Well, at long last, March is over. As frustrating as it was, and as difficult as trading was, it was actually Macro Man's best March in at least five years. Talk about damning with faint praise...
In any event, after yesterday's polemical fireworks and, potentially, today's literal ones, it's now time to look forward to April and jump-starting Q2. What are the things that Macro Man is looking at? Some of the things on his radar include the following:
* Equity noise. This year, Macro Man's forecasting success in equities has been best described as "Antarctic", he's been so cold. He's not expecting April to get much easier. At this point, the two event risks that he's keying on are bank earnings in the middle of the month and the US stress test results in late April. For choice, he expects banks to try and massage good figures for Q1 in line with their recent boasts. Implicit in that, perhaps, is a delay in further writedowns in the hopes that the value of their turd-holdings increases in Q2. He is therefore leery of a further squeeze higher in stocks over the next couple of weeks. However, last weekend's Geithner comments are perhaps a foreshadowing that some institution will fail the stress tests, either as a sacrificial lamb or otherwise. It's hard to see that not rebounding negatively on stocks.
Moreover, it's not as if the fundamentals are improving at a dramatic rate either. Macro Man's return forecasting model took another leg lower last month, and is now essentially forecasting zero returns for US equities over the next year. It's a scant comepensation for 40% plus volatility! So while Macro Man reckons there may be some good tactical trading opportunities in stocks, he has difficulty buying into "hold-able" view
* QE: Put up or shut up? OK, that's a bit extreme. But certainly the follow-through from March's policy initiatives still looks "shock and awful". Particularly galling is the SNB; who knew that Rip Van Winkle was on the bank's board? For after the three hour flurry last month, the bank has been notably absent, and EUR/CHF has now retraced 50% of the move since the SNB stepped in. CHF 814k per year for 3 hours' work? Perhaps today's protesters will spare a bit of vitriol for Roth, Jordan, and co.
* Whither the ECB? A rate cut tomorrow is the worst-kept secret in finance. The real issue for markets is if (or is it when?) the ECB introduces a more complete suite of nontraditional policy measures. While the euro has retraced much of its post-QE strength against the dollar and sterling, it's still well off its lows of the year. A more aggressive response from Trichet and co. could send the single currency careening back down.
Meanwhile, the front end of Europe has rallied strongly in recent days, helped by large flows from a well-known (and well-connected) London hedge fund. June and Sep euribor are now implying cash yields only slightly lower than German 2 year govvy yields. For choice, Macro Man sees more upside value in Schatz than euribor, therefore.
* Will they or won't they? Macro Man has pushed the theme of Asia's exposure to global trade for some time, as well as the requirement for global monetary easing. Those two views have coalesced around a position in Singapore, the only economy that Macro Man can think of not to ease monetary policy during the crisis.
Well, the MAS makes one of its biannual policy announcements this month, so to some degree it's now or never for the view. The past behaviour of Singapore's policy mix suggests that the authorities use fiscal policy to address growth shocks and monetary policy to counter price shocks. Well, the run-rate of Singaporean CPI (measured by annualized quarterly change) is now at its most deflationary in more than 20 years.
So if the MAS doesn't adjust policy now, there's really not much point in having the regime, is there? Regardless, there is almost certainly an exciting (and possibly sleepless) night in store for Macro Man in a few weeks.
Finally, and most personally, Macro Man is looking forward to getting his knee properly sorted out some time this month. He can't say he's looking forward to the surgery or the early-stage rehab, but he's certainly looking forward to getting a fully-functioning knee again, whenever that may be.
In any event, after yesterday's polemical fireworks and, potentially, today's literal ones, it's now time to look forward to April and jump-starting Q2. What are the things that Macro Man is looking at? Some of the things on his radar include the following:
* Equity noise. This year, Macro Man's forecasting success in equities has been best described as "Antarctic", he's been so cold. He's not expecting April to get much easier. At this point, the two event risks that he's keying on are bank earnings in the middle of the month and the US stress test results in late April. For choice, he expects banks to try and massage good figures for Q1 in line with their recent boasts. Implicit in that, perhaps, is a delay in further writedowns in the hopes that the value of their turd-holdings increases in Q2. He is therefore leery of a further squeeze higher in stocks over the next couple of weeks. However, last weekend's Geithner comments are perhaps a foreshadowing that some institution will fail the stress tests, either as a sacrificial lamb or otherwise. It's hard to see that not rebounding negatively on stocks.
Moreover, it's not as if the fundamentals are improving at a dramatic rate either. Macro Man's return forecasting model took another leg lower last month, and is now essentially forecasting zero returns for US equities over the next year. It's a scant comepensation for 40% plus volatility! So while Macro Man reckons there may be some good tactical trading opportunities in stocks, he has difficulty buying into "hold-able" view
* QE: Put up or shut up? OK, that's a bit extreme. But certainly the follow-through from March's policy initiatives still looks "shock and awful". Particularly galling is the SNB; who knew that Rip Van Winkle was on the bank's board? For after the three hour flurry last month, the bank has been notably absent, and EUR/CHF has now retraced 50% of the move since the SNB stepped in. CHF 814k per year for 3 hours' work? Perhaps today's protesters will spare a bit of vitriol for Roth, Jordan, and co.
* Whither the ECB? A rate cut tomorrow is the worst-kept secret in finance. The real issue for markets is if (or is it when?) the ECB introduces a more complete suite of nontraditional policy measures. While the euro has retraced much of its post-QE strength against the dollar and sterling, it's still well off its lows of the year. A more aggressive response from Trichet and co. could send the single currency careening back down.Meanwhile, the front end of Europe has rallied strongly in recent days, helped by large flows from a well-known (and well-connected) London hedge fund. June and Sep euribor are now implying cash yields only slightly lower than German 2 year govvy yields. For choice, Macro Man sees more upside value in Schatz than euribor, therefore.
* Will they or won't they? Macro Man has pushed the theme of Asia's exposure to global trade for some time, as well as the requirement for global monetary easing. Those two views have coalesced around a position in Singapore, the only economy that Macro Man can think of not to ease monetary policy during the crisis.
Well, the MAS makes one of its biannual policy announcements this month, so to some degree it's now or never for the view. The past behaviour of Singapore's policy mix suggests that the authorities use fiscal policy to address growth shocks and monetary policy to counter price shocks. Well, the run-rate of Singaporean CPI (measured by annualized quarterly change) is now at its most deflationary in more than 20 years.
So if the MAS doesn't adjust policy now, there's really not much point in having the regime, is there? Regardless, there is almost certainly an exciting (and possibly sleepless) night in store for Macro Man in a few weeks.Finally, and most personally, Macro Man is looking forward to getting his knee properly sorted out some time this month. He can't say he's looking forward to the surgery or the early-stage rehab, but he's certainly looking forward to getting a fully-functioning knee again, whenever that may be.
12 comments
Click here for commentsCome on MM: Have we left the politics allready? There are still questions I would like to have answered by those advocating attacks on "bankers": Is anyone in the industry fair game, i e is it OK to physically attack any lady at any random teller? Do these targets also include people who are presently unemplyed but have earned "too much" money in the past? What is the number one has to have earned to deserve a rock in the head? Is there any limitation on the amount of violence you have the right to use on these people?
ReplyThe above questions should, of course, be answered in the context that all those that protest today are held accountable for all actions by all other protesters -- using the logic that you yourselves apply on people employed in the financial industries.
ReplyMM, your model did not quite forecast -50% on S&P at any time. Still a good companion?
ReplyJohan
Hi MM..
ReplyI am sure that you qont quite like this news. I also dont like it.
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE5302SN20090401?virtualBrandChannel=10504
From India
Yes, the ECB rate cut doesn't matter much since the repo rate has been hovering a smidgen above the 0.5% deposit rate. ZIRP by stealth!
Reply50 bp <> smidgen
ReplyMM, if you think you will be getting back a "fully functional" knee, you are in Dreamland
ReplyAll this chat about violence between crusties & bankers seems to forget the folks with weapons: the police.
ReplyAs usual they like to start it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2009/mar/31/g20-summit-protests
Re big banks in Q1: it's been discussed elsewhere on the web that the Q1 numbers may be inflated by profits from AIG closing out large volumes of contracts in reckless way. Any views on this?
ReplyHi MM, Singapore’s monetary policy by targeting the TWI is essentially a trade-weighted basket of every other country’s monetary policy. Hence, if others are cutting rates and the SGD NEER band is kept stable, the MAS has in fact been loosening monetary policy. At any rate a re-centering of the band as some are expecting may not translate to immediate declines in SGD NEER. It is quite likely they could re-center the band and then drive the NEER to the top of the new band in order to prevent speculators (you) from making money. I just don’t think this is a very interesting trade with the NEER currently at the bottom of the present band. A.D.
ReplyOh, yes, of course, I forgot. It's much, much more important to screw speculators than it is to do the right thing.
ReplyThe real issue for markets is if (or is it when?) the ECB introduces a more complete suite of nontraditional policy measures.
Reply"Nontraditional" is an abbreviation for "stupid stunts that has never been tried and/or cannot work but at least we are seen to be doing something";