Founder & Chief Market Strategist - SAV Markets, SAV Markets

Shyam Devani

Founder & Chief Market Strategist - SAV Markets

Technical Analysis

Further signs of USD weakness are coming through. The breaks on the DXY Index as well as the ones on key major currency pairs show that there is still more USD weakness to be seen before we might stabilise.

Further signs of USD weakness are coming through. The breaks on the DXY Index as well as the ones on key major currency pairs show that there is still more USD weakness to be seen before we might stabilise.

Chief Economist, Heteronomics

Phil Rush

Chief Economist

Heteronomics

Heteronomics represents a different kind of economics. We believe analysis should delve into the details of what is really going on, rather than using overly simplistic assumptions to quick-sell stories. Independence from myopic institutional pressures allows us to focus on the realities underlying your asset allocation decisions, without the conflicts of the old market structures. Heteronomics targets the themes driving UK asset prices, offering the benefits of depth, independence and ultimately price.

UK-centric macro research

Macroeconomics

<ul>
<li>Retail sales crashed in July, and together with downwards revisions, depressed the consensus by about 4pp. Weakness was broad-based and does not indicate a rotation back to services as restaurant bookings also declined that month.</li>
<li>The pingdemic forced almost a million to isolate, with many more disrupted. Legal obligations still impact ~700k in mid-August as quarantine mandates rise with holidays. Households continue to signal disappointment by not expecting to share in the recovery.</li>
</ul>


Retail sales crashed in July, and together with downwards revisions, depressed the consensus by about 4pp. Weakness was broad-based and does not indicate a rotation back to services as restaurant bookings also declined that month.
The pingdemic forced almost a million to isolate, with many more disrupted. Legal obligations still impact ~700k in mid-August as quarantine mandates rise with holidays. Households continue to signal disappointment by not expecting to share in the recovery.


<ul>
<li>The unemployment rate declined to 4.7% in Jun-21 on surprisingly jobs-rich growth. That is 12bps better than we expected, despite previously surveyed cohorts reporting higher unemployment. Stalled population growth flatters the employment rate.</li>
<li>About 8% of employees either remain on furlough or off-payroll since covid-hit. The normalisation of work is slowing after previous easy wins on re-opening. We still expect the UR to rise in H2, contrary to the BoE’s bullish forecast.</li>
<li>Headline wage growth has now surged to its spuriously elevated peak and will subside rapidly as the base effects flip. Wage growth in H1 was under 1.5%, which is less an inflationary concern than the flat provisional productivity estimate for H1.</li>
</ul>


The unemployment rate declined to 4.7% in Jun-21 on surprisingly jobs-rich growth. That is 12bps better than we expected, despite previously surveyed cohorts reporting higher unemployment. Stalled population growth flatters the employment rate.
About 8% of employees either remain on furlough or off-payroll since covid-hit. The normalisation of work is slowing after previous easy wins on re-opening. We still expect the UR to rise in H2, contrary to the BoE’s bullish forecast.
Headline wage growth has now surged to its spuriously elevated peak and will subside rapidly as the base effects flip. Wage growth in H1 was under 1.5%, which is less an inflationary concern than the flat provisional productivity estimate for H1.


Founder

Olivier Desbarres

Exacting. Excellent. Exceeding. Exemplary.

4X Global Research

4X Global Research was founded in 2017 to provide institutional and corporate clients with the substantive research, high-quality analysis and thoughtful insight on Emerging and G20 economies and financial markets they need to make informed and timely decisions and gain an edge in their investments.

FX & Rates

Global FX volatility – as measured by the 5-day Standard Deviation (SD) in the daily percentage change in the spot (closing) price of a turnover-weighted basket of 32 major currency pairs against the US Dollar – remains depressed by historical standards.While global FX volatility rose slightly on 11th August to about 0.32 SD following the release of US CPI-inflation data, it is still well below its level one month ago (0.43 SD) and 10-year average (0.47 SD). Notably global FX volatility is at a similar level (0.30 SD) as it was in the run-up to the 16th June Fed meeting and release of a more hawkish FOMC “<a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/files/fomcprojtabl20210616.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dot-chart</a>”.Volatility versus the US Dollar in most of these 32 developed and EM currencies has either fallen in the past month from already modest levels or been broadly stable. Volatility in the high-yielding Brazilian Real and low-yielding Canadian Dollar, Czech Crown, Norwegian Krone and Hungarian Forint has fallen the most in absolute terms. However, there have been a few notable exceptions, including the Turkish Lira, Thai Baht and Chilean, Colombian and Philippines Pesos.USD/THB volatility has risen further in past month and is now near top end of its admittedly narrow 12-month range. The Baht has been choppy against a strong US Dollar, resulting in the Baht NEER appreciating 1.4% since the multi-year low recorded on 6th August.GBP/EUR volatility is currently at its lowest level since early June. Sterling’s appreciation against the Euro has been slow and steady, in line with our expectations. Volatility in global FX (and the S&amp;P 500) also remains very modest compared to volatility in other asset classes, notably US Treasuries and Brent crude oil (see Figure 5). Most of the price action has been in the US rates market in recent months, perhaps unsurprisingly given protracted debate about the timeline for Fed tapering and rate hikes.There are a number of factors behind this low transmission from US rates to Dollar crosses and equities but, as was the case in late-2019, FX markets are ultimately pricing in very little risk of policy, macro data or geopolitical surprises, in our view.

Global FX volatility – as measured by the 5-day Standard Deviation (SD) in the daily percentage change in the spot (closing) price of a turnover-weighted basket of 32 major currency pairs against the US Dollar – remains depressed by historical standards.While global FX volatility rose slightly on 11th August to about 0.32 SD following the release of US CPI-inflation data, it is still well below its level one month ago (0.43 SD) and 10-year average (0.47 SD). Notably global FX volatility is at a similar level (0.30 SD) as it was in the run-up to the 16th June Fed meeting and release of a more hawkish FOMC “dot-chart”.Volatility versus the US Dollar in most of these 32 developed and EM currencies has either fallen in the past month from already modest levels or been broadly stable. Volatility in the high-yielding Brazilian Real and low-yielding Canadian Dollar, Czech Crown, Norwegian Krone and Hungarian Forint has fallen the most in absolute terms. However, there have been a few notable exceptions, including the Turkish Lira, Thai Baht and Chilean, Colombian and Philippines Pesos.USD/THB volatility has risen further in past month and is now near top end of its admittedly narrow 12-month range. The Baht has been choppy against a strong US Dollar, resulting in the Baht NEER appreciating 1.4% since the multi-year low recorded on 6th August.GBP/EUR volatility is currently at its lowest level since early June. Sterling’s appreciation against the Euro has been slow and steady, in line with our expectations. Volatility in global FX (and the S&amp;P 500) also remains very modest compared to volatility in other asset classes, notably US Treasuries and Brent crude oil (see Figure 5). Most of the price action has been in the US rates market in recent months, perhaps unsurprisingly given protracted debate about the timeline for Fed tapering and rate hikes.There are a number of factors behind this low transmission from US rates to Dollar crosses and equities but, as was the case in late-2019, FX markets are ultimately pricing in very little risk of policy, macro data or geopolitical surprises, in our view. 

Low Global FX Vol: Maturity or Complacency?

<ul>
<li>UK GDP growth in Jun-21 was close to expectations overall. Rapid Q2 growth in the UK is the rebound from output being thrown down so much harder than in other countries. The UK remains a global laggard, albeit to less of an extent as it re-opens.</li>
<li>Food, accommodation and health drove the June rise. Unfortunately, restaurant bookings and vaccinations rates dropped in July, which should unwind this support. Most other sectors are only limping up from still depressed levels.</li>
<li>The relatively hawkish BoE was at peak optimism on 5 August, in our view. We see the disappointment of its forecast in Q2 repeating during H2, delaying the first rate hike into 2023. Persistent damage from lockdown and covid seasonality drive that view.</li>
</ul>


UK GDP growth in Jun-21 was close to expectations overall. Rapid Q2 growth in the UK is the rebound from output being thrown down so much harder than in other countries. The UK remains a global laggard, albeit to less of an extent as it re-opens.
Food, accommodation and health drove the June rise. Unfortunately, restaurant bookings and vaccinations rates dropped in July, which should unwind this support. Most other sectors are only limping up from still depressed levels.
The relatively hawkish BoE was at peak optimism on 5 August, in our view. We see the disappointment of its forecast in Q2 repeating during H2, delaying the first rate hike into 2023. Persistent damage from lockdown and covid seasonality drive that view.


United Kingdom

The British Pound Sterling is the official currency of The United Kingdom. 

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Fresh USD Breaks

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UK: Rebound Passed Peak Pace

Rapid Q2 growth in the UK is the rebound from output being thrown down so much harder than in other countries. Disappointment of the BoE's forecast...

Phil Rush

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