rss

Paul Tudor Jones is one of the great macro traders of all time but he’s ‘a slave to the tape’

How does Paul Tudor Jones see the world now?

Paul Tudor Jones is one of the great investors of all time and he’s renowned for macro calls. His latest market outlook highlights the coming waves of direct debt monetization that will reshape the economies and financial markets of the world.
“There will be many assets that will move as a result of this money creation. So what is an investor to do? Traditional hedges like gold have done well, and we expect investors to continue to seek refuge in this safe asset. One thing I have learned over time is the best thing to do is let market price action guide your decision-making and then try to understand the fundamentals as they become more evident and comprehensible,” he writes in a note with Lorenzo Giorgianni.
That’s an odd thing for one of the great macro traders of all time to say, but if you look back over his (rare) public comments, it’s a familiar theme. Here’s what he said back in 2009:

(more…)

Fitch has affirmed Japan’s rating at A with outlook stable

Fitch rating agency of Japan – affirms ‘A’ & outlook stable

  • expects Japan’s broad policy continuity in coming year
  • says in addition to low interest rates, positive nominal GDP growth has kept trajectory of Japan’s public debt in check
  • inflation to remain murted in 2020 after pikcing up slightly in DCec 2019
  • does not expect change in the BOJ’s policy settings

Fed Powell press conference highlights

Feds Powell conducts press conference after January 2020 interest rate decision

Fed's Powell
  • Fed wants to avoid misinterpretation with inflation wording
  • Not comfortable with inflation persistently under 2%
  • Want to signal not comfortable with prices below goal
  • We expect Bill purchases to make reserves ample in 2nd quarter
  • Fed will know when adjustments have run course when reserves are durably at a sustainable level
  • At some point the Fed will raise minimum bid rate on repos
  • reserve levels will have to be at a level high enough to remain ample. 1.5 trillion will be the bottom end of the range
  • he expects reserve fluctuation particularly around tax season
  • Fed will provide more details and will keep the process a smooth one
  • Fed’s attention is just to raise the level of reserves. That is our sole intention
  • Asked if Bill buying is QE , he says many things affect financial markets.
  • Most forecasts underestimated labor participation gains
  • Labor market continues to perform well
  • Labor wages have moved from about 2% to 3% currently
  • It is a bit surprising that wages haven’t risen more given such low unemployment

Market reaction:

  • Gold has moved to new session highs at $1575.84
  • US rates have moved lower with the 10 year falling to 1.5942%
  • NASDAQ index up 47 points at 9316.69. S&P index up 11.3 points (was up 13 points)
  • EURUSUD moved to New York session highs at 1.1015.  A trendline on the hourly chart is just ahead at 1.1017 and the falling 100 hour moving average is 1.10232
EURUSD looks to test topside trend line and falling 100 hour moving average

  • USDCHF is moving toward session lows.  Markets trading at 0.9728 from 0.9743. USDJPY moves lower as well (109.10 currently from 109.20).
More from Powell presser:
  • virus is a serious issue, significant human suffering
  • coronavirus likely to disrupt activity in China, maybe world
  • very uncertain about how far virus will spread
  • Fed’s carefully monitoring situation around coronavirus
  • sees grounds for cautious optimism on global economy
  • supportive financial conditions, trade tensions easing and lower odds of hard Brexit all contributed to more positive outlook
  • We will continue to adjust IOER as appropriate to help move the effective rate for the middle of the range
  • there is no current urgency to make decision on standing repo facility
  • over the long term it is possible there is a financial stability risk from climate change
  • in the very early stages of the impact from climate change
On China and USMCA
  • Phase 1 deal with China and USMCA is without question positive and should support the economy over time
  • Trade policies uncertainty remains elevated
  • Still have 2 or 3 active trade discussions going on at the moment
  • There is a wait and see attitude for businesses on trade
  • We need to be patient on trade deals economic impact
  • Does not yet see a decisive recovery for manufacturing
There is some modest moves to the downside in stocks and the USD has tilted to the downside (3:04 PM ET):
  • S&P index up 6.5 points
  • NASDAQ index up 32 points
  • The USD has ticked lower through the presser on a modest basis.
More from the Powell press conference:
  • We don’t think there is imminent risk on Chinese debt
  • Fed sees asset value valuations somewhat elevated, but not extreme
  • household that is in a good place
  • business debt is rising but not threatening stability
  • vulnerabilities to financial stability is moderate overall
Press conference ends at 3:23 PM ET.

Former Fed chairman Paul Volcker dies at 92

The man who conquered inflation dies

The man who conquered inflation dies
Paul Volcker has died of cancer at 92, the New York Times reports.
Volcker led the Fed from 1979-1987 in a particularly difficult time characterized by runaway inflation and currency instability. He began working at the Treasury Department under JFK and was chairman of Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
Late in his life he was known for the ‘Volcker rule’; a measure that prohibited banks from making risky trades with their own funds, something that contributed to the financial crisis and bank bailout of 2008.
However his defining legacy was tackling the persistent and runaway inflation of the 1970s and 1980s by raising interest rates as high as 20.0% in 1980. That triggered a recession the next year but ended the era of double digit inflation and kicked off the great moderation — a +30 year period of generally falling borrowing costs and interest rates.

Japan headline inflation data for October misses, core-core beats

The headlines National CPI comes in at 0.2% y/y, a “miss” on estimates.

  • expected 0.3%, prior was 0.2%
National CPI y/y excluding Fresh Food is 04% y/y
  • expected 0.4%, prior was 0.3%
National CPI excluding Food, Energy is 0.7% y/y a “beat” on estimates
  • expected 0.6 %, prior was 0.5%
I generally do not like describing CPI data in terms of misses and beats but made an ex[pcetion today.
The ‘core-core’ referred to is CPI excluding Food & Energy, this is the closest measure to what is termed ‘core’ CPI in the US. As you can see, slightly above the median consensus. While well short of the 2% BOJ target, a tiny bit of good news for the Bank.
Yen doing pretty much nothing on the data release. As is usual.

Economic data coming up in the European session

Eurozone October final inflation reading in focus today

Comic 15-11

Happy Friday, everyone! Hope you’re all doing well as we look to get things going in the session ahead. Risk trades are in a better mood today with some recovery seen in yen pairs and gold is also lower to start the day.

Meanwhile, equities have nudged higher while bond yields are also faring better as the Trump administration talk up hopes of a trade deal.

Looking ahead, there is little on the economic calendar in Europe to really shift the dial so we may be in for a more quiet one barring any major headlines to cross the wires.
1000 GMT – Eurozone October final CPI figures
The preliminary report can be found here. As this is the final release, it isn’t expected to have much – if any – impact on markets as a whole.
1000 GMT – Eurozone September trade balance data
Prior release can be found here. An indication of trade conditions in the euro area region but the data is a bit lagging as this pertains to Q3 economic performance.
1000 GMT – Italy October final CPI figures
The preliminary report can be found here. Focus is on the overall Eurozone release so the report here will matter little, and even more so since this is the final release.
That’s all for the session ahead. I wish you all the best of days to come and good luck with your trading!

Powell Q&A: It would take a ‘material reassessment’ of outlook to shift stance

Powell comments to reporters:

Powell
He emphasized ‘material’ 3-4 times.
  • Risks to the outlook have shifted more positively
  • Says he was generally referring to less uncertainty on trade
  • Consumer facing companies say consumers doing well
  • Economy has been resilient to winds blowing this year
  • Today’s business investment in GDP was weak
  • We generally hike because we see inflation moving up, we don’t see that now
  • Inflation expectations are quite central to its framework
  • If we were to have a sustained reduction in trade tensions, it would bode well but I wouldn’t expect immediate effects; it would take time
  • Significant inflation rise needed before any rate hike
  • There is a big and growing difference in rural and urban outcomes
  • GM strikes likely too ‘a couple tenths’ off growth this quarter but is likely to return
  • Policy is ‘somewhat accommodative’ in my estimation
  • Not seeing asset bubbles, monitoring
  • We think liquidity in the financial system is ample but we’re working to make it move more-freely
The dollar initially rallied but everything reversed when Powell said that it would take a significant rise in inflation before they start hiking again. That was a strong message they’ll be on the sidelines.

Crucial Update :US Dollar Index ,EURO ,YEN ,GBP ,INR ,CAD ,AUD ,PESO ,WTI ,SPX 500 -Anirudh Sethi

The Japanese yen and Canadian dollar were the only major currencies to gain against the US dollar last week.  They are also the only major currencies to appreciate against the dollar so far this year.  US President Trump’s apparent playing down of the pressure to strike a partial deal with China before the 2020 election weighed on stocks and lifted the so-called safe-haven currencies ahead of the weekend.  When everything was said and done, from the attack on Saudi Arabia to the money market squeeze in the US and the Fed’s rate cut, the dollar remained mostly within well-worn ranges.
The exceptions were idiosyncratic.  Growth concerns, both globally and domestically, saw the New Zealand dollar fall to new four-year lows ahead of the weekend.  The RBNZ meets next week, and the market has about six basis points of easing, or about a 25% chance of a cut.  The Australian dollar fell in four of last week’s five sessions and the day rose was by 1/100 of a penny, according to Bloomberg.  Sterling had threatened to break high in the second half of the week, but Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister helped put Juncker’s seeming optimism in context.  UK Prime Minister Johnson reportedly acknowledged that the EU is unlikely to agree entirely with his proposal at the critical summit in the middle of next month.  These developments pushed sterling a cent off the highest level since July (~$1.2580).
   To read more enter password and Unlock more engaging content

Fed’s Bullard and Kashkari make case for rate cut

Slowing growth momentum and the lack of inflationary pressure are fuelling the case among Federal Reserve policymakers that a rate cut may be necessary this year in order to stimulate the economy.A duo of Fed officials — St Louis Fed president James Bullard and Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari — on Friday cited rising global uncertainty as a reason the US central bank should take immediate action to lower rates.At its latest policy meeting this week, the Federal Open Market Committee voted 9-1 to hold rates steady but signalled a strong possibility of cutting them this year.Mr Bullard, one of the most dovish members of the Fed board, was the lone dissenter. He said on Friday he pushed for a quarter-percentage point cut at the meeting in order to safeguard against weaker growth, tepid inflation and an increasingly volatile environment.“I believe that lowering the target range for the federal funds rate at this time would provide insurance against further declines in expected inflation and a slowing economy subject to elevated downside risks. Even if a sharper-than-expected slowdown does not materialise, a rate cut would help promote a more rapid return of inflation and inflation expectations to target,” he said in a brief statement posted on his bank’s website.Mr Kashkari, a non-voting member of the FOMC, went even further. In an essay published on Friday, he said he argued at this week’s meeting for a 50 bps cut in order to “re-anchor” inflation expectations. (more…)

Jim Rogers: Stocks To Be Crushed Any Day Now

Governments need to tighten their monetary policies more according to Jim Rogers. Such tightening will result in stocks being crushed nevertheless.

Bloomberg: “We’re overdue for a correction” said Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, said in an interview in Hong Kong. “Stock markets around the world have been going up for the past 10 months.”

“I don’t think anybody has tightened enough. I think everybody should tighten more,” he told Bloomberg. “We have huge amounts of money printed throughout the world. It’s going to cause currency instability. It’s going to cause more inflation. It’s going to cause higher interest rates.”

An extended, related video of Jim Rogers with Bloomberg is below, start from 11:00 for Jim Rogers. He talks across stocks, stimulus, commodities, and gold in particular.

One of the oddest things discussed however, toward the very end of the video, at 27:00, is how Jim Rogers is long both the U.S. dollar and gold. He’s also long the Japanese yen even though in his own words, it, like the dollar, is a ‘terribly flawed currency’.

 

 

Go to top