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Tuesday 17 September 2024
Cross Asset
September 2024 | A series of weak US data in July questioned the market narrative of a soft landing and brought back fears of recession. The rise in the July unemployment rate to 4.3% (latest reading in August is 4.2%) triggered a significant market concern about a possible weaker-than-expected US labor market, raising the risk of an impending recession. We do expect a significant slowdown of the US economy, but not a recession. We expect a significant deceleration in the next few quarters, consistent with a broader weakening of many labor market indicators.
01 | The yen carry trade* is being unwound sharply due to weak US data and a hawkish surprise from the BoJ, with the yen's dislocation from its fundamentals remaining large.
02 | Weak global growth and the BoJ on diverging path from most Central Banks in the world are tailwinds for the JPY. A fast trade-weighted appreciation, though, would require 1) recession or 2) a persistent hike cycle from the BoJ.
03 | The repatriation of Japanese foreign assets is not a material risk for now, but its potential for a large market impact always warrants attention.
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A recent report in Europe shows the region's productivity and investment gap with the United States is widening, and a similar trend is emerging in connection to China. The risk of Europe becoming irrelevant is escalating, particularly in light of advancements in the digital economy and artificial intelligence (AI). In the US, the Fed gave strong forward guidance on rates, which is in contrast to its recent approach of staying data dependent on inflation. This, coupled with some concerns on growth, led us to lower our terminal rate expectations. Its 50bp cut underscores the Fed's willingness to pivot after the recent labor market softening and diminishing upside risks to inflation. We expect further 50bp cuts by year-end.
The global macro backdrop – inflation scares, geopolitical tensions and recession worries – together with US economic resilience, have supported the dollar versus core currencies, but the latter are not weak relative to recent history. Moreover, the difference in market expectations of terminal rates in Europe are now substantially higher than before the pandemic, and not materially different from expected US terminal rates. This should limit any sustained weakness in European exchange rates.
In the aftermath of last year's global inflation surge and the subsequent tightening of monetary policies, the economic outlook now looks increasingly fragmented. The US is slowing down, the European Union is gradually recovering, China is in a controlled and policy supported slowdown, and countries such as India are experiencing strong growth. On the inflation side, price pressures are more persistent than expected, but gradually normalizing, allowing major central banks to start cutting rates. We believe investing will require confidence in the search for an asset allocation that can withstand different scenarios, with markets in some areas being priced for the best despite uncertainty stemming from geopolitical risks and the upcoming US elections.
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