Last Friday (May 22, 2015), U.S Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for April was released and it was in line with expectations. CPI increased a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in April and core-CPI (excludes food and energy) increased 0.3%, largest since January 2013. CPI reflects what people pay for goods and services. It’s an important indicator for inflation. The Federal Reserve watches inflation numbers closely, to determine the health of the US economy and whenever to raise interest rates.
CPI and Core-CPI (Jan 2014 – April 2015)
Over the past 12-months, CPI declined 0.2% (biggest year-to-year drop since October 2009), largely due to the plunge in energy prices (energy index), which fell 19.4% over the last 12-months. However, core-CPI (which excludes food and energy, the violent categories) increased 1.8% over the last 12-months.
The positive inflation report may suggest that the Fed may not be that far away from raising interest rates. Stronger numbers gives a sense of relief that the US economy is pulling itself out of a slump that dragged growth down to 0.2% (GDP report previous post) in the first quarter of 2015. However, the inflation is far below the Fed’s 2% target.
The positive change in core prices was driven by rising costs for housing, medical care, furniture, and vehicles, while clothing and airfare prices declined. Fall in the oil prices led airplane companies to lower their airfares, to complete with competitors. I believe clothing and airfare prices will start to rise soon because summer is here. In the summer, people tend to travel more often (demand increases), pushing prices up. Oil has rebounded to the range of $60, as oil inventory decreases.
The dollar rose after the CPI report. The greenback (the dollar) gained almost 1%, rising to a highest price level since late-April. US markets were flat on Friday after both the Dow and the S&P 500 hit new records this week.
Dollar Index (/DX) – Hourly
According to Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes released last Wednesday (May 20, 2015), FOMC expects inflation to gradually rise as the labor market improves and transitory effects such as low oil prices fade away. They believed that there would not be enough information of overall health of US economy to start raising rates at their next meeting in June. The next policy meeting takes place on June 16 and June 17.
Chances of rate hike in June are very low, but the door is not closed. If the next non-farm payroll and Prelim GDP (Gross Domestic Product) (Friday, May 29, 2015) comes out very positive, the Fed will likely raise the rates. Prelim GDP is the second estimate of the last quarter. If you want to know more about the first GDP estimate of the last quarter, click here.
Last Friday (May 22, 2015), Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen spoke about the US economic outlook at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce Economic Outlook in Rhode Island. She said that the Federal Reserve is on track to raise short-term interest rates this year, but will likely proceed slowly and cautiously.
As to trading, I would go long on the dollar and short EUR/USD. Why would I short EUR/USD? Recently, EUR/USD rebounded all the way to above 1.1450. As of right now, it’s around 1.1000. The recent rise in EUR/USD is an opportunity to go short.
News: First, I believe the U.S economy will rebound and future US economic reports will be positive, sending USD higher. Second, I believe Greece will default and eventually leave euro-zone (Greece exiting euro-zone is also known as “Grexit”), which will plunge Euro. Current Greece headlines are just background noises, until we know for sure that Greece will be staying or not.
Technical: If you look at 1-HOUR chart of EUR/USD, you can see that EUR/USD broke a strong support level that used to be resistance. If you look at WEEKLY chart of EUR/USD, you can see that there is a Bearish Engulfing Pattern. Technical seems to be bearish.
EUR/USD – HourlyEUR/USD – Weekly
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This week was full of financial news. I will be talking about some of them, which I consider too important to pass up. I will also give my views on them.
Europe:
Last Monday (March 2, 2015), a report showed that Consumer Price Index (CPI) Flash Estimate ticked up to -0.3% year-over-year from previous -0.6%. Markets were expecting -0.4. The data was little positive. However, It remained in negative territory for the third consecutive month. There are deflation in euro zone. The deflation might soon end later in the mid-year, as Quantitative Easing (QE) program starts this Monday (March 9, 2015).
Last Thursday (March 5, 2015), European Central Bank (ECB) kept the interest rates unchanged. During the press conference, the President of ECB, Draghi stated that the QE would start on March 9. ECB raised its projections for the euro area, “which foresee annual real GDP increasing by 1.5% in 2015, 1.9% in 2016 and 2.1% in 2017.” Remember that these are just projections and can change anytime. Plus, central banks are not right all the time. Mr. Draghi felt confident as he talked about the future of Euro zone. He believes Euro zone will greatly benefit from QE program and some areas already have since the announcement of QE last January.
This week, EUR/USD fell all the way to 1.0838, lowest level since September 2003, due to positive U.S jobs reports, Greece worries and QE program starting next week. I was already short on EUR/USD and I still believe it has a room to go further down.
EUR/USD – Hourly
Australia:
Last Monday (March 2, 2015), Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced that they will leave the interest rate unchanged at 2.25%. In February meeting, RBA cut by 0.25%. This time, they did not. RBA is in “wait and see” mode, for now. I believe another rate cut is coming in the two meetings, depending on future economic reports. In the Monetary Policy Decision statement by RBA Governor, Glenn Stevens stated that the Australian dollar “remains above most estimates of its fundamental value…A lower exchange rate is likely to be needed to achieve balanced growth in the economy…Further easing of policy may be appropriate…”. I believe RBA is open to further cuts and it will come in the next two meetings. However, positive economic reports might change that direction. As economics reports come out from Australia, we will have better sense of what RBA might do.
Last Monday (March 2, 2015), Building Approvals report came out and it was very positive. It was expected at -1.8%. It came out at whooping 7.9% up 10.7% from previous -2.8%. It shows that more buildings are being built. Thus, creating jobs. However, Building Approvals reports show that building approvals tend to jump around every month. If the report continues to be positive, it might convince RBA to keep the rate unchanged.
Last Tuesday (March 3, 2015), Gross Domestic Product (GDP) came at 0.5%, up only 0.1% from previous report (0.4%). It came out little bit weak from what was expected, 0.7%. It’s still very weak and it might have larger impact on RBA’s future actions. I believe RBA will cut because GDP is not improving much.
Last Wednesday (March 4, 2015), Retail Sales and Trade Balance reports came out from Australia. Retail sales came out at 0.4% as expected from previous 0.2%. Trade balance on goods and services were a deficit of $980 million, an increase of $480 million from December 2014 ($500 million). All these numbers are in seasonally adjusted term. I believe the gap in Trade Balance from the last two reports might convince RBA little bit to cut the rate again.
I would be short on AUD. I believe it has the potential to go further down to 0.7500. The best pair would be to short AUD/USD (Positive U.S news and upcoming rate hike).
AUD/USD – Hourly
United Kingdom:
Last Thursday, Bank of England (BoE) kept the interest rate unchanged at 0.50% and Quantitative Easing (QE) programme at £375bn. In March 2009, the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) unanimously voted to cut the interest rate to 0.50% from 1.00% (-.50%). The interest rate still stays unchanged and QE stays steady, for now. If future economic reports such as wages, and inflation declines or comes out negative, rate cut might come. If it does not, rate hike might come sooner than expected. I believe it will get better and MPC will decide to raise the rate, sending Pound (GBP) higher.
This week, Pound (GBP) fell after rising last week, due to little negative news from UK and that BoE rejected higher rate for some time being because of concerns in oil prices and inflation. I would not trade GBP at this time. If I’m going to trade GBP, I would analyze its chart first. Did you notice that last week GBP/USD had-daily bearish engulfing pattern and this week there is-weekly bearish engulfing pattern?
GBP/USD – DailyGBP/USD – Weekly
Canada:
Last Tuesday (March 3, 2015), Canadian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) came out little positive at 0.3% from previous -0.2% on monthly basis. It was expected at 0.2%. On quarterly basis, it came out at 0.6% following 0.8% in third quarter.
Last Wednesday (March 4, 2015), Bank of Canada (BoC) left the interest rate unchanged at 0.75% following 0.25% cut last month. Ever since BoC cut the rate last month due to falling oil prices; oil prices has risen and been in $50 range. If oil price continue to fall, I believe they will cut the rate again. There is strong relationship between Canada and oil. As oil gets weaker, Loonie (CAD) gets weaker. Why? Canada is ranked 3rd globally in proved oil reserves. When making a trade decision on CAD, I would look at the oil prices. Of course, I would also look at news and technical. For example, if I want to trade USD/CAD, I would look at both U.S and Canada economic news (rate hike/cut, employment, etc) and technical on chart. If U.S economic news are strong, Canada economic news are weak and USD/CAD is just above strong support line, I would definitely go long on it. However, let’s say if USD/CAD is just below strong resistance line, I would wait for confirmation of a breakout and if the news are in my favor, I would go long.
Last Friday (March 6, 2015), Building Permits and Trade Balance reports were strongly negative. Building Permits came out at -12.9%, following 6.1% the previous month, expected of -4.2%. Trade balance on goods and services were a deficit of -2.5 billion, following -1.2 billion the previous month, expected of -0.9 billion. Both reports were negative, which sent CAD lower. At the same time, U.S non-farm payrolls came out strong, which sent USD higher. As a result, USD/CAD skyrocketed. The reports will definitely be on BoC committee’s mind. As of right now, I would be short on USD/CAD.
This week, USD/CAD was mixed as BoC kept the interest rate unchanged, after cutting it last month (negative for USD/CAD) and strong U.S jobs report (positive for USD/CAD). I would be short on it as I said in the last paragraph.
USD/CAD – Hourly
United States:
Last Friday (March 6, 2015), U.S jobs report came out very strong except the wages. Employment increased by 295,000 (Expected: 240k) and unemployment rate went down 0.2% to 5.5% (Expected: 5.6%). However, average hourly earning fell 0.1%, following 0.5% the previous month (Expected: 0.2%). But, that hourly wages part of the report did not stop U.S Dollar from rising. It was very positive for the U.S dollar because there is little higher chance of rate hike coming in the mid-year.
Since U.S economic news tends to have impact on global markets, here’s what happened; U.S Dollar rose, U.S stock fell, European stock rose, Euro dived, Gold prices fell and Treasury Yield jumped. EUR/USD fell to 1.0838, lowest level since September 2003. USD/JPY rose to 121.28, a two-month high.
So why did U.S stocks sold off? It sold off because of upcoming rate hike, which can be negative for equities, specifically for dividend stocks. As economy is getting better, it should help boost corporate profits. At the same time, strong dollar can hurt them. Rate hike can only make dollar even stronger.
In two weeks, the Fed will be meeting and I believe they might drop the “patient” in its March policy statement.
I would be long USD. The best pairs would be to short EUR/USD (Euro zone delfation, Greece crisis and QE program) and short NZD/USD (RBNZ keeps saying that NZD is too high and they will meeting next week, rate cut?) as I’m already short NZD/USD, and long USD/JPY (Upcoming U.S rate hike and extra stimulus BoJ might announce).
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