USD: BBDXY Focus Turning Towards Testing Pivotal 12000

May-26 03:30

The BBDXY range Friday night was 1210.77 - 1218.08, Asia is currently trading around 1208. The USD has opened weak again in early Monday morning trading in Asia with another leg lower. 

  • What stood out from the price action on Friday was how well the EUR held up in the face of a potential 50% increase in tariffs, and it was again the USD that took the brunt of the impact. This clearly shows the market's current outlook and leans into the growing “sell America “ theme. 
  • The EU is ready to advance talks and needs until July 9 to reach a good deal, Ursula von der Leyen said on X. https://x.com/vonderleyen/status/1926729529436913794
  • Deutsche Bank put out a note that the Dollar would need to depreciate by up to 40% in order to eliminate the US deficit. “ If the average real exchange rate appreciation of 40% over the past 15 years were to reverse, it could likely restore the deficit to a zero balance, but the policy measures required may far exceed the simple implementation of tariffs.”  https://x.com/Barchart/status/1925995602552275398
  • Andreas Steno Larsen on X : “ A 25-30% weaker USD (over the next 1-2 years) solves most of Trump's problems, trade deficits will vanish. https://x.com/AndreasSteno/status/1925974036552499565
  • These views highlight the  broad consensus that the USD is set to embark on a decent move lower as the world reduces its exposure to the US and repatriates a lot of these flows.
  • We are approaching some key Weekly support towards the 1200 area in the BBDXY. A break below here could signal the move is about to accelerate.

    Fig 1: Dollar Leads Swings in the US external balance

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    source : Deutsche Bank/Barchart on X - https://x.com/Barchart/status/1925995602552275398

     

     

Historical bullets

US TSYS: Extraordinary Measures And Cash Look Sufficient To Head Off X-Date

Apr-25 20:32

Treasury has about $164B in "extraordinary measures" available as of April 23 to avoid hitting the debt limit, per its regular report out Friday. That's out of a maximum total of $375B (they have used $211B).

  • With Treasury cash looking healthy (around $600B), that's a fair amount of dry powder to get through the summer months to wait out the debt limit impasse. Tax receipts have looked strong with tariff revenues also starting to boost cash flows, further reducing the near-term urgency to adjust bond issuance.
  • This has also helped push back analyst “x-date” expectations to later in the summer/September. We expect to hear from Treasury about its own x-date assumptions next week.
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US TSYS: Treasury Market Trading Stayed Orderly In April: Fed Report

Apr-25 20:25

Liquidity across financial markets including the Treasury market deteriorated after President Trump's April 2 reciprocal tariffs announcement but market functioning was generally orderly, according to the Federal Reserve's semiannual report on financial stability, released Friday. (PDF link is here)

  • Treasury market liquidity has been poor for years and yields were particularly volatile in early April, contributing to a deterioration in market liquidity, the Fed said.
  • Nevertheless "trading remained orderly, and markets continued to function without serious disruption," according to the report, which looked at information available as of April 11. 

FED: Ex-Gov Warsh: Fed Has Failed To Satisfy Price Stability Remit

Apr-25 20:22

From our Washington Policy Team - Some fairly sharp words today from ex-Fed Governor Warsh on the central bank (who for what it's worth is seen by betting markets as by far the frontrunner for the next Fed Chair):

  • The best way for the Federal Reserve to safeguard its independence is for policymakers to avoid expanding the institution's role over time, including wading into policy areas that are outside its core mission, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, a leading contender to replace Jerome Powell as chair next year, said Friday.
  • "I strongly believe in the operational independence of monetary policy as a wise political economy decision. And I believe that Fed independence is chiefly up to the Fed," Warsh said in a speech at a Group of Thirty event on the sidelines of the IMF meetings. "Institutional drift has coincided with the Fed’s failure to satisfy an essential part of its statutory remit, price stability. It has also contributed to an explosion of federal spending." His speech made no mention of Trump's tariffs or the appropriate monetary policy to deal with them.
  • He said the ideas of data dependence and forward guidance widely adopted by Fed officials are not especially useful and might even be counterproductive. 
    "We should care little about two numbers to the right of the decimal point in the latest government release. Breathlessly awaiting trailing data from stale national accounts -- subject to significant, subsequent revision -- is evidence of false precision and analytic complacency," he said. 
    "Near-term forecasting is another distracting Fed preoccupation. Economists are not immune to the frailties of human nature. Once policymakers reveal their economic forecast, they can become prisoners of their own words. Fed leaders would be well-served to skip opportunities to share their latest musings."