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Here’s what it’ll take for gold (and silver) to climb to new highs ($2100, $30)

  • Real rates are now rising along with nominal yields due to stimulus optimism and risk appetite, with the USD also off its lows. 
  • Given that the US economy will continue to positively respond to an additional trillion dollars worth of fiscal stimulus and continued Fed measures, it is quite likely that rates and the dollar may see some better days into 2020
  • This, along with profit-taking by the very active retail investors and COMEX margin increases should see gold consolidate lower.
  • Before … new highs ($2,100+, $30+), there will need to be confirmation that the Fed will indeed suppress yields, consider average inflation targeting and there are signs that inflation may move higher
  • At the same time, markets will want to see if monetization of debt is in the cards, before talk of these levels becoming sustained is credible. 
  • TD securities projects an average gold price of $2,100/oz in Q4-2021 and $30/oz silver price during the same period

China’s Global Times says the US is becoming the biggest uncertainty in future global economic growth

An opinion piece in the state-owned tabloid

Some of the remarks in the piece:
  • The US has rolled out a series of policies to monetize financial deficit …  which has aggravated financial risks in the country, and cast a shadow over further investments.
  • US’ failure to handle the coronavirus may even prolong the pandemic
  • skyrocketing unemployment has resulted in sliding consumption which in turn is causing a decline in exports from its trade partners
  • huge debt and expanding stock market bubbles have damaged the confidence of global investors
GT is a barometer of official thinking in China re the US, relations between the two contries are on a downward path.
Global Times editor Hi Xijin:
An opinion piece in the state-owned tabloid

China infrastructure stimulus – 3 times as many pile drivers are sold as are sold in all of US & Europe

A piece in the New York Times that makes for an interesting read.

  • The scope of China’s latest building boom is enormous
  • Thirty-seven Chinese cities are in the process of building a total of 150 new subway lines
  • The country’s high-speed rail system, which already connects more than 700 towns and cities, is expanding so fast that it annually buys three times as many pile drivers as the European and American markets combined. 
Here is the link for more (may be gated)
china infrastuctre thumbs

Recap of the FOMC, “as expected” … but US Congress fiscal policy remains an unknown

Via CIBC Research on Wednesday’s FOMC policy statement.

“Today’s FOMC announcement unfolded largely as expected, with policymakers commenting that economic activity and employment remain well below where they stood prior to the pandemic, despite picking up somewhat in recent months. Indeed, the outlook has become increasingly uncertain since the last meeting on account of the surge in virus cases and the re-tightening of social distancing in many states, with the Fed noting that the path forward for the economy depends significantly on the virus which is expected to weigh heavily on activity in the near term. While the Fed stands ready to do more to support the recovery, as shown by the extension in several credit facilities beyond their initial deadlines, the fiscal support package being discussed by Congress remains an unknown” 

“As a result, they appear to have opted to wait for the September meeting, when the next set of forecasts are due, to provide more concrete forward guidance on future rate hikes by perhaps tying them to the outcome of a macro variable. Tomorrow’s Q2 GDP report will provide a starting point for assessing the scale of the output gap” 

Goldman Sachs says real concerns about USD as reserve currency. Barclays says No.

GS is alarmed, says “Real concerns about the future of the US Dollar as the world’s reserve currency have started to emerge.”

Barclays says nope, the US “isn’t anywhere close to losing its reserve currency status”. Barclays cite:
  • “depth of capital markets and overwhelming volume of USD denominated global transactions” 

On the recent decline in the dollar:

  • “Reserve managers and investors have spent the better part of the last few years accumulating USD assets and with the recent developments, simply find it prudent to diversify into less USD denominated exposures” 

Barclays comments via Bloomberg.

I’m with Barclays on this one.
GS is alarmed, says "Real concerns about the future of the US Dollar as the world'sreserve currency have started to emerge."

Australia NAB Business Survey – ” largest shock since the 1930s”

Main points from NAB’s assessment of the survey:

  • shows a significant deterioration in both current conditions as well as expected outcomes for activity, capex and employment going forward
  • Current conditions lowest read since the early 1990s
  • weakening was driven by sharp declines across all three sub-indexes and was broad-based across industries
  • decline in confidence was more muted, likely reflecting survey timing, with activity starting to recover with the removal of restrictions and easing in lockdowns
  • The impact of shutdowns is evident in the record decline in capacity utilisation which was also at its weakest level since the last recession. Unsurprisingly given the massive hit to conditions and capacity utilisation, expectations for capex and employment have declined very sharply at both the 3- and 12-month horizons
  • While we know that conditions and confidence saw a rebound late in the quarter, the level of activity remains weak and confidence may remain fragile. These factors pose a risk to a rebound in hiring and investment intentions going forward and warrant close watching. These risks also warrant ongoing government support for a period while the economy recovers from the largest shock since the 1930s.
Bolding mine.

USD facing more questions about its status as the primary reserve currency

Here is an item on the US dollar from Bloomberg that may be of interest.

It cites analysts from Credit Agricole and Mizuho
  • USD accounts for more than 60% of global reserves
  • the most widely used currency for international transactions
  • But it risks ceding ground to the euro after European Union leaders agreed on a 750 billion euro stimulus package that enhances the appeal of the shared currency and euro-denominated assets
CA say that the recovery fund will facilitate diversification out of the US dollar
offering liquid, high-rating, euro-denominated debt
Here is an item on the US dollar from Bloomberg that may be of interest.
I’d not be getting too gung-ho on this, and note that the analysts say ‘risks ceding ground’, they are not writing off the dollar.

Oil to trade flat to lower through to the end of 2020

View for the balance of H2 from Rabobank, this in brief (bolding mine):

enormous stockpile of drilled but uncompleted wells (DUCs) amassed in the Permian Basin over the last number of years …  the latest figures showing an impressive 3,488 DUCs waiting to be tapped. In fact, nowhere else in the world that we know of holds such a vast stockpile of drilled wells that have yet to be completed. This is a huge buffer for crude oil supplies that can be called upon to meet demand needs for months and even years to come and this is in addition to the record amount of crude stockpiles sitting in onshore tanks and offshore tankers.
  • oil market still struggling to clear the massive surge of Saudi exports that resulted from the short-lived price and market share war back in April
  • data … shows a massive spike in Saudi oil exports to the US that have come onshore over the past six to eight weeks. In fact, there is still a large amount of crude oil on the water that is waiting to be cleared.
  • We continue to see limited upside to both flat price and calendar spreads as a result of fundamental and quantitative market pressures. As such, it would not surprise us to see a washout of the out-sized speculative “longs” that have built up in crude oil futures in recent months and specifically in WTI as retail investors continue to flee the space in droves. 
  • On the flip side though, we still expect any major dips in crude to be bought as oil still looks attractive on a relative basis to other asset classes and especially given the amount of stimulus flushing through financial markets, a dynamic we expect to remain in place for the foreseeable future.
View for the balance of H2 from Rabobank, this in brief (bolding mine):

AUD/USD to drop back to 0.64 by year end – global economy weakening, China retaliation

A brief summary from a late week Rabobank note on the Australian dollar:

  • investors are currently over-estimating the ability of the global economy to bounce back from the pandemic
Combined with:
  • any news that China could be targeting Australian exports in retaliation for the government’s political stance would also leave AUD vulnerable
Rabo’s view is thus:
  • we see risk of a drop in sentiment by the end of the year 
  • likely to drag AUD/USD lower
  • forecast AUD/USD at 0.64 on a six-month view
A brief summary from a late week Rabobank note on the Australian dollar:

Here’s a EUR/USD forecast (to 1.15) with the ECB expected to be optimistic this week

The European Central Bank meet this week, preview below.

  • Meeting Thursday 16 July 2020
  • Policy announcement at 1145GMT (policy likely unchanged)
Euro forecast via Danske (this from late last week):
  • We remain constructive and expect the broad USD to decline over the coming months
  • 3 month forecast is 1.15
On the upcoming ECB policy meeting
  • we expect a repetition of recent comments from various governing council members, thereby striking a cautiously optimistic tone compared to the June projections. 
  • We also expect they may decide not to use the EUR1,350bn PEPP envelope in full. 
  • No new initiatives are expected next week
  • Markets may not be prepared for a ‘less dovish’ message
  • with abundant liquidity, PEPP and APP still ongoing
  • Our key expectation is that the ECB will reiterate its stance towards supporting a recovery, with, not least, a focus on sovereign spreads. 
For spot FX,
  • the direction and stance of the ECB and euro area fiscal politics are, in our view, quite well priced and communicated (though to a lesser extent when it comes to the outcome for Brexit). In turn, it will be the breath and speed of the global recovery that sets the tone in EUR/USD, and mostly through the USD leg

European Central Bank preview