The U.S. dollar is on fire, rising to its strongest level in more than 13 years. In the past month alone, the Dollar Index is up more than 3 percent and in the last 4 months it has appreciated nearly 10%. With USD/JPY breaking above 118 and EUR/USD breaching 1.04, many investors are wondering if we’ll see 120 and parity next. Now 120 USD/JPY is much easier to achieve than parity in EUR/USD but the point is that thanks to the Federal Reserve, the greenback is headed higher. Not only did they raise interest rates yesterday but Janet Yellen described next year’s forecast for 3 rate hikes as a “very modest adjustment.” This means if fiscal stimulus provides the jolt to the economy that many market watchers anticipate, we could see more than 75bp of tightening.
But it is important to remember that with this strength come major
headaches for central banks around the world including a higher cost of
servicing debt, higher inflation (which some central banks will welcome)
and a rapidly falling exchange rate. Emerging market
countries have been hit the hardest by capital leaving in search of
higher yields and return along with the growing cost of paying back
dollar denominated debt. We’ve seen significant weakness in the euro,
yen and other major currencies but there’s no doubt that emerging market
currencies have been hit the hardest. Why does this matter to the
U.S.? Because weaker global growth could find its way back to the U.S.
economy.
The stronger dollar poses a major risk for the U.S. economy especially in an environment of rising U.S. rates.
If the Trump administration doesn’t come up with a major fiscal
stimulus package quickly and the euphoria begins to fade, we could see
the economy wobble. This could translate into a major correction in U.S.
stocks, the U.S. dollar and Treasury rates. However before jumping
into selling dollars, it is important to realize that for the dollar
rally to end dollar bulls need a reason other than year end profit
taking to give up on their trades. The latest economic reports continue
to support the move in the greenback. Despite a stronger dollar,
manufacturing activity in the NY and Philadelphia regions accelerated.
Consumer prices also grew 0.2%, which was in line with expectations and
jobless claims dropped to 254K from 255K. The NAHB housing market index
jumped to its highest level in 11 years. The stronger dollar SHOULD
hurt trade, manufacturing activity and and make it more difficult for
the Fed to achieve its inflation target but we need to see evidence of
that before selling. In the meantime the greenback remains a buy on dip
targeting 120 USD/JPY and a move in the direction of parity for the
EUR/USD.
The euro extended its losses today despite a sharp rise in German yields.
The single currency fell to 14 year lows versus the greenback on the
back of relentless U.S. dollar demand. The latest Eurozone economic
reports were mixed. While the German manufacturing PMI report came in
stronger than expected at 55.5 vs. 54.6 expected. Services PMI for
Germany came in a tick lower than forecast with a 53.8 vs. 55.0 reading
expected. The German composite PMI was inline with expectations at 54.8.
Eurozone manufacturing PMI also had a stronger showing coming in at
54.9 vs. 53.7 expected. Both the services and composite indices were
inline. Meanwhile the Swiss National Bank kept rates steady at -0.75%.
SNB President Jordan repeated that negative rates and currency
intervention remains a necessity, noting that the franc is
“significantly over-valued.” Europe has trade balance and CPI data on
the block tomorrow.
The British pound also fell victim to U.S. dollar demand, taking out 1.25 in the process.
While this morning’s U.K. retail sales report was much stronger than
anticipated, the Bank of England monetary policy statement did not
include enough hawkishness to inspire gains in the currency. In fact
the statement was relatively subdued. While the central bank repeated
their limited tolerance for above target CPI, they felt that that
inflation may accelerate less than they had forecasted in November
because of recent gains in pound. They also forecast a slowdown in
growth next year and these 2 comments combined gave sterling traders the
green light to sell the currency. With that in mind, there has still
been more upside surprise in U.K. data than Eurozone data. Retail sales
rose 0.2% in the month against expectations for stagnation. Excluding
auto and gas purchases, retail sales rose 0.5% against a steady reading.
All three commodity currencies traded lower today with the New Zealand dollar leading in losses.
The Australian dollar shrugged off stronger labor data while the
Canadian dollar extended its losses as oil prices ticked lower.
Australia reported a stellar increase in employment for the month,
reporting a rise of 39.1k jobs when only 17.6k was expected. In addition
to the increase in jobs for November, last month’s employment data was
revised to reflect an increase of 15.2k jobs. The unemployment rate for
Australia ticked up to 5.7% vs. 5.6% expected but with the increase in
employment that rate should trend lower in the coming months. The
Canadian Dollar took a peek above 1.34 before settling under. In
addition to the overwhelming increase in greenback demand, the Loonie
saw pressure on disappointing data. Data showed that existing home sales
disappointed with a decrease of 5.3% when an increase of 2.4% was
expected. Manufacturing sales for Canada also missed its forecasts
showing a decrease of 0.8% vs. an increase of 0.4% expected. BoC’s Poloz
spoke about the Fed hike today saying that he was pleased to see
growing confidence in the US economic outlook and that the BoC had
factored a Fed rate hike into its recent views. No economic reports are
scheduled for release from the commodity producing countries tomorrow.