BOJ brings yen into sharper focus
A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Wayne Cole.
It was left to the Bank of Japan (BOJ) to end "central banker week" by doing nothing on rates, though it did bring the yen into sharper focus.
BOJ statements can be rather Delphic, so their latest was mercifully brief at five paragraphs of plain prose, including eight uses of "moderate" or "moderately" to describe the economic background.
One notable passage was at the end, where it highlighted financial and foreign exchange markets in a clear reference to recent ructions in stocks and the yen.
It noted that yen movements had become more likely to affect prices, implying a weaker currency would add more to inflation than in the past and, presumably, that might not be welcome anymore.
That was enough to nudge the yen a little higher to 142.30 per dollar, but it's still down large for the week. EURJPY is up 1.7% for the week and the Aussie up 2.6%, so maybe carry trades are back on the menu.
Markets will have to wait until BOJ Governor Ueda's presser at 3:30 p.m. (0630 GMT) to divine more on the outlook for tightening, particularly whether the October meeting is live for a hike.
Markets have just 3 basis points of tightening priced in for October, though that is almost six weeks away so there's plenty of time for things to change. Most analysts polled by Reuters favour December for a hike of 25 basis points, though the market still only has 7 bp in the price. 0#BOJWATCH
The Nikkei was largely unfazed and up 1.9% at the time of writing, while much of Asia tracked Wall Street's overnight rally, still basking in the Fed's outsized rate cut.
Earlier, China's central bank surprised markets by not cutting its prime rates, then had to intervene in forex markets to stop the yuan from rising too fast past 16-month highs.
Optimists argued the delay was so rate cuts could be included in a big stimulus package, but there's been talk of such a package in the works since the pandemic and none has materalised. Others suspect the PBOC is more concerned by falling bond yields and bank profit margins and will have to ease reserve requirements first.
And a final word on the yield curve. For two years the inverse curve supposedly signalled certain recession, even as U.S. growth ran above trend.
Now its the dis-inversion of the curve that economic orthodoxy says means a recession is inevitable, even as consumers keep spending, weekly jobless claims hit their lowest since May and the rather reliable Atlanta GDPNow measure points to Q3 growth of 2.9%.
You can't have it all ways, and maybe the curve isn't infallible.
Key developments that could influence markets on Friday:
- UK August retail sales, Canada retail sales, German PPI, EU consumer confidence
- Speech by Catherine Mann, external member of the BoE MPC
- Conversation between ECB President Christine Lagarde and Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director IMF
- Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker speaks
- Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem gives speech
Japan's core inflation accelerates for 4th month https://reut.rs/3XR41v1
Japan's inflation and interest rates https://reut.rs/3TBICDj
Fed cuts, BoE and Norges Bank hold https://reut.rs/3zBcEAe
Graphic-US yield curve https://reut.rs/4daTE9F
By Wayne Cole; Editing by Edmund Klamann
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
