprecedented and it must added, they are also generally unsustainable. The big problem with cable at the moment is trying to pick a bottom. It had looked last week that 1.85 might prove to be a point from which the pound would rebound, but earlier this morning the pair went as low as 1.8329 and we cannot be confident of having yet hit a bottom. A serious lack of liquidity this month has cost the pound dearly as negative sentiment against the UK currency has encouraged traders to use the rather thin trading conditions to send the currency tumbling. Cable certainly offers value to buyers at current prices, but the problem is that volatile trading could see the market move significantly lower without warning and leave positions exposed. Next week, when market liquidity will improve, we could see a greater volume of value trades come into the market and lead to a corrective bounce in the pound, possibly a sharp bounce. There is no data of any real not this week, with the exception of Nationwide house prices on Thursday, which will show a further retreat in UK house prices. With UK consumer price inflation running at 4.4%, the Bank of England, which meets next week, is not in a position to ease UK interest rates for now, thus cable’s collapse to 1.83 looks to be way overdone. A safer trade involving the pound would be to sell EUR/GBP, because with so much bad news already priced into sterling and the euro economy slowing at an equally fast pace, there is scope for a substantial pullback in EUR/GBP over the coming months.

JPY
While the dollar has steamrolled over every other major currency this month, it is only marginally higher against the yen. We have seen a major unwind in carry trades in recent weeks and this together with a rise in risk aversion on equity markets has broadly protected the Japanese currency. The euro has fallen back to the Y160 price mark and we could potentially see this pair fall to 1.45 by year end, particularly if European equity bourses remain subdued. As long as the dollar remains in vogue against other currencies, the yen will struggle to make gains against the US currency and if economic data out of the US gains more positive momentum, USD/JPY will become one of the long plays for the rest of this year, with the potential for a push towards at least 1.15 before the year end. There is the danger of a reversal in US dollar support over the next 2 weeks when liquidity levels rise and in this environment the yen could also find itself on the back foot, particularly against the euro, pound and Swiss franc, given the extent of the currency’s gains in August. Economic data out of Japan will continue to play a minor role and yen traders instead need to focus on the performance of global equity markets as well as following US economic data over the coming weeks.

CAD
The loonie has proven itself to be remarkably resilient over the past week, gaining broadly across the board against every single major currency and significantly so against the euro, pound and Australian dollar. The rollercoaster ride of commodities in the past week has failed to puncture support in the loonie, which seems to have gained a new lease of life, possibly owing to a growing appetite for North American currencies, thanks to the revival in the US dollar. Canadian economic data has printed mostly in line with expectations over the past week but the all important litmus test comes later this week, when Quarter 2 GDP is published. Following a contraction in quarter one we should see a marginal gain in growth in quarter 2 as exports grew thanks to a dramatic increase in commodity prices. If we get another contraction, Canada will officially be in a technical recession and this will hurt the loonie very badly, particularly if commodity prices continue to tumble this week. The loonie may come under pressure against the greenback and USD/CAD offers good value on any dips back towards 104.30. The key support on the downside for the greenback is 103.70 and as long as this holds the pair will remain in an uptrend. For those going long, a stop should be placed below this price level. Against the other majors, the loonie could continue to make inroads on the euro, although any break below 1.52 might be unrealistic ahead of a euro correction higher.

Bob B - Aug 26

Bob's Currency Focus

EUR/USD Review
We have witnessed one of the most remarkable dollar rallies in recent times over the past couple of weeks, as the greenback has made record gains against most of the other major currencies. There has been virtual meltdown in GBP/USD and AUD/USD in the past 10 days, while the euro itself is now trading over 11 cents below the high it hit against the dollar in early July. The euro shed 4 cents alone in a 24 hour period into last Friday. The sharpness of the move has taken many in that market by surprise, but what is even more surprising is the fact that it does not appear to be justified by any major shift in economic fundamentals. There are a number of reasons for the strong rally at this time:

1) Liquidity seems to have been drained from the currency market at the moment (August holiday factor) and it does not take big volumes to shift currencies. With the trend already having shifted to the greenback a fortnight ago, the drop in liquidity is allowing exaggerated market moves, which is disproportionably benefiting the dollar. The dollar is so significantly overbought that a corrective reversal could easily manifest in a 5 cent rally in the other direction.

2) The sustained drop in commodity prices is resulting in a direct flip of trades that had worked for major funds in the first half of the year, with oil, gold, commodity currencies and EUR/USD being the big losers. Those who believed oil prices were a simple consequence of supply/demand issues are now nowhere to be seen as the speculative bubble that oil prices had become bursts spectacularly, with a barrel of crude plunging by $34 in the last 4 weeks. Depending on how far the decline in commodity prices has to go, this may determine how far the dollar’s rally might go.

3) Jean Claude Trichet’s monetary policy statement on August 7. The ECB President did make several references to an increase in the downside risks to growth in the euro area when delivering his policy statement on August 7 last. In reality, the ECB, rightly or wrongly, has not changed its policy stance as its primary concern remains the upside risks to price stability and Trichet again stated the ECB had ‘no bias’ with respect to monetary policy. However the markets responded to Trichet’s statement as if it were surprisingly dovish and sent the euro decidedly lower.

4) Eurozone economic data has pointed to a troubled euro economy for a few months but markets chose to ignore that data, preferring instead to focus on a struggling US economy and a detached from reality ECB that kept telling markets that the euro area economic fundamentals were sound. The ECB’s rate hike in July could go down as a gigantic faux-pas by a Governing Council that is clearly lacking economic foresight. Markets are now reassessing the outlook for the euro area economy and interest rate differentials going forward, which is weighing on the euro. The Fed’s policy of trying to stimulate economic growth in the US is now being rewarded by currency markets that don’t like what they see elsewhere. Of course the aggressive nature of the Fed’s rate cutting is largely responsible for the sudden run-up in commodity prices that in turn made inflation shoot up across the globe, but it now looks that this inflation spike was also a bubble and Central Banks like the ECB and Bank of England have been found wanting because they continue to fail to recognise this fact.

5) Carry Trade unwind. With some Central Banks, notably the RBA and RBNZ moving towards easing interest rates, the narrowing in rate differentials has resulted in a significant liquidation of carry trade positions in the past week. EUR/JPY is the most loaded carry trade currency pair in the basket and it has come off by over 5 yen in the past week, hurting the euro against the dollar, which has advanced against the Japanese currency. EUR/JPY is still very much over-valued in a historical context and if the carry trade comes under increased pressure, this would mean a greater sell off in EUR/JPY would pit the euro even lower against the US dollar.

6) Technical considerations. When EUR/USD broke below 1.5283 on Friday morning last, the pair went below a key technical support that had held since last March and this essentially opened the floor underneath the pair, with the next key line of support not seen until 1.4615. The pair also went below the 200 day moving average and the dip below this level has many traders now believing the longer run trend has reversed in favour of the dollar. The technical breakout has led to a loss of confidence in the euro and in some part explains the extended decline we have seen.

7) Russia and Georgia. On Friday the euro had its worst day ever against the dollar, since becoming a hard currency and while there were other factors at play, the 5 cent decline between Thursday and Friday coincided with the outbreak of hostilities between Russia and Georgia. This will not have helped the single currency, given the proximity of the EU to both countries. This probably accelerated the flow of safe haven funds into the dollar.


So where now for EUR/USD? The pair is very much oversold but in an illiquid market situation, anything could happen in the short run. There is no known support for the euro right down to about 1.4620 and given the whiplash fashion in which the market has moved of late, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that we could see the pair slide to that level before we enter a genuine period of consolidation. Two releases this week will have a bearing on short-term direction: Wednesday’s Retail Sales out of the US and Thursday’s GDP data out of the euro area. It is conceivable the GDP data could reveal a horror story for the euro area and if the number is markedly lower than forecast, it could send the euro tumbling. The euro may have a battle to reach 1.50 before then and could find itself being sold off on any rallies towards this key mark, ahead of the US Retail Sales figures. However, given the brutality of the move to the downside, a sizeable correction upwards cannot be ruled out, especially if the euro can earn some momentum and if it pushes above 1.50 and holds there. It is a dangerous market to trade given the pair has not settled into a new trading range and the fact liquidity levels appear to be running so low.


GBP
Sterling has had an absolute nightmare against the dollar over the past 10 days, losing an average of almost a cent a day. All technical supports to the downside have given way and cable is now trading at a 2-year low. There is no arguing the current dollar rally is overdone, yet when one looks at the economic fundamentals out of the UK, it does not inspire sterling buying, even at bargain basement prices. A visit to 1.85 is now on the cards, possibly by the end of September, although this may come after a corrective retracement to at least 1.93. Even a 0.6% jump in the annual inflation rate to 4.4% in July was not enough to engineer a sterling rally. Indeed the pair sold off after the release of this data on Tuesday, which tells us in the current uncertain economic climate the market is currently more interested in currencies that are backed by growth stimulating policies like the dollar than in currencies with restrictive monetary policies like the euro and the pound. The woeful economic data out of the UK over the past few months has finally caught up with the pound and the UK currency is now vulnerable to being targeted by speculators that may see it as a soft target. I would like to see some period of consolidation before re-entering the market on sterling, but those who retain shorts on cable should move stops down to around the 1.9350 price level, which is just above the 2008 high which gave way last Friday. A corrective rally is overdue and it is dangerous to sell at current prices below 1.90, unless employing stops close to 1.9150.

JPY
The yen has more than held its own since losing the Y110 handle to the dollar late last week. While the dollar has gone on to trounce the other majors on Friday and Monday, it has hit a wall against the Japanese currency, failing to break above Y110.40. The yen is befitting from a wind-down in carry trades triggered by the decline in commodity prices, which is helping it retain its strength across the board. The shift to monetary policy easing by some Central Banks is narrowing the rate differential outlook on many of the yen crosses, which is lessening the appeal of carry trades. However, Japanese domestic economic data has been poor of late and Qtr 2 GDP released later tonight should tell us the Japanese economy contracted in the last quarter and signal it might be in technical recession right now. The yen will not be damaged to any great extent unless the data is so bad that it initiates an argument for a Bank of Japan rate cut, which seems unlikely given rates in Japan are already a lowly 0.5%. The medium term to longer term value trade on the yen crosses is still with EUR/JPY which remains close to historic highs. The pair should be sold down on any advances to the 168 / 169 price region and given the softness shown lately by the euro there is the prospect of a retreat in EUR/JPY to at least 160 before the end of the September.

CAD
The loonie is now trading at levels against the greenback last seen this time last year, around the 1.07 price handle. Last Friday’s employment report which revealed the commodity-rich Canadian economy shed over 50K jobs in July was an eye opener and suggests the economy is struggling even more than originally thought. The decline in commodity prices has hurt and given the bullish tone of USD/CAD, there is every prospect of the pair reaching 1.10 in the near-term (next month), with the possibility of a return to 1.15 by year end, if commodity prices continue to fall. I said last week that the loonie did have scope to appreciate against the euro to 1.60. Well, it has gone to as low as 1.5870 today and there is room for a return to 1.56 over the next week as greater confidence in the US economy could help the loonie appreciate against the major European currencies, as well as against the yen.

Bob B - Aug 12