NZD
FUNDAMENTAL BIAS: WEAK BULLISH
1. Monetary Policy
The RBNZ underwhelmed some market participants who were looking for a 50bsp hike at their last policy meeting and the bank delivered a 25bsp hike as consensus was expecting. Even though the NZD took a plunge after the meeting, we don’t think markets are really giving NZD the upside it deserves after the Nov RBNZ decision. Not referring to the knee-jerk lower after the 25bsp hike of course as that was fully priced in and always ran the risk of underwhelming the bulls, but the outlook in the MPR justifies more NZD strength. The upgrades to the economic outlook between Aug and Nov were a lot more positive than expected, with growth seen lower in 2022 but much higher in 2023, CPI seen higher throughout 2022 and 2023, Unemployment seen lower throughout the forecast horizon, and of course the big upgrade to the OCR which is now seen at 2.6% by 2024. The bank also brought forward their expectation of reaching the 2.0% neutral rate by 5 quarters. For now, incoming data will be very important and any new developments with the new Omicron variant will be closely watched. Any major deterioration can see markets pricing out some of the hikes that has been priced in and is a risk to the outlook. However, if data stays solid, the recent sell off in the NZD does seem at odds with the fundamental, policy and economic outlook.
2. Economic and health developments
Even though the NZ government has abandoned a covid-zero strategy, the recent rise in Omicron cases as well as well as the PM going into self-isolation is worth keeping on the radar. Turning to the econ data, the recent macro data, including Q4 CPI data has surpassed both market and RBNZ expectations. But markets have not been too bothered with the incoming data and have not given the NZD the upside it deserves. For now, based on the economic and policy outlook the NZD still seems undervalued at current prices, but we need to keep close track of the overall risk sentiment.
3. Global Risk Outlook
As a high-beta currency, the NZD usually benefits from overall positive risk sentiment as well as environments that benefit pro-cyclical assets. Thus, both short-term (immediate) and med-term (underlying) risk sentiment will always be a key consideration for the NZD.
4. CFTC Analysis
Latest CFTC data showed a positioning change of -2442 with a net non-commercial position of -10773. Positioning changes has been very limited for the NZD in the past few weeks and with the flush out of net-longs among Leveraged Funds in Dec we can see that positioning is close to neutral for both large specs and leveraged funds. The sentiment signal from the unwind in positioning means right now we are happy to wait for incoming econ data or strong risk sentiment impulses to give better sense of where the NZD goes next.
5. The Week Ahead
In the week ahead the main focus point for the NZD will be in the incoming quarterly labour print. Consensus looks for the Unemployment Rate to drop to 3.3% from the prior of 3.4% but job growth is expected to slow to 0.4% from the prior of 2.0%. Some participants like Westpac expect the jobless rate to rise to 3.5% as labour shortages remain a concern and point out that previous data was biased lower due to the Q3 lockdowns. The bank does note that employment didn’t see a huge drop but rather a slowdown and that even with a slowdown, the labour market is still beyond the RBNZ’s view of maximum sustainable employment. The other metric to watch closely according to Westpac is the Labour Cost Index, which is expected to climb 0.8% QQ and to 2.9% for the YY measure. According to the bank the final piece required in the sustained inflation puzzle is wage costs and should become a key focus for the RBNZ in the months ahead. Now, having said all of that, we need to acknowledge that despite having the most hawkish central bank among the majors, and despite a long list of better-than-expected econ data, the market has been selling the NZD for the past couple of weeks. Thus, even though better data should be positive for the NZD, we’ll be staying patient with the NZD until price action can muster some solid signs of stopping the one-sided downside.
USD
FUNDAMENTAL BIAS: BULLISH
1. Monetary Policy
The Jan FOMC decision was hawkish on multiple fronts. The statement signalled a March hike as expected, but the press conference from Chair Powell portrayed a very hawkish message. Even though Powell said they can’t predict the rate path with certainty, he stressed the economy is in much better shape compared to the 2015 cycle and that will have implications for the pace of hikes. Furthermore, the Chair explained that there is ‘quite a bit of room’ to raise rates without dampening employment, which suggests upside risks to the rate path, especially coming from Powell. A big question markets wanted an answer for was whether the Fed was
concerned about recent equity market volatility . However, the Chair explained that markets and financial conditions are reflecting policy in advance and stressed that in aggregate their measures they look at is not showing red lights. This was a clear message to markets that any ‘Fed Put’ is much further away and that inflation is the biggest focus point for the Fed right now. The Chair also didn’t rule out the possibility of hiking 50bsp in March or possibly hiking at every meeting this year, which was seen as hawkish as it means the Fed is looking for optionality to move more aggressive if they need to. On the balance sheet , we didn’t really get new info and the Chair reiterated that they are contemplating a start of QT after the hiking cycle has begun but also reiterated that they will discuss this in coming meetings. Overall, the tone and language used by the Chair were a lot more hawkish than the Dec meeting and more hawkish than some were hoping for.
2. Global & Domestic Economy
As the reserve currency, the USD’s usage around the world means it usually has an inverse correlation to the health of the global economy and global trade. The USD usually gains strength when growth & inflation both slow (disinflation) and loses ground when growth & inflation accelerates (reflation). Thus, with expectations that both growth and inflation will decelerate this year, both in the US and the globe, that should be a positive input for the USD in the med-term . However, incoming data will also be important in relation to the ‘Fed Put’. There are many similarities between now and 4Q18, where the Fed were also tightening aggressively going into an economic slowdown. So, incoming data will be crucial to watch. As long as growth data slows and the Fed stays aggressive that would be a positive environment for the USD, but if it causes the Fed to pivot more dovish and causes a rate repricing in money markets it would be seen as a negative input for the USD.
3. CFTC Analysis
Latest CFTC data showed a positioning change of +427 with a net non-commercial position of +36861. The shortterm unwinding of stretched USD longs played out as expected at the start of the year but was also short-lived in the midst of the recent strong risk off sentiment in certain parts of the market and of course the continued hawkish stance from the Fed.
4. The Week Ahead
In the week ahead the party starts all over again with a new month which means we’ll get new ISM PMI releases as well as the Jan NFP report. It’s important to keep the current economic climate in mind when looking at possible reaction functions for the USD. Usually, positive data should be USD positive and negative data USD negative when the Fed is busy with a hiking cycle, but right now there are growing fears that economic data has been slowing much faster than expected and means the Fed could be on its way to make the same mistake it did back in the end of 2018. As long as those fears persist, we might see the USD having two different reaction functions to growth and inflation data. Reacting inverse to growth data but acting correlated to inflation data. That makes this week’s incoming ISM data very interesting as the Dec data decelerated much faster than expected on the growth side, and a further miss might spark more fears about a faster slowdown. The tricky part for the USD in the week ahead is that both the ISM prints as well as the NFP report has inflation components with the ISM priced paid components and the Average Hourly Earnings on the NFP side. If growth data slows very fast that could be USD positive, but if inflation data starts decelerating much faster that could also be USD negative as it means less need for aggressive Fed policy. A tricky one for the week ahead.
FUNDAMENTAL BIAS: WEAK BULLISH
1. Monetary Policy
The RBNZ underwhelmed some market participants who were looking for a 50bsp hike at their last policy meeting and the bank delivered a 25bsp hike as consensus was expecting. Even though the NZD took a plunge after the meeting, we don’t think markets are really giving NZD the upside it deserves after the Nov RBNZ decision. Not referring to the knee-jerk lower after the 25bsp hike of course as that was fully priced in and always ran the risk of underwhelming the bulls, but the outlook in the MPR justifies more NZD strength. The upgrades to the economic outlook between Aug and Nov were a lot more positive than expected, with growth seen lower in 2022 but much higher in 2023, CPI seen higher throughout 2022 and 2023, Unemployment seen lower throughout the forecast horizon, and of course the big upgrade to the OCR which is now seen at 2.6% by 2024. The bank also brought forward their expectation of reaching the 2.0% neutral rate by 5 quarters. For now, incoming data will be very important and any new developments with the new Omicron variant will be closely watched. Any major deterioration can see markets pricing out some of the hikes that has been priced in and is a risk to the outlook. However, if data stays solid, the recent sell off in the NZD does seem at odds with the fundamental, policy and economic outlook.
2. Economic and health developments
Even though the NZ government has abandoned a covid-zero strategy, the recent rise in Omicron cases as well as well as the PM going into self-isolation is worth keeping on the radar. Turning to the econ data, the recent macro data, including Q4 CPI data has surpassed both market and RBNZ expectations. But markets have not been too bothered with the incoming data and have not given the NZD the upside it deserves. For now, based on the economic and policy outlook the NZD still seems undervalued at current prices, but we need to keep close track of the overall risk sentiment.
3. Global Risk Outlook
As a high-beta currency, the NZD usually benefits from overall positive risk sentiment as well as environments that benefit pro-cyclical assets. Thus, both short-term (immediate) and med-term (underlying) risk sentiment will always be a key consideration for the NZD.
4. CFTC Analysis
Latest CFTC data showed a positioning change of -2442 with a net non-commercial position of -10773. Positioning changes has been very limited for the NZD in the past few weeks and with the flush out of net-longs among Leveraged Funds in Dec we can see that positioning is close to neutral for both large specs and leveraged funds. The sentiment signal from the unwind in positioning means right now we are happy to wait for incoming econ data or strong risk sentiment impulses to give better sense of where the NZD goes next.
5. The Week Ahead
In the week ahead the main focus point for the NZD will be in the incoming quarterly labour print. Consensus looks for the Unemployment Rate to drop to 3.3% from the prior of 3.4% but job growth is expected to slow to 0.4% from the prior of 2.0%. Some participants like Westpac expect the jobless rate to rise to 3.5% as labour shortages remain a concern and point out that previous data was biased lower due to the Q3 lockdowns. The bank does note that employment didn’t see a huge drop but rather a slowdown and that even with a slowdown, the labour market is still beyond the RBNZ’s view of maximum sustainable employment. The other metric to watch closely according to Westpac is the Labour Cost Index, which is expected to climb 0.8% QQ and to 2.9% for the YY measure. According to the bank the final piece required in the sustained inflation puzzle is wage costs and should become a key focus for the RBNZ in the months ahead. Now, having said all of that, we need to acknowledge that despite having the most hawkish central bank among the majors, and despite a long list of better-than-expected econ data, the market has been selling the NZD for the past couple of weeks. Thus, even though better data should be positive for the NZD, we’ll be staying patient with the NZD until price action can muster some solid signs of stopping the one-sided downside.
USD
FUNDAMENTAL BIAS: BULLISH
1. Monetary Policy
The Jan FOMC decision was hawkish on multiple fronts. The statement signalled a March hike as expected, but the press conference from Chair Powell portrayed a very hawkish message. Even though Powell said they can’t predict the rate path with certainty, he stressed the economy is in much better shape compared to the 2015 cycle and that will have implications for the pace of hikes. Furthermore, the Chair explained that there is ‘quite a bit of room’ to raise rates without dampening employment, which suggests upside risks to the rate path, especially coming from Powell. A big question markets wanted an answer for was whether the Fed was
concerned about recent equity market volatility . However, the Chair explained that markets and financial conditions are reflecting policy in advance and stressed that in aggregate their measures they look at is not showing red lights. This was a clear message to markets that any ‘Fed Put’ is much further away and that inflation is the biggest focus point for the Fed right now. The Chair also didn’t rule out the possibility of hiking 50bsp in March or possibly hiking at every meeting this year, which was seen as hawkish as it means the Fed is looking for optionality to move more aggressive if they need to. On the balance sheet , we didn’t really get new info and the Chair reiterated that they are contemplating a start of QT after the hiking cycle has begun but also reiterated that they will discuss this in coming meetings. Overall, the tone and language used by the Chair were a lot more hawkish than the Dec meeting and more hawkish than some were hoping for.
2. Global & Domestic Economy
As the reserve currency, the USD’s usage around the world means it usually has an inverse correlation to the health of the global economy and global trade. The USD usually gains strength when growth & inflation both slow (disinflation) and loses ground when growth & inflation accelerates (reflation). Thus, with expectations that both growth and inflation will decelerate this year, both in the US and the globe, that should be a positive input for the USD in the med-term . However, incoming data will also be important in relation to the ‘Fed Put’. There are many similarities between now and 4Q18, where the Fed were also tightening aggressively going into an economic slowdown. So, incoming data will be crucial to watch. As long as growth data slows and the Fed stays aggressive that would be a positive environment for the USD, but if it causes the Fed to pivot more dovish and causes a rate repricing in money markets it would be seen as a negative input for the USD.
3. CFTC Analysis
Latest CFTC data showed a positioning change of +427 with a net non-commercial position of +36861. The shortterm unwinding of stretched USD longs played out as expected at the start of the year but was also short-lived in the midst of the recent strong risk off sentiment in certain parts of the market and of course the continued hawkish stance from the Fed.
4. The Week Ahead
In the week ahead the party starts all over again with a new month which means we’ll get new ISM PMI releases as well as the Jan NFP report. It’s important to keep the current economic climate in mind when looking at possible reaction functions for the USD. Usually, positive data should be USD positive and negative data USD negative when the Fed is busy with a hiking cycle, but right now there are growing fears that economic data has been slowing much faster than expected and means the Fed could be on its way to make the same mistake it did back in the end of 2018. As long as those fears persist, we might see the USD having two different reaction functions to growth and inflation data. Reacting inverse to growth data but acting correlated to inflation data. That makes this week’s incoming ISM data very interesting as the Dec data decelerated much faster than expected on the growth side, and a further miss might spark more fears about a faster slowdown. The tricky part for the USD in the week ahead is that both the ISM prints as well as the NFP report has inflation components with the ISM priced paid components and the Average Hourly Earnings on the NFP side. If growth data slows very fast that could be USD positive, but if inflation data starts decelerating much faster that could also be USD negative as it means less need for aggressive Fed policy. A tricky one for the week ahead.