The long-awaited first press conference by President-elect Donald Trump left many investors with more questions than answers as he failed to justify the current premium priced in the dollar and equity markets.
We already knew that Trump wants to build a border wall with Mexico, bring back U.S. production onshore, and that he’s willing to be the best job creator America ever knew, but what’s his plans on corporate tax reforms? How and when is he planning to spend on roads, bridges, and other infrastructure projects? Is he going to impose tariffs on imported goods from China, Mexico and the rest of the world? Unfortunately, no updates were revealed.
Thus, the greenback was dragged, falling against all major currencies on Wednesday with the dollar index falling to lowest levels since Dec 14 at 101.28. The selloff continued until early Thursday suggesting that dollar bulls are no more willing to price any additional premium until we get more clarity on his promised fiscal plans.
The continued fall in U.S. treasury yields is another factor dragging the dollar. U.S. 10 year yields have been in a down trend since Dec 14, losing 11.8% in value after spiking 42% since the election results were revealed.
U.S. stocks were less impacted, and managed to close higher despite the volatility and sharp selloff in pharma stocks which were attacked by Trump. Whether the rally can be sustained will depend on two factors, earning growth and actions from Trump’s administration as his words and tweets are clearly starting to show less influence.
The combination of dollar weakness, lower U.S. yields and doubts in Trump's policies offered gold a boost, with the yellow metal posting a high of 1,199. So far gold has recovered 6.8% from December lows, and trader higher in 11 out of 13 days. Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s speech will probably decide whether we’re going to see a break and hold above 1,200 today.
The heightened hard Brexit fears have triggered a steep Sterling selloff during the early trading hours of Monday with the GBPUSD tumbling to a fresh three-month low at $1.1983. Although the cause behind the renewed selling pressures on the Pound was attributed to reports of Theresa May standing firm and moving forward with her hard Brexit plans during Tuesday's pending speech, the frightening low buying sentiment continues to play a critical part. It is becoming quite clear that the persistent Brexit woes and ongoing uncertainty have left the Pound vulnerable to extreme losses with anxiety over a rigid divorce from the European Union exposing the currency to further downside risks in the future.
Sterling bears have received ample inspiration from the visible lack of clarity the UK government has provided on the Brexit steps and this continues to grate on investor sentiment. With fears on the rise over a tougher EU exit negatively impacting the UK economy, the rising risk aversion, and diminishing buying sentiment may ensure Sterling remains depressed this month. While most anticipate Theresa May to provide some clarity on Tuesday on how the UK plans to move forward with the hard Brexit scenario, there is a threat of the Sterling sinking deeper into the abyss if investors are left empty-handed instead.
If this messy Brexit episode explodes out of control this quarter, there is a possibility of the Bank of England adopting a dovish stance which may spark a divergence in monetary policy between the Fed and BoE. As of now, Sterling weakness remains a recurrent theme with sellers exploiting the technical bounces to drag prices lower. Technical traders may observe how the GBPUSD reacts to the 1.2150 dynamic support which has the ability to transform into a resistance if the selling momentum persists.
Dollar attempts to stabilize
The lingering impacts of last week’s market shaking Dollar selloff can still be seen on the Dollar Index with prices hovering around 101.65 as of writing. Dollar bullish investors have lost their inspiration to propel the Greenback higher following the lack of clarity on fiscal policies at Trump's news conference. With the initial driver behind the Dollar’s appreciation pinned on the hopes of Trump boosting US growth via fiscal spending, this new cloud of uncertainty could obstruct the Dollar’s upside gains in the short term. The next major event risk for the Greenback this week will be Trump’s inauguration ceremony on the 20th which could cause price sensitivity to intensify as anxious investors are kept on edge.
Commodity spotlight – Gold
The rising Trump fueled uncertainty, persistent Brexit woes and a weak Dollar have elevated Gold prices closer to $1210 during trading on Monday. This yellow metal has unexpectedly regained its safe-haven glimmer in the first trading month of the New Year with further gains expected in the short term if uncertainty becomes a dominant theme. With anxiety and risk aversion set to heighten this week ahead of the inauguration ceremony in the United States, investors may flock to safe-haven assets which should keep Gold buoyed. From a technical standpoint, Gold could explode into further gains towards $1230 if bulls manage to conquer the $1210 resistance level.
Volatility elevated ahead of May’s Brexit speech; Pound recovers
It’s Sterling’s day.
Financial markets are anxiously awaiting U.K.’s Prime Minister Theresa May speech later today where she will lay out a detailed divorce plan from the EU. Lot of reports were leaked since Sunday on what to expect her to say, and the most interesting part is that she has no interest in partial departure which suggests we’re heading towards a “Hard Brexit”. Traders were very fast to react, sending the pound 1.6% lower on Monday to trade below 1.20. However, the recovery in early Asian trade Tuesday indicates that lot of the bad news are already priced in, and for the pound to fall substantially lower it requires more than just signs of a hard Brexit plan.
If the Supreme court decided that May needs to secure the consent of Parliament before triggering article 50, potentially delaying Brexit for couple of months, this is likely to provide sterling a boost by unwinding many short positions. Traders should be aware that sterling won’t be a one way play and volatility could be elevated to extreme levels.
On the data front, UK CPI is expected to hit 1.4% in December, up 0.2% from November and 0.5% from October’s reading. This will not only mark the highest inflation rate since mid-2014 but the pace of inflation escalation is pulling U.K.’s real interest rates even lower. Of course, this is going to be a challenge for the BoE, but if it indicates anything, it’s interest rates next move is only upward, leaving monetary policy with very few options to support the economy if needed.
The safe haven Yen is the major beneficiary of the heightened uncertainty over U.K.’s Hard Brexit scenario and Trump’s policies. USDJPY has fallen for the seventh straight day, and declined by more than 4.3% from January 3 peak. The fall in bond yields worldwide will continue to lend some support for the Yen, but whenever this trade is over I expect the Yen to weaken again.
The U.S. dollar is falling against all its major peers with the index dropping below 101. There’s no fundamental reason for the selloff and I don’t think the dollar’s rally is over yet, but the “Trump trade” has clearly cooled down in the past couple of days as markets still have many answered questions regarding future fiscal policies. Let’s hope we get some answers on Fridays inauguration.
The Australian dollar swung heavily today as US bulls finally looked to sell off in the wake of economic uncertainty around the United Kingdom. Volatility was most certainly the key player for the day, and traders took full advantage. Yesterday there were strong comments that the AUD was currently overvalued, but it would seem that the market had other ideas as it raced up the charts knocking out some key levels along the way. The market is further poised for today consumer sentiment, which will give some indication if the Trump effect has spread to Australia in the wake of recent events. Expectations have previously been very low and I would expect this to be the theme going forward but with the possibility of a surprise in economic data as we have previously seen.
For the AUDUSD traders resistance was not a problem today as it smashed through 0.7531 on the charts and looked to climb even higher, coming up just short of 0.7567. The 0.7567 level is very strong and I would expect to see some stiff resistance unless we see some positive fundamental data come out in the next few hours. In the event of a pullback I would expect that the 100 day moving average could act as dynamic resistance if it is a strong pullback, otherwise I would anticipate that former resistance level at 0.7531 looking to hold out in the long run.
One of the interesting things about a stronger USD has been the flow on effect to metals, none more so than silver which has so far seen a solid bullish trend appear in the short term and has briefly pushed through resistance at 17.133. The strong sell off today in USD certainly had a big impact in helping making this progress, but the real test is set to come as it sizes up resistance at 17.308, which I would expect to be a very strong level. The 200 day moving average is also intersecting with this strong level of resistance and has previously acted as a strong dynamic level for market movements. However, the trend is certainly your friend and this could be the case as silver looks to climb higher in the build up to Trumps inauguration on Friday.
Lastly, the NZDUSD has managed to also climb up the charts, but recent reports around the dairy auction paint a messy picture that shows that New Zealand's economy may not be as strong as recent economists had predicted. The jump higher today to resistance at 0.7222 has shown there is strong demand during patches of weakness, however this level has proved time and time again to also fight back and push prices lower.
The U.S. dollar has been on a roller-coaster this week. After dropping by more than 1% on Tuesday the dollar index recovered 0.9% from its lows. The steep drop in the currency came after comments from Donald Trump suggesting that the dollar is too strong, and this led some traders to believe the recent rally could have come to an end, but comments from Fed Chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday brought back hopes to the bulls.
Ms. Yellen did not specify the timeline or the pace of projected interest rates hikes, but she indicated the Fed will raise rates few times a year until 2019 and warned of a nasty surprise if the central refrained from acting. Although there’s no precise definition of “few” but reasonably means two to three times a year, which leave many central banks behind.
Recent economic data supports Yellen’s views as inflation rose in 2016 at fastest pace in five years. U.S. CPI jumped 0.3% in December to breach the 2% benchmark, and if oil prices held above $50 the trend is not likely to reverse. This leaves only the Fed's preferred gauges of inflation, the PCE and Core PCE Price Index below 2%. However, there is a high risk of these indices overshooting the Fed’s target if fiscal policies came into play and the Fed will be left with little options but to fasten the pace of monetary policy tightening, thus keep supporting the dollar.
On the shorter run, Trump will remain the center focus for traders and his inauguration on Friday will play a major role in the dollar’s direction. It’s highly unlikely to reiterate that the strong dollar is hurting the economy, but if his speech contains more of protectionist policies than stimulus measures, it could harm the dollar, at least in short term.
The European Central Bank is meeting today and most likely keep monetary policy unchanged after the central bank extended and reduced the monthly bond purchases to €60 from €80 in their last meeting. Although it might be considered a non-event, we’ll be carefully listening to Draghi to see if the recent improvement in Eurozone data especially when it comes to inflation, will force the ECB to start considering unwinding their QE policies.
PMI’s across the Eurozone reached 5.5 years high in December and inflation climbed to 1.12, the highest since August 2013. Meanwhile German inflation jumped to 1.7%, thanks to higher oil prices. This will undoubtedly create a battle between Bundesbank's Weidmann and Draghi on when to end the loose monetary policy. Of course, Mr. Draghi has his reasons, especially that political risks will intensify in the next couple of months with presidential elections in France, Germany and Netherland’s, but once we’re over it, I believe the ECB will start ending their untraditional QE policies. This suggests the Euro is likely to remain under pressure until probably mid-2017.
Donald Trump is finally in power, a new era has arrived, and his policy plans in the first couple of weeks will override fundamentals. Markets spent more than two months pricing in growth policies promises, lowers corporate taxes, and deregulations, now it is time to deliver as markets will no more move on words but actions.
U.S. dollar bulls were not really impressed in the new Presidents’ inauguration speech, as it was focused more on protectionism and lacked any concrete plans to drive growth. Repealing Obamacare, building a Mexican border wall, and withdrawing from the Trans Pacific Partnership are not the kind of news investors want to hear, they need to know when pro-growth fiscal policies will come into play and more importantly whether congress will approve them.
The days and weeks ahead will likely see volatility increase in equities, fixed income, and currency markets. Investors are already buying exchange-traded products that track volatility, this explains the level of expected uncertainty going forward.
The week ahead will also see U.S. earnings season move into high gear with more than 20% of S&P 500 companies reporting fourth quarter results including Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, McDonald’s, Verizon, Johnson & Johnson, Boeing, EBay, and AT&T. According to Factset, 61% of the companies that reported results so far managed to beat profit estimates, while only 47% managed to beat on revenues.
On the U.S. economic data front, all eyes will be on Friday’s U.S. Q4 GDP release. Growth is anticipated to slow significantly from Q3 3.5% to only 2.2%, as net trade expected to turn negative. Homes sales, services PMI’s, trade balance, and durable goods are also on the agenda for next week.
It will also be an interesting week for sterling as U.K.’s supreme court will eventually deliver its ruling on Tuesday on whether Prime Minister Theresa May can activate the process for Brexit without parliamentary approval. We highly expect that the court will rule in favor of Parliament’s approval to trigger article 50, but any spike in sterling likely to be short lived.
Despite all the global economic indicators and central bank movements the Yen continues to be one of the major players in the FX market. So far the Bank of Japan has been keen to hold off any further action as the market continues to offer up a stronger USD, which in turn helps push their agenda of weakening the exchange rate. While not ever country in the G8 is in agreement with the tactics taken by Japan previously, this lends weight to the US economy forcing the changes, and it's likely we will continue to see strong fluctuations in the USDJPY. The only major thing this week on the Japanese side is the CPI data, with market expecting below average CPI compared to what Abenomics has so far promised - so there is potential for movement if it beats estimates.
On the charts the USDJPY continues to show case a strong trending mentality. So far the bears looking to be taking control and forcing it down the chart in a strong channel which has so far faced very little resistance. The 20 day moving average has also been acting as dynamic resistance in the market so far, preventing any further movements higher and I would expect this to remain the case until USD strength looks to continue on a global scale. Any movements lower however, are likely to find support quite strong at 112.442 and 111.688 - with market expectations looking very strong after the recent reversal in the previous days.
Regardless of all the global attention the US economy has been getting the S&P 500 has so far been one of the largest benefactors with it set to make a large move if technical patterns are anything to go off. New home sales and consumer sentiment are likely to help drive the market in the coming days, and the market will be looking for further positive news to help push the S&P 500 higher, despite it touching record highs as of late.
Technically speaking the S&P 500 is looking very strong as of late from a bullish perspective, with the 20 day moving average acting as dynamic support all the way up on the daily chart. The tightness of the current band on the chart gives weight to the fact that a breakout is set to occur and I would be looking at the bulls for them to take control. However, resistance at 2278 continues to impede the bulls from rallying higher and may cause further issues in the coming days until we see further positive data.
Equity markets have been the major benefactor market movements today with the Dow finally breaking above the 20K mark for the first time. The S&P 500 has also rallied heavily today and is just shy of the magic 2300 mark which I've talked about in previous articles - which is of course a big benefactor of the Trump effect which is going through the markets at present. 2017 could very much be the year of the bull, but it will take time and a wait and see approach to see if it all comes true, as it is very much early days for equity markets in the new year. Equity markets in the US still have hurdles to jump through from a fundamental point of view as unemployment claims is due out tomorrow, and consumer sentiment will also be released the following day after that. All of these have the power to impact equity markets sharply, but the spotlight will most certainly fall on anything that Trump has to say at present.
Right now resistance for the S&P 500 is around the 2300 mark, with the market looking to move sharply further higher if given the right opportunities. This key psychological level is likely hold in the short term, but for any movements higher a move to 2350 and 2400 is likely to be the next major levels of resistance in the long run, as it's very much uncharted territory. Any movements lower are likely to find dynamic support on the 20 day moving average, which continues to trend up with the market and is likely to be the first line of defence of any brave bears do come into the market.
The New Zealand economy has managed to hit rock star economy status as usual, with the CPI figures coming in better than expected at 0.4% Q/Q (0.3% exp). Helping to push the annual figure to 1.3%; still below the 2% mark but nevertheless moving back in the right direction and something the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will have to take into consideration. Many economists are now expecting that the RBNZ will likely hold rates at steady at present as inflation is lifting, and if it continues to do so though then the RBNZ may even be forced to increase the OCR quicker than anticipated.
As previously mentioned the NZDUSD has been very bullish on the charts, and the trend is very much still the markets friend. Expectations still are quite bullish with the results seen today, and with a weaker USD I would expect the NZD to continue to resistance levels at 0.7343 and 0.7402. If it can continue to gather momentum, we could see it breach through the 80 cent level, however the market may look to claw back some gains well before then and the Trump effect on the USD can be quite strong as well.
The Australian dollar is taking the spotlight as the Reserve Bank of Australia is set to have its decision about the current interest rate levels, and the market thus far is not expecting anything much from the RBA. With the interest rate held at 1.50% it still remains one of the highest in the developed world, but the Australian economy is currently waiting to see what the outcome will be from the Trump effect, and while things have been rocky it does seem that the economy is starting to look slightly better. However, yesterdays retail sales showed that it's not all smooth sailing as it dipped to -0.1% m/m (0.3% exp), this result lends weight to the fact that the RBA may touch on the consumer economy not picking up as expected. But the real weight will be focused I feel on the economy as a whole and the commodity sector which has been recovering in recent months in anticipation of the global economy picking up.
Markets have been very much a fan of commodity currencies in recent weeks, with global risk appetite picking up the demand for yield has lead to large jumps in the NZD and of course the AUD, with the AUD looking very much the stronger of the two. So far the AUDUSD has been on a very bullish trend and it certainly has not seemed to lose any steam at present. The 20 day moving average has acted as dynamic support as it has moved up the chart, and this looks likely to be the first real test as comes under pressure. After all markets can't remain bullish forever, especially when it comes to FX markets. At the same time resistance at 0.7680 has so far stifled the bulls in there run up the charts, but the recent bearish movement has found strong bullish sentiment so expectations are building for further movements past this level onto the next major level at 0.7730.
Global up turn has so far been talked about, but not come through just yet. However, oil markets have been looking more and more uncertain when it comes to direction for the majority of traders. One thing that does remain clear is that oil is coming under further pressure in the markets to find some direction. At present the 20 day moving average continues to act as dynamic support and is pushing the bears out of the market as it looks to take on the key level of resistance at 54.46. As the two come together expectations will build for a bullish breakout, or if we had a reversal we could see some strong bearish pressure. Pressure will build though, and the bulls have the advantage in this sort of scenario and fundamentals starting to lean in their favour.
The world and the markets continue to struggle to focus on economic data as Trumps economic policies take centre stage. This should come as no surprise these days given the power one man can wield on an economies; as we saw with Abenomics. But that was just Japan and the US market is the world's largest free market and is Trump is throwing his weight around, which in turn has led to strong movements and volatility being one of the major themes of the market. Commodities have so far been a mixed bag for most traders in the market, however trending is become a key theme and the metals market is looking tradable in its present form.
Gold has been on the upside in the recent weeks as Trump continues to put pressure on the market, especially around his comments on currencies and the fact that a number of countries should stop manipulating their currency. There is further speculation that Trump may in fact also start a currency war globally, however how that would look is still unknown and also comes with large risks for the US economy - large fluctuations might be good for traders, but for an established economy it can cause a world of pain. If exports are winners in the long run, then importers and the general consumer are worse off and vice versa.
Gold has so far but in a very bullish trend for a few weeks and it looks set to continue as people look for a hedge in the event of a currency war. Resistance at 1245 held up quite nicely when pushed over the last few days, but after the quick drop gold has found support on the 100 day moving average. Any further drops for Gold are likely to find support at 1208, but even before that the 20 day moving average would also be something to consider and watch. If Gold continues to run higher then I would expect the next major level of resistance to be found at 1262 and it may look to take a breather at this key level.
Oil has also been another major player in the market that everyone is taking a tough look at, after last week's oil inventory data shocked the market coming in at 13.83M barrels (2.53M exp). This was a quite a large inventory build up and was somewhat unexpected after the recent cuts from OPEC back a few months to help bolster prices. Additionally America picking up pace was also expected to cause further increases in demand.
Technically speaking, Oil on the charts though has so far failed to breach through the resistance level at 54.46 and unless we see further cuts of even a pick-up in demand then it could actually slide further down the charts. So far the 20 day moving average and the 50 day moving average have been slowing down any bearish movements, but it's only a matter of time before it slips lower unless we see some changes.
