Chartbook: March 6

• Push-pull. Pockets of vol. in some asset classes. US equities eased, bond yields consolidated & USD tread water. AUD & NZD held steady.• US CPI. US Gov. shutdown ongoing. But US CPI will be released Friday night. Diverging trends between ‘goods’ & ‘services’ prices. USD vol. likely.• AU macro. RBA Gov. Bullock speaks tomorrow. Q3 CPI due next week. Firmer inflation...

• Market swings. A few bursts of volatility the past few weeks. Sentiment was positive overnight with the S&P500 rising & AUD clawing back lost ground.• US data. US Government Shutdown remains in place. But given its importance the delayed US CPI report will be released this week (Fri night AEDT).• RBA pricing. Uptick in AU unemployment has seen markets price in a greater chance of another...

The dollar is cruising toward a third consecutive day of declines and short-term Treasury yields are coming under mild downward pressure as investors firm bets on a fairly-forceful easing path from the Federal Reserve. Most major foreign exchange pairs are caught in narrow trading ranges amid a lack of political and economic catalysts, leaving currencies like the Canadian dollar and Mexican peso almost...

The dollar is retreating and benchmark Treasury yields are plumbing four-week lows after Federal Reserve chair Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell refrained from countering market expectations for rate cuts at each of the central bank’s final two meetings this year. Speaking at the National Association for Business Economic annual meeting in Philadelphia yesterday, Powell said the “outlook for employment...

A nascent recovery in the dollar is stalling out this morning as geopolitical risks in the Middle East, Japan, and the euro area show signs of easing. The greenback is down -0.2 percent against a basket of its major counterparts, Treasury yields are edging lower, and US equity indices are setting up for a modestly-positive open. Oil prices are slipping as markets remain oversupplied and risk premia...

Currencies outside the US are in consolidation mode. The Japanese yen is holding near the 153 threshold as traders turn more sceptical on the Takaichi administration’s capacity for delivering fiscal and monetary stimulus, the euro is treading water in line with an ebbing in French political headlines, and the British pound is inching higher amid a lack of domestic rate catalysts. The Canadian dollar—stuck...

The dollar is steamrolling over its major counterparts again this morning as investors unwind exposures in other jurisdictions and pile into bets on continued gains in American equity markets. The trade-weighted greenback is up around a quarter-percent from yesterday’s North American close, Treasury yields are slipping across the front end of the curve, and stock market futures are pointing to another...

The “Go Big or Go Home” mentality was on display once again in NZ today after the RBNZ delivered an outsized 50bp interest rate cut as it attempts to jolt the stuttering economy back to life. The decision lowers the RBNZ’s official cash rate to 2.5%. This is ~300bps below the peak reached in 2023/24 when the world was fighting the post COVID inflation surge. As our chart shows, outside of the Global...

Investors are making up for a lack of actual intelligence on the state of the economy by betting on artificial intelligence instead. The dollar is attracting inflows, mid-curve Treasury yields are pushing higher, and equity futures are pointing to further gains at the open after OpenAI and Advanced Micro Devices yesterday announced they would collaborate to build AI data centres, with the ChatGPT maker...

• Push-pull forces. US shutdown still in place. Geopolitics outside US generates some vol. EUR & JPY lose ground. AUD & NZD edge up a little.• Japan politics. Shock leadership selection jolted Japanese markets. Nikkei surged & JPY weakened on prospect of fewer rate hikes & fiscal stimulus.• RBNZ meeting. RBNZ expected to cut rates tomorrow. Debate is on the size with markets split between...