Investing in Macro Tipping Points

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GLOBAL RISK - The Next "Peg" to Fall

THE NEXT "PEG" TO FALL

CHINA HAS ITS 'BACK TO THE WALL' WITH GLOBAL SLOWDOWN & COMPETITIVE DEVALUATIONS

CHINA IS FACING A COMPETITIVE CURRENCY DISADVANTAGE!

IF YOU WERE THE CHINESE WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

This has got to really p$%^ss off the Chinese!

HAVE THEY ALREADY STARTED?

Chinese Currency Plunges To Peg Limit Against USDollar, Strongest Against Euro In 14 Years 01-27-15 ZH

The drop in the Yuan over the past 2 days is the largest against the USDollar since Nov 2008 as USDCNY nears its highest (CNY weakest) since mid-2012. What is more critical is that for the first time since the new 2% CNY peg bands, USDCNY is trading at the extremes - 11.5 handles cheap to the fix. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the EURCNY just dropped below 7.00 for the first time since June 2001 with the biggest 2-day strengthening of the Chinese currency against the Euro in almost 4 years. It appears the consequences of ECB QE, SNB volatility, and now Greek concerns continue to ripple through the rest of the world.. and at a time when China faces its ubiquitous new year liquidity squeeze, that is not a good sign.

Biggest 2-day drop in the Yuan against the USDollar since 2008

With USDNCY puishing against its 2% peg band for the first time...

As the Yuan shifts to its strongest against the Euro since 2001 (almost 2000) - back below 7.000

Charts: Bloomberg

WILL THE HONG DOLLAR FOLLOW SWITZERLAND?

HONG KONG DOLLAR

THE STORY IS LIKELY NOT YET THE HONG KONG DOLLAR

Hong Kong Dollar Peg Doesn’t Fit in Swiss Hole 01-23-15 WSJ

The sudden death of the Swiss franc ceiling set off fears that other fixed exchange rates could be next. But Hong Kong’s storied peg with the U.S. dollar is as solid as ever.

Superficially, Hong Kong faces a similar situation to Switzerland. The Swiss National Bank was buying huge volumes of euros to hold down the franc, swelling reserves and leading to rapid money creation. There was little inflation, but worrying froth in the Swiss property market. Imminent quantitative easing by the European Central Bank added to the pressure.

Hong Kong’s peg to the U.S. dollar has similarly forced the territory to import ultra-loose monetary policy from the U.S. Rock bottom interest rates in Hong Kong fueled surging property values. Critics have gone so far as to blame the peg for youth dissatisfaction in the streets.

Some investors think Hong Kong could follow the Swiss. There was a surge in the volatility of Hong Kong dollar options the day after the SNB’s move and the spot price of the Hong Kong dollar has moved toward the strong side of its narrow trading band.

But comparing the franc to the Hong Kong dollar is like putting a square peg in a round hole. The SNB’s franc ceiling was a discretionary move undertaken for a few years by a central bank that viewed the policy as one of its tools among many.

Hong Kong’s currency board, by contrast, is an institutionalized, rules-based system in place since 1983, making it harder and even riskier to change on a whim.

What’s more, while the SNB was facing a coming flood of euro liquidity, Hong Kong is now likely to see a receding tide of dollars. The Federal Reserve has stopped asset purchases and will eventually raise interest rates, letting some air out of the Hong Kong property market.

If anything, pressure on the Hong Kong currency may soon turn in the opposite direction. If the Fed keeps tightening and the U.S. dollar continues to strengthen even as China’s economy slows, speculators could start betting on devaluation.

Not that they will succeed. Hong Kong authorities have been willing to take huge levels of pain to maintain the peg. They allowed GDP to contract by 5.9% in 1998 rather than succumb to depreciation pressure. And with the domestic political situation still unsettled, Hong Kong is unlikely to abandon a policy that has anchored the financial system for decades.

In the very long term, switching the peg from the greenback to the Chinese yuan is possible. But that can only happen once the Chinese currency is a freely convertible international one, which it won’t be for the foreseeable future. Traders buying call options on the Hong Kong dollar hoping for Swiss-like capitulation should find better uses for their money.

FINANCIAL REPRESSION - Negative Real Rates Coming

Get Ready For Negative Interest Rates In The US 01-24-15 ZH

With Fed mouthpiece Jon Hilsenrath warning - in no lesser status-quo narrative-deliverer than The Wall Street Journal - that The ECB's actions (and pre-emptive collapse in the EUR) means the U.S. economy must deal with a rapidly strengthening dollar that will make American goods more expensive abroad, potentially slowing both U.S. growth and inflation; and Treasury Secretary Lew coming out his crypt to mention "unfair FX moves," it appears The Fed (and powers that be) are worrying about King Dollar. This suggests, as Mises Canada's Patrick Barron predicts, the Fed will start charging negative interest rates on bank reserve accounts as the final tool in the war on savings and wealth in order to spur the Keynesian goal of increasing “aggregate demand”. If savers won’t spend their money, the government will take it from them.

As The Wall Street Journal explains,

The European Central Bank’s launch of an aggressive program this week to buy more than €1 trillion in bonds poses important tests for the U.S. economy and the Federal Reserve.

Europe’s new program of money printing—and the resulting fall in the euro—means the U.S. economy must deal with a rapidly strengthening dollar that will make American goods more expensive abroad.

The stronger dollar could slow both U.S. growth and inflation, giving the Fed some incentive to hold off on its plan to raise short-term interest rates later this year from near zero.

...

A stronger dollar has three important implications for the U.S. economy, markets and policy makers. 

1. First, it tamps down inflation just as the Fed is trying to raise inflation closer to 2%.
2. Second, it hurts exports and therefore economic growth.
3. Lastly, the attraction of U.S. financial assets could heat up markets just as regulators keep watch for dangerous asset bubbles.

...

U.S. officials have been playing down that scenario, and, more broadly, resisting talk of a global currency war—competitive devaluations by countries eager to keep their currencies as low as possible to protect exports; but “The Fed faces a challenge having to navigate some pretty intense cross currents,” said Bruce Kasman, chief economist for J.P. Morgan Chase.

The U.S., in effect, is importing some of the world’s downward inflation pressure through currency movements.

Treasury Secretray Lew pipes in...

• *LEW SAYS UNFAIR FX MOVES TO DRAW SCRUTINY FROM U.S.
• *LEW SAYS STRONG DOLLAR IS GOOD FOR AMERICA

*  *  *

And Patrick Barron predicts (via Mises Canada)...

I predict that the Fed will start charging negative interest rates on bank reserve accounts, which will ripple through the markets and result in negative interest rates on savings at banks.

I make this prediction only because it is the logical action of the Keynesian managers of our economy and monetary policy.

Our exporters will scream that they can’t sell goods overseas, due to the stronger dollar.

So, what is the Fed’s option? Follow the lead of Switzerland and Denmark and impose negative interest rates in order to drive down the foreign exchange rate of the dollar.

It is the final tool in the war on savings and wealth in order to spur the Keynesian goal of increasing “aggregate demand”.

If savers won’t spend their money, the government will take it from them

JAPANESE 2 YEAR GOES NEGATIVE

GERMAN 2 YEAR GOES NEGATIVE

30 YEAR HEADING STEADILY SOUTH