Markets

FX

Pound likely to remain under pressure this year

We think the Bank of England will hike interest rates by less than money markets now discount, which in turn should keep the pound under pressure against the dollar.

17 August 2022

Dollar falters on continued risk-on rally

The US dollar continued to struggle this week as equity markets extended their rebound and commodity prices also rallied: the currencies of commodity exporters and other economies most exposed to global growth generally fared well. Wednesday’s lower-than-expected US CPI data provided the latest catalyst: the S&P 500 rose around 2% following the CPI report, and the DXY index registered one of its worst days in recent years, falling by more than 1%. Nonetheless, further hawkish comments from FOMC members, weak credit data out of China and today’s strong US consumer confidence survey have provided some support for the greenback. Our sense remains that the dollar rally will resume before too long. It will take a lot more good news on inflation before the Fed changes tack. The minutes from the last FOMC meeting, released next week, and the Jackson Hole conference the week after may well push back further against the notion that the Fed is “pivoting”.

12 August 2022

Kenya’s elections up in the air, mixed FX bag across SSA

The fact that Kenya’s elections have, so far, proceeded peacefully have supported a rally in the country’s bond market. But with no official results available yet and reports pointing to a tight race, significant risks abound. Meanwhile, currencies of major African economies have fared quite differently over the past month. While the South African rand has rallied, the further falls in the Ghanaian cedi and Nigerian naira (on the parallel market) point to increasingly acute economic problems.

12 August 2022

More Publications

Hungary’s fiscal tightening, currencies rebound

Hungary's government has reined in the budget deficit much more quickly than had looked likely since April's election, helping to alleviate the large twin deficits. But this presents a major headwind to the economy and supports our view that GDP growth will grind to a halt in the coming quarters. Elsewhere, CEE currencies have received some much-needed respite this month as global risk sentiment has improved. We think this will be short lived but it will at least take some pressure off central banks that are dealing with red hot inflation.

12 August 2022

Emerging Europe

Hungary

Russia

Balance of Payments

Markets

We doubt the Canadian dollar’s resilience will last much longer

The Canadian dollar has held up relatively well against the US dollar so far in 2022, but we think the factors underpinning the loonie’s resilience will fade and push it lower against the greenback over the next couple of years. In view of the wider interest, we are also sending this FX Markets Update to clients of our Canada Service.

11 August 2022

Canada

Markets

Why we don’t think the dollar has peaked yet

Although we think the end of the Fed’s hiking cycle is drawing nearer and that yields of long-term US Treasuries have already peaked for this cycle, we don’t believe this necessarily spells the end of the dollar bull market. Instead, we expect safe-haven demand to boost the greenback as the global economy weakens.

11 August 2022

Global

North America

Markets

Increased risk of “second-round” effects

We’ve been warning for some time that CPI inflation would rise further than most people expect, triggering a recession. The prospect of even bigger rises in utility prices on 1^st October and in the first half of 2023 than we have pencilled in suggests that the risks to our forecast for CPI inflation to rise from June’s 40-year high of 9.4% to 12.5% in October are now skewed to the upside. That increases the risk of bigger, longer-lasting second-round inflation effects. Admittedly, there have been some encouraging signs that price pressures towards the start of the inflation pipeline have passed their peak. But it is worrying that domestic inflationary pressures, such as those in the services sector, are still rising, as they tend to last longer. As a result, we still think that the Bank of England will raise interest rates from 1.75% to 3.00% even when the economy is in recession.

10 August 2022

Politics and Institutions

Emerging Markets Capital Flows Monitor

Capital outflows from EMs have eased over the past month, helping to stabilise local asset prices. But we think outflows will pick up again before long. That’s a threat to those EMs whose current account deficits have widened or are widening sharply, including Turkey, Chile and parts of Central Europe. Emerging Europe Drop-In (11^th Aug): We’re expecting downturns in Central and Eastern Europe, but how bad could it get? Join this 20-minute briefing on our Q3 Outlook report, including the latest on Turkey, Russia and whether Hungary’s forint has further to fall. Register now.

10 August 2022

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