Archives of “exchange rate” tag

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Beijing pushes envelope with 7-yuan-to-dollar reference rate

  
  Analysis
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 China’s central bank set its daily yuan reference rate at 7.0039 to the dollar Thursday, crossing the 7 line for the first time in roughly 11 years and signaling resolve even as the U.S. cries foul over the weakening currency.

Market participants speculate that Beijing may keep pushing the rate to around 7.2 to 7.3 so as to alleviate the impact of the next round of American tariffs.

But while a weaker yuan will help exporters impacted by the drawn-out trade war, the People’s Bank of China still must carefully balance these gains against the risks of runaway devaluation and capital flight.

The yuan can move only 2% in either direction from the daily reference rate on the mainland. So the rate, announced before trading starts each session, reflects the monetary authorities’ wishes.

The authorities want a gradual weakening of the yuan, said Ken Cheung, senior Asian foreign exchange strategist at Mizuho Bank.

The Trump administration just labeled China a currency manipulator Monday, after the yuan weakened past the psychological threshold of 7 in Shanghai. Setting reference rates past that line could trigger further pushback from the U.S. (more…)

U.S. Treasury to China – Revalue Remnimbi or We Will

  
Analysis, Economy, Education
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There’s a lot of talk around the markets and in Washington about China’s currency policy. What many want to know is whether the US Treasury will name China as a currency manipulator. Perhaps a more important question is, should China be named as a currency manipulator? And if it were named as such, what actions could the US take? In recent days the Chinese and the US administration have taken shots in the press at each other. The US is hinting that China is manipulating its currency to boost its economy. The Chinese is firing back saying that the US “should not politicize the remnimbi exchange rate issue.”

First, some background on the problem. Basic economics says that if you keep the currency of your country at a weak (but not so weak as to cause a collapse in it) level you help boost exports. The currency becomes weaker making your goods cheaper for foreign consumption. In a freely floating exchange system, the market determines the equilibrium value. Speculators look at economic statistics like GDP growth, interest rates, inflation etc. to figure out what a currency should be worth and then place bets accordingly. If speculators think that an economy can grow strongly while keeping inflation at a benign rate, they will bid up the currency of that economy. As that happens, the country whose currency is getting stronger could see a decrease in exports. This is caused by the larger amount of currency the importer uses to make the same purchase as previously made. (more…)

Euro Hits 4-Year Low on Mistranslated French Comment

  
  Education
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The euro fell to a fresh four-year low versus the dollar on Friday after the French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said he only saw good news in parity between the two currencies.

He used the French word “parite,” which can mean either “parity” or “exchange rate.”

Prime Minister Francois Fillon was referring to the general evolution of the exchange rate between the euro
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[EUR=X  1.1975    0.0006  (+0.05%)   ]
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and the dollar when he referred to the “parity” between the two currencies, a source close to the prime minister said on Friday.

Speaking at a news conference earlier, Fillon said: “I only see good news in the parity between the euro and dollar.

He later used the word “parity” in a different context to mean the general rate.

UBS On The Exasperating Euro

  
Education, Forex
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Strategist, UBS

For foreign exchange investors there’s nothing more exasperating than the euro at the moment. Having fallen from above 1.51 against the dollar in December to below 1.19 in June, the euro has since bounced smartly back to above 1.30. Defying predictions of a Eurozone break-up or a further perilous decline to parity, the euro has instead wrong-footed many in the currency market.

Indeed, exasperation explains one of the factors behind the euro’s correction, as investors had become increasingly bearish on the currency. The belated bailout of Greece, sharp bond spread widening within the Eurozone, concerns about competitiveness, and political tensions within Europe all convinced foreign exchange participants that the euro had become a one-way bet. Hence, the euro’s summer recovery has been the clear pain trade in the currency markets, forcing investors to close their shorts.

The reversal in the exchange rate has been driven by stronger data in the Eurozone and renewed concerns about the health of the US economy. In particular Germany’s super-competitive exporters have benefited from the slide in the euro in the first half of the year. An excellent reflection of this is the continuing strength of the Swiss franc. As Switzerland sends 20% of its exports to Germany, the franc is a proxy for the largest economy in Europe. In many ways it is a substitute for the old German mark.

In contrast, the dollar has fallen this summer as weaker US growth has forced Federal Reserve officials to consider resuming quantitative easing. As last year’s inventory bounce has begun to wear off, structural concerns about the health of the US housing and labour markets have come to the fore again.

In the near term the euro is likely to keep its gains; there are still shorts in the market and fears about the Fed will keep the dollar on the back-foot. But the longer-term picture remains bearish. The structural problems of high debts, low growth and diverging current account imbalances remain stubbornly high. Fiscal austerity will undermine Eurozone growth this year and next. The European Central Bank won’t be in a position to raise interest rates until well into 2011, at the earliest.

What are the risks to our long-term bearish euro view? The major concern of course is the Fed resuming asset purchases in order to expand US money supply. This would undermine the dollar as it did in March 2009 when the Fed started a year-long programme of buying Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. The other concern is that the consensus among foreign exchange participants remains bearish on the euro. As a result, their positioning would keep the markets vulnerable to further exasperating rallies in the currency.

Psychology Vs. Adaptation

  
  Education
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art76img1

The biggest question I have here is when do you ‘adapt’ and when do you stick with your trading strategy.

We do not know whether our strategies truly work… how do we know if we have just been ‘lucky’ verses by ‘smart’. (more…)

ECB Purchases Of Sovereign Bonds Surge Tenfold Compared To Prior Week, Hit €1.4 Billion

  
  Education
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After dropping to a modest €134 million last week, ECB purchases of sovereign debt exploded tenfold in the last ended week to €1.384 billion, confirming that the ECB continues to bid up all Portuguese and Irish bonds available for sale, so the market does not crash. As Reuters notes, this is the highest weekly amount purchase since early July. Once again it is up to the European Fed-equivalent to be the buyer of only resort. And Europe’s continued central bank facilitated life support comes on the heels of the latest joke in recession timing: per Dow Jones, the Center for Economic Policy Research Monday said its Euro Area Business Cycle Dating Committee had determined that the currency area’s recession began in January 2008 and ended in April 2009, lasting a total of 15 months and reducing gross domestic product by 5.5%. Some recovery there, when half the PIIGS have no access to capital markets, have their Prime Ministers mocked during conference calls, and are fighting with an exchange rate last seen long before Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ireland had to be rescued. We wonder what the CEPR’s timing on the end of the European depression will end up being?

Rouble hits 58 per dollar for first time since July 2015.Last Hope at 55.68

  
Analysis, Education, Forex
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58-RUBThe rouble climbed to its strongest level since July 2015 on Monday morning, as the Russian Central Bank’s pledge to weaken the currency struggles to convince markets.

The rouble had already been appreciating as oil prices have recovered over the last twelve months, and growing optimism since Donald Trump’s victory in the US election has helped it become the best-performing emerging market currency since the vote, up just shy of 10 per cent.

President Trump’s calls for a normalisation of relations with Russia raised hopes of a relaxation of economic sanctions and encouraged international investors to return to the country.

However, economists have been sceptical the bank would be able to have a big impact on the currency, and it has continued to rise a further 1.6 per cent since the announcement, including a 0.5 per cent rise this morning to take it to 57.99 per dollar.

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