ZAR: USDZAR Remains Comfortably Within Session Range Following SARB

Jan-30 13:19

Limited reaction in USDZAR to the rate decision given that the rate cut was widely expected. The vote split is potentially hawkish at the margins given the presence of two dissenters for a hold, but offset by the lower inflation/higher GDP forecasts for 2025. The pair remains within the session's prior ranges, up 0.7% on the week overall.

Historical bullets

STIR: Repo Reference Rates

Dec-31 13:03
  • Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR): 4.37% (-0.09), volume: $2.290T
  • Broad General Collateral Rate (BGCR): 4.35% (-0.10), volume: $844B
  • Tri-Party General Collateral Rate (TGCR): 4.35% (-0.10), volume: $798B
  • (rate, volume levels reflect prior session)

US: Republicans Outnumber Democrats For First Time In Decades

Dec-31 12:47

New analysis of survey data from Gallup shows that there are now more Republican and Republican-leaning voters in the electorate than Democrats, for the first time in decades.

  • Patrick Ruffini at Echelon Insights notes: “Historically, this is practically unheard of. Democrats have held a longstanding advantage in party identification that dates back to the New Deal, with Republicans drawing even on only a couple of occasions — the 1994 Republican Revolution and the immediate post-9/11 period.”
  • Ruffini continues: “We are now entering a period where the roughly even party ID split reflects the highly competitive nature of national elections. All things being equal we should expect a 50-50 political environment to yield tied party ID, rather than a 3- or 4-point Democratic ID edge. Good Democratic years will mean more Democratic identifiers in the electorate, and good Republican years will mean more Republican identifiers.”

Figure 1: US Adult Party Identification and Leaning in Presidential Election Years

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Source: Gallup

STIR: Large Sep'25/Dec'25 SOFR Skew Spread Package

Dec-31 12:45

Checking direction on skew package:

  • 24,000 SFRU5 96.50/97.50 call spds ref 96.035 vs.
  • 12,000 SFRZ5 95.50 puts ref 96.07