FOMC, World Bank and stock marketsThe US stock market in the technology sector (Nasdaq) this week showed a new historic high. The more traditional and wider SP500 index reached the marks where the year began. Just like there was no lockdown and pandemic, economic halt and 42 million unemployed, there were no mass bankruptcies of companies with 100 or even 200 years of history (thousands of large stores are planned to be closed in the near future), etc.
The reason for this madness is not only human greed and stupidity, but also the actions of the Central Banks, including the Fed, which flooded the markets with cheap money. If you believe the story (Japan of the 80s of the last century) and the old expression “I gave birth to you, I will kill you”, the giant bubble in the US stock market which started with the FED should collapse also after the actions of the Central Bank.
That is why every FOMC meeting is important both tactically and strategically. However, markets do not expect much from today. Powell made it clear enough that the Fed is not going to switch to negative rates. As for the expansion of the quantitative easing program, following the example of the ECB (it increased the program last week by 600 billion euros, i.e. almost 2 times), Powell prefers to transfer the initiative to the Government so that they solve problems with fiscal instruments, rather than monetary ones.
What will happen today? The Fed is likely to announce updated forecasts for the US economy, and may also clarify its plan of action in the context of monetary policy.
In the United States, protests continue, the consequences of which are beginning to take on an openly idiotic-populist form, which ultimately will not do well: all these ostentatious kneeling or attempts to dissolve the police as such will ultimately result in a sharp increase in crime against the backdrop of general impunity.
In fact, the current situation in the United States continues to look like an ultra-combo for the collapse of the price bubble: the strongest economic crisis and its consequences in the form of massive bankruptcies and unemployment, multiplied by mass protests in the country and the domestic political crisis. The whole question is in the last straw that will break the ridge of this crazy bull who is now hosting Wall Street. So, we keep on recommending to sell in the US stock market.
And finally. The World Bank recently announced its vision of the global economy in 2020. And the vision is very gloomy. The world economy will shrink by 5.2 percent, which will be the deepest recession since 1945-1946. Moreover, it will be more than twice as deep as the economic downturn associated with the global financial crisis.
Newstrading
Euro losses, bottom of the dollar, and oil is at a crossroadsThe start of the week was not the best for the euro. After two weeks of growth, which resulted in the strengthening of the euro against the dollar by more than 600 points, the fuse of buyers has dried up. Firstly, sooner or later it was necessary to take profits anyway, and secondly, yesterday there was a reason for this. We are talking about disastrous data on industrial production in Germany: a figure of -18% relative to the previous month will return anyone to earth. And thirdly, the dollar seems to have groped the bottom, especially after Friday's statistics on the US labor market.
Nevertheless, we would not be in a hurry to turn over into euro sales across the entire spectrum of the foreign exchange market. The intraday decrease in EURUSD for us is an occasion for the pair to buy. In addition, we will use the euro reduction as a reason for buying the EURGBP. At the same time, we note that the EURJPY pair seems to us to be a very promising object for sales.
Oil yesterday tried to take advantage of the news about extending the maximum decline in oil production for another month, but it did not work. It should be understood that the new agreement by and large does not change much in the overall situation in the oil market and, in fact, this is just a small delay. At least, this is how we perceive it and continue to believe that for the further growth of oil we need more encouraging news about the growing demand in the market.
But serious problems are quite possible with this. The fact is that the pandemic is not thinking of dying away, and if the situation in India and Brazil continues to develop as it has been developing for the last 2-3 weeks, then new problems for the oil market are still ahead. In general, we find current prices extremely uncomfortable for new oil purchases under the current conditions.
British Petroleum, meanwhile, announced its intention to cut 15% of its staff in 2020. It is about 10,000 employees. This is to the question of what is really happening in the world labor markets and why it is not worth much to please the Friday data on the NFP.
Week in a glance: riots in the USA, NFP, ECB billions and OPEC+Last week was extremely busy both in terms of price dynamics in the financial markets and the news.
The main political theme was protests in the United States and a sharp decrease in Trump's ratings against this background. All these put pressure on the dollar and brought the Dollar Index to the lowest levels since March.
However, not everything was so gloomy for the American currency. At first, data from ADP, and then official statistics in the form of NFP figures showed that the US labor market can not only rapidly fall into the abyss, but also recover quite quickly. At least +2.5 million new non-farm jobs, with the forecast of a decrease in their number by 8 million - this is definitely the strongest positive surprise markets can even imagine. And unemployment rate came out much better than experts expected (13.3% with forecasts of about 20%).
In our opinion, this is quite enough for the dollar to stop a protracted fall. So this week we will search for buying opportunities of the dollar (with insignificant stops per each position of course).
First of all, we are interested in selling the GBPUSD pair, since the negotiations on Brexit last week ended in nothing. The sides were extremely disappointed with eachother. And this is the best background for pound sales.
Note that such data from the United States is not enough for further growth of the US stock market. In the end, if we summarize the data on the NFP for the last 2 months, then we get a figure of -18 million (!). This is much more than the US labor market created in the previous 10 years. And unemployment, which is 3 times higher than the pre-pandemic level, does not mean that everything in the US economy is excellent. So, this week we will continue to sell in the US stock market.
The past week can be considered the week of the euro. And for this, there were many reasons: active reopening of the Eurozone economies, the ECB decision to radically expand the program of quantitative easing, increased it by another 600 billion euros and brought the total volume to 1.35 billion euros. In addition, the decision of the German government to allocate 130 billion euros to help the country's economy was also a powerful positive signal.
This week we tend to give preference to purchases of the euro, but we will not buy at the maximum, and will do at the time of local corrections.
Another important event of the past week was the OPEC + meeting. On the agenda was the issue of extending the period of decline in production by 9.7 mln b / d. The meeting was scheduled for Thursday, but was rescheduled for Saturday due to non-compliance with the agreement by a number of countries, in particular Iraq and Nigeria. At the end of the weekend, oil producers agreed to cut total production by 9.7 million bpd in July. For oil, this is generally a positive signal. Nevertheless, we continue to expect the beginning of correction in the oil market and therefore temporarily avoid purchases.
As for the upcoming week, it will be much calmer, so in theory nothing should prevent them from realizing the positions that we have outlined for the week. The main events will be the FOMC Fed meeting on Wednesday, as well as data on the GDP of the Eurozone, Japan and the UK.
ECB surprise, NFP, OPEC + expectations and German 130 blnThe main event of yesterday was the ECB's decision to expand the quantitative easing program by another 600 billion euros (analysts expected an increase of 500 billion euros). As a result, the size of the program has inflated to 1.35 trillion euros. This, of course, is a lot, so the growth of the euro against this background is generally explainable. Moreover, the expectations of an early recovery of the Eurozone economies are becoming more and more rosy. And even a decline in retail sales in the Eurozone by almost 12% by the end of April could not cool the optimists' hot heads. Especially when you consider the fact that the German Government approved a program of assistance to the country's economy in the amount of 130 billion euros.
The Fear Index, meanwhile, broke through a new local bottom. Which only confirms how much everyone is focused on a bright future. At the same time, almost 2 million people in the United States applied for unemployment benefits. As a result, the total number of people receiving unemployment payments rose to 21.5 million. Just in case, we note that at the peak of the global financial crisis this number only slightly exceeded 6 million. This is about optimism and reality.
The fact that markets do not want to see the negative does not make it less obvious and even more so it does not disappear from it. It is entirely possible that markets will receive another reason to return to reality today upon the publication of official statistics on the US labor market. Unemployment is expected at around 20%, and the NFP at -8 million. After the ADP figures on Wednesday (-2.7 million), the markets are clearly set for a positive surprise, but it may well not be, and we will see in fact -10 million +/-. This can be a strong blow to market optimism with all the ensuing consequences: stock market sales, the rise in the dollar and gold, the strengthening of the Japanese yen, the decline in oil, etc.
Speaking of oil, yesterday’s OPEC + meeting didn’t take place, as a number of countries that broke the deal, in particular Iraq, did not give the rest the opportunity to agree on new conditions. According to current information, the meeting was postponed to Saturday. So far, markets are expending for another 1 month of current volumes of contraction. In general, we continue to believe that profit taking on long positions in oil is the best option for oil trading strategy today.
Encouraging data, ECB and OPEC + meeting The main event of yesterday was the US employment figures from ADP: -2.7 million against the forecast of -9 million and the past value of -20 million - this is definitely a positive surprise. It is important as a signal on the eve of the main block of statistics on the US labor market, which will be published on Friday. So yesterday, the growth of the US stock market is perhaps the first time in the last couple of weeks, when we have no serious complaints in terms of common sense. On the other hand, factory orders fell by 13%, which is not a cause for joy. The PMI and ISM indices, although they were slightly better than forecasts, are generally quite depressing. That is why current prices in the US stock market for us is solely an occasion for sales.
Today, European markets may well get another reason for optimism. It is about the ECB meeting and market expectations. Recall, investors are waiting for the expansion of the quantitative easing program by another 500 billion euros. This is a very serious amount, which can push the European stock markets up and give rise to the euro.
Returning to the events of yesterday. Statistics on unemployment in Europe and Germany, as well as business activity indexes in Europe, were not a failure. In this light, the continued growth of the euro looked quite logical and expected.
In the oil market, all attention is focused on the online meeting of OPEC + (is expected today). If the decrease in production by 9.7 million bpd is extended for at least another couple of months, oil will receive an excellent opportunity for further growth. Otherwise, in our opinion, the fixation of profits in oil cannot be avoided, and the correction in the oil market will become almost inevitable. According to incoming information, Saudi Arabia and Russia reached an agreement to extend the current volume of decline for at least another month. But at the same time, there are serious claims against a number of countries that did not comply with the terms of the transaction. Today, most likely there will be more news on these issues, so volatility in the oil market is expected to be increased.
As for our trading preferences, the dollar is still under pressure, so more or less significant dollar growth for us is a sell opportunity. But, on the other hand, paired with the Australian dollar or pound, we will use its decline as an occasion for purchases. For example, we will sell GBPUSD near 1.26. At the same time, we are not going to impose our will on the markets, and put up fairly small stops with options for even entering opposite positions upon taking levels (if that will be, of course).
EUR - Long Placed - @1.1198The seventh straight day finishing in the green for the first time since 2013. If we maintain this run through tomorrow the next stop could be that 1.15000 providing no further negative risk off news.
just a note on yesterdays trade idea placement and risk needs to be strategic and in place by EU session too protect your account. The ECB meeting could contribute too two things.
1. The perceived easing and stimulus package has been priced in.
2. The market is looking to grab any positivity too further reduce dollar strength.
I am moving SL to breakeven as trader I always engage in risk. However, pips gained from early Monday I am not willing to bank on it. Account protection and risk reward always
Central Bank of Australia, data from ADP and German stimulusThere are no changes on the fundamental fronts: protests in the USA continue, the pandemic is still here, as well as the reopening of economies. Against this background, the dollar continues to suffer losses in the foreign exchange market, but the stock markets are growing steadily. At the same time, yesterday yen sharply intensified its decline. Paired with the dollar, it has broken important technical resistance 108.
Trump, amid all this, is either hiding in the bunker or threatening to send the military to disperse the demonstrators. In general, the weakness of the dollar is understandable and logical, and the growth of US stock indices is no less incomprehensible and irrational (from the point of real economy).
In the oil market, meanwhile, everyone is puzzled by the future of the OPEC + deal. Will the current status quo continue or will the main producers begin to increase production? Future of oil prices depend on the answer to these questions. The fact is that the current agreement on 9.7 million b / d production cuts expire in June and the question of cuts becoming more urgent. Much depends on the position of Russia.
The OPEC + meeting is expected to take place online on Thursday. Saudi Arabia insists on keeping current levels of decline longer.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, without waiting for the creation of 750 billion euros European fund, offers another package of measures to help the country's economy in the amount of up to 100 billion euros.
Yesterday, the Reserve Bank of Australia left the rate unchanged, but was very optimistic in its assessments of what is happening in the country's economy, which largely contributed to the growth of the Australian dollar. The latter has already added about 20% in April-May, which, in our opinion, is too much and we are starting to prepare for its medium-term sales. But in pair with the dollar, you need to wait at least until downward pressure on dollar in the foreign exchange market will ease.
Wednesday is interesting day in terms of macroeconomic statistics: unemployment data in Germany and the Eurozone as a whole. But the main news will be US employment data from ADP. Although this is not official statistics (will be published on Friday), the latest ADP data almost in one to one corresponded to the NFP figures, so they are definitely important. It is also worth monitoring the index of business activity in the United States, the Eurozone and Germany. Also Bank of Canada will meet today and announce its decision on monetary policy parameters.
In general, the day promises to be extremely eventful. Despite the current more than obvious problems of the dollar, it seems to us that it has already received enough, and a number of pairs (EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, USDCAD, etc.) have approached quite important levels. So today we will buy the dollar in these pairs in the hope of a reversal, but with mandatory small stops.
Riots in the USA, the demarche of China and BrexitFundamentally, the current fundamental background in the US stock market is ideal for sales. The economy shows the worst shape in history across the entire spectrum of the economy: from the labor market to GDP and retail sales. Tensions between the USA and China gives an additional gloomy negative not only in the economic, but also in the political sphere. The protests in the United States, which are accompanied by the states of emergency in a number of American towns, only increase the political negative. And the news about the bankruptcies of large chains of retailers, restaurants, gyms, etc. emphasize how bad things are in the economy.
We cannot remember such a combination of fundamental negative even in the midst of the global financial crisis of 2007-2009. But the US stock market against this background continues to grow. Especially its technology sector, which seriously intends to test new historical highs.
That is why, we continue to go against the market and recommend sales in the US stock market.
Moreover, the Chinese authorities recommended large state-owned agricultural companies to suspend purchases of US agricultural products, including soybeans. This is very painful fact for Trump, which he should not ignore. So, the escalation of the conflict between the US and China is still in the process.
The week for the British pound began with a positive note - reopening after the lockdown. But today, the EU and Britain will return to the negotiating table. Given how little progress has been made so far, there is every reason to believe that there will be no breakthrough this week either. This means that the pound will be under pressure. That is why this week we will continue to sell the pound primarily against the euro (buying EURGBP), and secondly against the US dollar (selling GBPUSD).
In general, the dollar is under pressure, so we will continue to look for opportunities for its sales in the foreign exchange market. First of all, against the euro and the Japanese yen.
Clear Channel: 66% probability of getting bullish momentumThe company announced losses of $291.7 million, or 60 cents a share, on $550.8 million in revenue. By comparison, it lost $165.2 million, or 45 cents a share, on $587.1 million in revenue in the same period last year (ExpressNews). CCO's goal to sell 51% stake in a Chinese subsidiary and earn net $220 million might cheerup investors with speculation purposes. Technical analysis suggests 66% of probability to go up from nowadays $1 level (due to 2 bullish channels on the spotlight and the possibility of disengaging bullish momentum). To the ones who do not want to lose the bullish opportunity, your entry level is at $0.97. The ones who doubt and want to be sure that they will have at least a pull-back, your entry level is at $0.90. And finally, the ones who believe it is going to fall below $0.90 can enter the short position at $0.81 or at the second $0.90 level (once support now resistance).
In May 26 it was disclosed by SeekingAlpha that Ares Management is steadily buying CCO's shares since March 31, going from a 4.4% to 5.9% stake in the company. As I said before, this could also be another reason for speculative moves to upper regions.
Bullish Price Targets may vary from 1.19 to 1.40, in the very short-term (2 weeks). Probability at 66,66%.
Bearish Price Targets may vary from 0.81 to 0.71 and lower, in the very short-term (2 weeks). Probability at 33,33%.
Everything here represents my sole own opinion and analysis that can be complemented to others'. I do not hold responsibility for any of these analyses (neither my previous nor my future ones).
Week in a glance: second peak, USA vs China, more moneyThe main event of the past week in terms of a pandemic is the formation of a new peak in the number of new cases. That is, the fear of the second wave is replaced by the reality of the second peak. Which of these is worse is hard to say. The second wave did not become less likely because of this, but rather the opposite. So, in this regard, the situation is getting worse. A feature of the second peak is the change of leaders in diseases: developed countries were replaced by emerging countries. Brazil alone at the end of the week generated up to 30K new cases per day. Dynamics in India is also alarming, especially when you consider the information about the country's partial exit from the lockdown.
In general, the pandemic continues to be the number one concern in the world.
Although based on the dynamics of the Fear Index, the markets have not been worried about this at all. Which is more than strange given the potential consequences and their magnitude.
A partial explanation for the optimism was the news that the European Commission recommends the creation of an aid fund for the EU countries in the amount of 750 billion euros, as well as the news that Japan will spend another 1.1 trillion dollars to help the economy.
Throughout the past week, markets have been closely monitoring the confrontation between the US and China. The level of tension between the countries rose sharply, and on Friday following the press conference of Trump, everyone was afraid that he would impose sanctions on China and take the escalation to a brand new level. But Trump quite unexpectedly gave the rear, saying that the United States would put an end to the special regime in Hong Kong and did not begin to impose new sanctions on China, while maintaining a trade truce between the United States and China. Trump's softer stance is hard to imagine. So buyers in the stock markets, who were already getting ready to start taking profits, decided to postpone this.
Our position over the situation in the US stock market this week remains unchanged: only sales. Reasons: extremely gloomy economic present and even more gloomy economic future (US GDP for the second quarter according to experts' forecasts will decrease by 30-40%, and the earnings season promises to be the most disastrous in the history of the United States).
Some words about the economic present. Despite the increasingly active exit of the US economy from the lockdown, the number of unemployed continues to grow at 2+ million per week. That is, there is no any fast economic recovery.
Last week a sharp increase in oil reserves in the United States was detected. Recall that last week we closed most of our oil longs, as we expect a correction in the oil market. Buyers have clearly exhausted their potential, while there is something to fix in terms of profits.
The upcoming week is primarily interesting for data on the US labor market. NFP figures are traditionally interesting for markets, and in the current conditions this interest is naturally increased.
Since the Dollar Index last week consolidated below an important support level, while it is below 99, we will look for opportunities for dollar sales in the FOREX. First of all, against the euro (while it is above 1.10), as well as the Japanese yen (while it is below 108). Accordingly, we will buy EURUSD and sell USDJPY today.
Weak data from the US and Japan, rising tensions and dollarYesterday, important statistics on the United States were published. As we warned, the data came out very weak and generally did not inspire any optimism. The increase in jobless claims is still more than 2 million per week. This means that the number of unemployed in the United States for a couple of weeks replenished by 40 million people. US GDP for the first quarter was revised downward (from -4.8% to -5%). Durable goods orders decreased by another 17.2% (after a decrease of 16.6% in March).
In general, economic statistics continue to go worse than ever. However, in we can see that situation can go even worse after the data on US GDP for the second quarter will be published. According to various estimates, it will show a decrease of 30-40. This is very hard to imagine, but it’s a part of the current reality. Apparently the impossibility to perceive the scale of what is happening is explained by the stubborn reluctance of stock markets to at least try to take into account the state of the economy in prices.
Oil stocks in the United States grew by almost 8 million barrels per week, which was the reason for us to close most of our long positions, since we expect correction and plan to restore these positions by cheaper prices.
Friday in terms of data will also be quite a busy day: consumer inflation in the Eurozone, retail sales in Germany, personal income and spending in the USA, as well as Canadian GDP and US sentiment indices practically guarantee that Friday will be a busy day in the financial markets.
In addition, data on Japan has already been published. Industrial production in April fell by -9.1% m / m with a forecast of -5.7% m / m, while retail sales in April showed a decrease of -9.6% m / m with a forecast of -6.9% m / m. Actually, we did not expect other data. What we expect is that when the markets begin to respond to the data and at least try to take them into account in prices.
Speaking of other news, we note that the United States overcame the 100K deathmark, while the chief infectious disease specialist in the United States noted that the appearance of the vaccine should not be expected earlier than November-December.
Chinese lawmakers have approved a proposal to implement new national security legislation in Hong Kong. We are waiting for the US reaction and are preparing for the increase of tensions between the countries to a brand new level. Trump, meanwhile, is attacking social networks. In general, we would like to talk about the good thing, but cannot.
Our trading recommendations for Friday: since the Dollar Index broke through the basic support yesterday, while it is below it, we will sell the dollar within the day. Accordingly, today we are looking for points for buying pairs EURUSD, GBPUSD, AUDUSD, as well as selling USDJPY. Sales in the stock market do not lose relevance for us, despite the continuous price growth there.
US data, ECB forecasts and a trillion of JapanYesterday, optimism in the financial markets was fueled by information from Japan about the introduction of a new $ 1,1 trillion stimulus package. Thus, the total economic assistance program in Japan reached $ 2.18 trillion (234 trillion yen), which is equivalent to about 40% of the country's GDP. As a result, Japan almost caught up with the United States, where the size of the stimulus package so far is $ 2.3 trillion.
The European Commission has proposed its mechanism for assisting the EU economy in the amount of 750 billion, of which 500 billion euros are planned to be given to EU member states in the form of grants, and the remaining 250 billion euros will be available in the form of loans.
The number of new coronavirus cases in the United States decreased to the March levels.
The second half of the week after being relatively unsaturated in terms of macroeconomic statistics promises to be much more interesting. On Thursday and Friday there are many macroeconomic indicators. So almost certainly the volatility will be quite high, which means that the opportunities for trading will be more interesting.
On Thursday, traditionally, the main focus will be on jobless claims in the United States. This is one of the most operational indicators (published once a week), and the labor market has suffered faster and harder than other components of the US economic system. Since the second half of May is the time for the US to partially exit the lockdown, investors are waiting for signals that everything is back to normal. Such a signal will be a sharp decrease in the number of jobless claims. However, forecasts continue to be rather pessimistic - about 2 million unemployed will be added to the total number up to 40 million.
In addition, markets are extremely interested in statistics on durable goods orders. Since this is April data, there is every reason to expect disastrous data. The revised data on US GDP for the first quarter will also matter, especially since there is a high probability of a revision for the worse.
A portion of weak data is likely to return markets to the ground. First of all, we are talking about stock markets, whose growth has long exceeded all reasonable limits for current conditions.
So today we will sell in the US stock market. Also, the growing concern of investors, in our opinion, will lead to an increase in demand for the dollar. Dollar Index is now at the local bottom, so it has much potential to grow. That is why we will sell EURUSD, GBPUSD and AUDUSD today.
Sells Euro are especially relevant in light of yesterday's forecasts from the ECB, according to which the Eurozone GDP by the end of 2020 will decrease by 8% -12%.
Tensions between the US and China continues. So far, more in verbal form than, in fact, which explains the lack of reaction to them in the financial markets. But everything indicates that this is only the beginning. And no one will definitely like the continuation.
Markets again full of optimism: Novavax, Brexit, reopening The idea that the worst is behind completely fulfilled the minds of investors. Certainly there are some reasons for this: restrictions in Europe are being increasingly lifted up to the opening of tourist seasons soon. In addition, the news of the next vaccine trials (we are talking about the Novavax vaccine) reinforces the hope for the best, despite the fact the Novavax only begins trials, and the results will not be known before July (and the results will not necessarily be positive).
As a result any information like a new peak in the pandemic generated last week, and or fact at least six months will take the vaccine to appear on the shelves, is ignored by the markets as irrelevant. The same is true to the news about the tensions between the US and China. We still believe that investors should not look at the world exclusively in pink glasses. Last week clearly showed that the situation can change at any time and there are more than enough reasons for this.
As for the dynamics of financial markets yesterday, it was extremely typical for such an optimistic sentiments: stock markets were growing and with every new day the growth looks more and more uncontested. Though it is no less divorced from economic reality. Along with stock markets, commodity markets and oil were growing. At the same time, the dollar was under pressure. Emerging currencies are raising their heads on such background.
Another piece of news from yesterday are related to information that the EU is ready to compromise with Britain on one of the important issues - fishing in the UK coastline. Now European fishermen are actively fishing there, but Britain is inclined to make fishing in its waters exclusively own prerogative. So the EU is sending signals about willingness to compromise. We are rather skeptical about the idea of a compromise, since any of its options is the cost of the UK and it is not clear why they need it, except in conjunction with concessions on other issues from the EU. In general, so far the growth of the pound seems to us deprived of a fundamental basis and is based on rumors and hopes that, by definition, is quite unsteady ground for further growth.
New Cold War and an alternative plan for the EUYesterday was a day off in the USA and Great Britain, so Monday was not rich in events. Therefore, there is time to talk about global things.
The US and China are slowly but surely slipping into a new cold war. So far, the parties continue to exchange verbal threats, but literally half a step remains before the transition to actual actions. And then the trade wars will seem like a kindergarten. The situation in Hong Kong is rapidly deteriorating, and Trump still needs the last one, whom he will blame for all the current troubles and problems of the United States. So the escalation of the conflict seems to us inevitable.
However, judging by the dynamics of stock markets, this is of little concern to anyone. Which is strange a little more than completely, but a fact.
The fate of the European fund in the amount of 500 billion euros after the weekend finally passed into the category of uncertain. We have already written that in the EU there are a number of opponents of the idea of giving money for free, especially to those who are involved in spending extremely randomly and uncontrollably (a stone in the Italian garden). So Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden have proposed an alternative plan for economic recovery after coronavirus. In general terms, the concept is simple: give money in the form of a loan with the most favorable conditions, but with a tight repayment period (after two years) and targeted use of funds.
The news from Germany somewhat sweetened this bitter pill: despite a recession in the economy, the level of business confidence in May turned out to be quite high (IFO expectations index in May 80.1 with a forecast of 75.0).
On the other hand, the oldest car rental company in the USA (Hertz with a fleet of nearly 700K cars and 40K employees) filed for bankruptcy, which reminds us of the price that the economy has to pay for the lockdown.
Week in a glance: pandemic peak, vaccine and US vs ChinaThe past week was not very rich for the sound macroeconomic statistics, but it turned out to be exceptionally eventful.
Traditionally, the coronavirus epidemic has remained the main theme. The barrier of 5 million cases was passed and a new global peak was detected, which was largely due to the sharp increase in the number of cases in Brazil and India, as well as the stably difficult situation in Russia.
Even China, which, it would seem, successfully fight the coronavirus, was again forced to implement quarantine measures, with over 100 million people under restrictions.
Despite such depressing statistics, the stock markets of developed countries grew, which was largely due to the news about the successful trials of the coronavirus vaccine by Moderna. However, towards the end of the week, optimism faded when it became clear to everyone that this was only the first phase and there are still many months before the potential happy end. And something more about the “magic pills”. A couple of weeks ago, a similar reaction in the markets was provoked by Remdesivir, but last week, Bloomberg published information that it mainly helps healthier patients.
Another positive news of the past week was the information from Germany and France who agreed to create a European fund with the amount of $ 546 billion to help countries with economic consequences of pandemic, but here you can find the negative. The fact is that this fund has serious opposition from Austria, Sweden, Netherlands and a number of other countries that are not very eager to sponsor the Italian populists and others.
Since the last week the Japanese economy is officially in recession. In addition, a lot of data from the UK was published and by and large all of them can be attributed to the pound liabilities. So this week we will continue to search for opportunities to sell British pound primarily against the US dollar (sell GBPUSD) and the euro (buy EURGBP).
The white streak for oil last week continued: US oil reserves fell sharply, as did the number of active oil rigs in the US. So we continue to hold medium-term positions in oil purchases. Recall that our position is multi-stage: the first purchase is from $30, the second from $25 and the third from $20. That is, all three positions are already in plus.
The United States and China closed the week. Their relations are rapidly deteriorating. This week we will almost certainly see a further escalation of the conflict. So purchases of gold, the US dollar and the Japanese yen look pretty attractive this week. And, sales in the stock markets this week are among of our priorities.
PMI in Europe, unemployed in the USA and trade wars 2.0Yesterday in the news plan was relatively calm. Everyone was already habitually waiting for the next millions of unemployed from the United States. And the States did not disappoint - another 2.4 million joined the 36 million army of unemployed. In general, one can only guess when the US stock market will at least try to take into account these and other negative data in its prices.
The situation with the UK PMI indices turned out to be somewhat better. In particular, the PMI index of business activity in the manufacturing sector in May amounted to 40.6 points against the forecast of 37.2, but in the services sector (more importantly), the PMI business activity index reached 27.8, which is somewhat better than the forecast of 24.0 points, but in general extremely weak. In addition, data on CBI Trends (balance of orders) came out in a deeply negative zone (-62 with a forecast of -50). So sales of the pound remain for us the top trading idea for the foreign exchange market this week. Especially when you consider that today will be published data on retail sales in the UK for April, which definitely will be devastating.
In the Eurozone, the Composite PMI Index turned out to be rather weak (30.5 with a forecast of 27.0), as well as in the context of individual countries (Germany, France), which did not prevent the euro from pairing with the dollar once again trying to take important resistance of 1.10. Such attempts we recommend to use for sales EURUSD.
The US continues to blame China for all mortal sins, and this time the States were as transparent as possible in their statements, indicating that "everything is coming from the top" (meaning President Xi Jin Ping). So the markets are becoming increasingly stronger in the thought that the first phase of trade deal may be the last successful negotiation between US and China. However, she is a big question. So the trade wars version 2.0 seem to be inevitable. Which again, does not add any optimism. As well as overcoming the mark of 5 million coronavirus cases in the world.
Unpleasant surprise from China, eighth peak, FOMC protocolsLast week, we already wrote about the fear of the “second wave” of the epidemic associated with the opening of economies. Then it led to local sales in the stock markets, as well as the strengthening of the dollar. But then the markets calmed down somewhat and decided to postpone worries about this until actual confirmation of the fears would be received. China, it seems, sends a warning about this to the whole world. The sharp increase in the number of cases in northeast China has already led to new quarantine measures in these regions of China. As a result, more than 100 million people are in the lockdown. According to medics, the virus thoroughly mutated. Now its incubation period is even longer, which means it is more difficult to catch the beginning of the outbreak. And the disease now lasts longer. In general, the news is extremely depressing, especially the surge of optimism associated with the successful passage of the first phase of the coronavirus vaccine test on Monday.
The situation in Brazil continues to deteriorate rapidly and the general situation in the world continues to look like a new (already eighth) peak. In Russia, situation continues to remain stably heavy. So the pandemic will be for a long time not only on the headlines, but also harm the global economy. Accordingly, we continue to consider what is happening in the stock markets is a bubble, which sooner or later should burst.
Another important event for the markets was the publication of the minutes of the last FOMC meeting. We did not expect anything new from them, because recently Powell had already provided comments on key issues and the picture with the Fed was more or less clear. The minutes confirmed that the Fed’s negative rates are not considered, but options for long-term assistance to the economy are considered, since the pandemic and the damage from it are for a long time.
According to official figures, oil inventories in the USA fell again, and very significantly: by -4.982 million barrels, with a forecast of +2.150 million barrels. In Cushing, the decrease was even more significant -5.587 million barrels. So the white stripe for oil continues.
Bloomberg announced its forecast for the GDP growth rate in Russia in the second quarter. By growth, of course, we mean a decline. Analysts are waiting for a record in history (even compared to the global financial crisis) drop of 16%. In this light, the current attempt of the ruble to strengthen is a great opportunity for its sales at a higher price.
Unemployment in the UK, EU 540+ bln fund and hopes for the bestYesterday turned out to be quite rich in a variety of macroeconomic statistics. The UK has reported a record jump in the number of jobless claims. The number of people applying for unemployment rose to 2.1 million in April from 1.2 million a month earlier, increasing by 70% and reaching the biggest change from the previous month since the start of registration in 1971.
So our recommendations to sell the pound continue to be relevant, especially in light of the fact that on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we are waiting for new data on the state of the UK economy, which will almost certainly be weak.
Unlike the pound, the euro has much more reasons for growth. This is primarily a statement by Merkel and Macron that Germany and France will support the creation of a fund of $ 546 billion to help Member States most affected by the outbreak of coronavirus. In addition, the ZEW Expectation Index yesterday showed an unexpected increase to 51 (the highest value over the past 5 years).
However, the ZEW current situation index reached -93.5 (!), which somewhat spoiled the mood for buyers of the euro and the DAX index.
In general, despite the generally positive fundamental background, the growth potential of the euro against the dollar looks rather limited (we are talking about the resistance near 1.10). But against the pound, growth prospects of euro now cause even less doubt. In this light, we recall our recommendation to buy EURGBP, which we published when the pair was below 0.87. And although the cross has already grown by 250 points since then, its growth potential has not yet been fully exhausted.
The optimism about the Moderna vaccine has faded somewhat, since the obvious became clear - it will take months to go on the shelves, so here and now this does not solve the pandemic problem as well as economic problems.
Other data confirm that the world economy is now experiencing one of the worst moments in modern history: car sales in the EU fell by 76%, the start of construction drop by 14.1%, in the US the situation is even worse - the start of construction literally collapsed by 30.2% . So our recommendations to sell in the stock markets are still relevant.
On impossibility of "V" form, vaccine and recession in JapanYesterday started with an official transition of the Japanese economy to the recession stage (two consecutive quarters of decline in GDP). Moreover, a decrease of 1.9% against the previous quarter (7.3% compared to the period a year earlier) is in fact only the beginning of the problems, since it is obvious that the second quarter will be much more disastrous. So Japan joined Germany, France, Italy and other countries that, following the results of the first quarter, went into a state of economic recession.
Despite these facts the stock systemically grew, starting from the German Dax, ending with the American Nasdaq. Financial markets continue to live by the principle "the worse, the better." Since we are fans of a rational approach, we continue recommending sells in the stock markets.
This growth occurred right after the CBS interview with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, in which he directly stated that the economy would recover for a long time - until the end of 2021. That is, there will be no V-form in the dynamics of economic recovery.
The reason for the sharp surge in optimism yesterday was a message from Moderna about the successful testing of the coronavirus vaccine. An early human trial showed that the vaccine produced antibodies against Covid-19 in all 45 participants. The news, of course, is encouraging, but it does not mean that tomorrow the vaccine will appear on the shelves (will not appear), plus its costs and possible scale of production are not clear.
But the markets continue to be optimistic and perceive the partial lifting of restrictions as a signal that the worst is behind, and a bright future awaits us all. So the news about the opening of stores in Italy, the growth of traffic in China, the opening of 25 Apple stores in the United States warns the appetite for risk.
In this light, we recommend not only sells in the stock markets, but also sell of emerging currencies: the Russian ruble, Indian rupee, Mexican peso, South African runt, Turkish lira, etc. They all, in our opinion, are excellent candidates for sales.
Week in a Glance: second wave, $3 trillion, Powell, Brexit, oilThe past week has passed under the fear of the “second wave” - a new peak of pandemic due to the removal of quarantine restrictions. Recall that many countries are in a hurry to open up, even being unprepared for this. The quintessence of this approach, of course, was Russia, which, according to the results of the week, took the second place in the world in the number of cases, but at the same time it was decided to open the economy on Tuesday.
The US is also clearly in a hurry. And even the warnings of the country's main infectious disease specialist could not change Trump's ardor. Even countries such as Germany, prepared for easing restrictions, are now puzzled, as the number of new cases and deaths in the country last week began to grow again. So the fear of the second wave is quite reasonable.
The result was not only an increase in fear in the financial markets, but also the accompanying dynamics of the US dollar (strengthened), gold (increased by the end of the week) and stock markets (decreased). This was largely facilitated by the speech of Jerome Powell, who not only dispelled the myth about the Central Bank’s readiness to switch to negative rates, but was generally very pessimistic about the future of the US economy.
The past week can definitely be written in the liabilities of the pound, which was under pressure from both weak economic data and news from the negotiation fields, according to which the threat of “hard” Brexit in the current conditions is becoming more tangible. In this light, we recall our recommendation to sell the British pound, which remains relevant this week.
And finally, another, important event of the week was a vote in the US Congress on the initiative of the Democrats to allocate an additional $3 trillion to help the US economy in the fight against the crisis caused by the epidemic.
And a few words about the oil market. Fundamentally, the week turned out to be extremely favorable, starting from the decision of Saudi Arabia to further reduce production by another 1 million bpd, ending with the first decrease in US oil reserves since January 2020.
The upcoming week will be relatively calm in terms of macroeconomic statistics, that is, there will be a lot of data, but they can hardly be called decisive. Accordingly, it makes sense to continue to work as we did: to sell in the US stock market, buy oil, sell the British pound and buy the US dollar.
Unemployment, IEA Report, US Retail SalesThe main event of the yesterday was the publication of the next figures on jobless claims in the United States. Experts expected growth by 2.5 million, but in fact the growth amounted to almost 3 million.
Thus, the situation in the US labor market continues to deteriorate. This is supported by the fact that Goldman Sachs revised its forecast for unemployment rate from 15% to 25%. We think there is no need to describe what does this mean for an economy where 2/3 of the GDP is generated by the consumer sector. So we continue to recommend sales in the US stock market.
The picture for the world in general continues to be extremely sad. According to UBS Group AG analysts, 2020 will be the worst for the Chinese labor market over the last 2 decades. As expected in UBS, the number of jobs in China by the end of the year will be reduced by 10 million (as a rule government expects increase in the number of jobs by 10 million).
IEA published its monthly oil market report. On the whole, it can be called relatively optimistic in the sense that forecasts for oil demand were improved (it will decrease not by 9.3 million b / d, but by 8.6 million b / d), while it was noted that supply in May will sharply decrease (by 12 million b / d) to 88 million, which is the minimum value for the last 9 years. In general, the fundamental background for oil continues to be quite positive, and we continue to hold our medium-term purchases.
Friday promises to be the busiest day of the week in terms of macroeconomic statistics. Key data - German and Eurozone GDP for the first quarter, US retail sales for April. Markets that have already lost confidence this week are at risk of becoming depressed, as April retail sales data in the US will almost certainly fail (April is a peak of lockdown in the US), and the first quarter in the Eurozone was clearly not the most successful.
Powell and Negative Rates, UK GDP and Oil InventoriesFrom the point of macroeconomic statistics, the main event of yesterday was the publication of data on GDP and industrial production in the UK. The data came out, of course, extremely weak, but better than predicted (industrial production in March fell by -4.2% m / m - with a forecast of -5.6%, and GDP for the first quarter fell by-2.0% q / q with a forecast of -2.6% q / q), which even provided some temporary support to the pound.
As for the Eurozone industrial production in March, the data also turned out to be disgusting, but slightly better than forecasts: -11.3% m / m while experts expect the figure to be -12.5%.
Overall the growth of the EURUSD and GBPUSD yesterday was more related with the general pressure on the dollar due to the expectation of the speech Jerome Powell (the head of the FED). The fact is that after extremely weak inflation data (US consumer inflation fell by a record 0.8% over the month) and another Trump's attack on the Fed (urged the Central Bank to lower the rates), Powell expected to provide comments on possible negative rates. But they were not followed. Accordingly, the danger for the dollar was over, and it was actively restoring in the foreign exchange market. The stock markets, on the contrary, got a reason to fix profits, which, in fact, was used.
Trump, meanwhile, continues to deny reality and insists on opening the US economy as soon as possible. Despite the fact that one of the main infectious disease specialists said at a Senate hearing on Tuesday that such a rush could lead to very serious consequences.
And a few words about the oil market. For the second week in a row, the news background was positive for oil buyers. Yesterday, official data on US oil inventories showed the first reduction in stocks over a fairly long period of time (since January 2020). Thus, the main fear of the oil market - the shortage of oil storage facilities and the inability to store newly produced oil automatically disappears. In this light, we recall our medium-term recommendation to buy oil, which was and continues to be an actual trading idea.