China problems, Central Banks & euro rise

This week begins to give a first idea of ​​the economic consequences of the epidemic (so far in the context of China). We are talking about the manufacturing PMI index for China, which fell to 35.7 in February (compared to 50 in January). The non-manufacturing index came out even worse, showing a value of 29.6 (the lowest in history). Recall that any value below 50 indicates a decrease in economic activity. And this is only the first swallow. Then there will be new indicators, and each of them will plunge financial markets into an ever greater depression, at least for some time.

Meanwhile, in China itself, the epidemic continues to decline rapidly. In Wuhan (the epicenter of the epidemic), they even began to close the first temporary hospitals due to the lack of patients. But the relay race in China is confidently intercepted by the world as a whole. South Korea, Italy, Iran - current epicenters, which are also not localized, but, on the contrary, spread the virus to other countries. If we draw an analogy with China, then at best for the next month we will find exclusively disappointing news. So you should not count on something good from March.

Accordingly, the outcome from risky assets is likely to continue, respectively, gold and other safe-haven assets will find fundamental support. This week we will continue to use the bundle of buying gold - buying USDJPY as a promising medium-term position. In our opinion, the strengthening of the yen, if it continues, will be limited, but the opportunities for gold growth look much more extensive in this regard. Our disbelief in the significant strengthening of the yen is due to the fact that Japan is experiencing serious economic difficulties and traditionally one of the components of the equation to solve them was the devaluation of the yen, so the Bank of Japan is either around 107 or about 105, but most likely it will intervene and prevent the yen from strengthening.

In general, central banks are again in the spotlight. Everyone expects salvation from them. As it was during the crisis of 2007-2009. So far, they live up to expectations, since all key central banks have noted rather aggressive statements about their readiness to act.

Markets traditionally focus on the Fed. This is mainly due to the current difficulties of the dollar and the frank success of the EURUSD pair. With each new hundred growth points of EURUSD, our desire to sell a pair grows stronger, as does our desire to increase transaction volumes for sale.

Part of the dollar’s problems lies in the plane of the presidential election. We try to minimize the analysis of the political plane, focusing on the economy. But today is the so-called Super Tuesday. The day when 1344 of the 1991 Democratic Party delegates cast their ballots for a particular candidate. So far, Sanders is the undisputed leader (probability of victory = 57%), but Biden still has chances (probability of victory = 31%). So the day for the US political sphere is very significant.

The pound was under pressure yesterday due to the negotiation process between the UK and the EU on a trade agreement. There is already a familiar game of tug of war and trade for the best conditions, tied to mutual threats. As in the case of Brexit, we prefer to see not the current noise, but the perspective. And it is such that the parties are likely to agree in one form or another.

Accordingly, the pound will receive its positive sooner or later. So in the medium term, we do not see any problems for medium-term purchases of the British pound. Rather, on the contrary, we see good shopping opportunities. In current conditions, sales of the EURGBP pair seem ideal to us.