Archive - Mar 7, 2011 - Story

The macro picture and market reactions became more complex last week. On one hand global activity and hence demand remain solid. Last week’s global PMIs have been very strong and now stand at exceptionally high levels with a few exceptions. The US labour market continues to perform strongly. But on the other hand, Oil prices continue to be the main focus, as market participants continue to debate the risks for supply disruptions. The sudden shift to a much more hawkish stance by the ECB highlights that inflation targeting central banks may have to act to keep inflation expectations anchored...In a relatively data-light week, the main focus will therefore be on policy developments again. First, the instabilities in the MENA region will remain key, with heightened focus on potential demonstrations in Saudi Arabia on Friday, March 11. The second political development is the intensification of Eurozone sovereign negotiations ahead of the “grand bargain” summit on March 24/25. Finally, the US budget negotiations remain a critical issue and there are some tentative signs that the policy consensus shifts slightly towards more frontloaded fiscal tightening. Bond issuance will be focus point in that context. The US is scheduled to issue $66bn worth of Treasuries in maturities ranging from 3-30 years. Portugal will tap the market with a small issuance despite the fact that last week the national railway company failed to raise government guaranteed debt. Merkel and Schaeuble are scheduled to speak towards the end of the week ahead of important regional elections in Germany. On Friday, Eurogroup leaders meet for another summit, trying to agree on measures to finally put the sovereign crisis behind.

It is one of those days when the flight to new reserve currency is on, with gold and silver trading near overnight highs, same for the oil complex, yet futures are also at the highs of the premarket session, purely on the ongoing monkeyhammering in the dollar, which has now completely given up the ghost as the reserve currency on yet another bout of QE3 concerns, following last night's very cautious note from Jan Hatzius. At last check the DXY was at 76.135 and plunging. As for why oil will continue whacking bits and pieces of Q1 GDP, and why Goldman will have no choice but to push for another round of dollar rape, here is Reuters with the skinny: "Brent crude rose to $118 a barrel and U.S. oil hit the highest since September 2008 on Monday as fighting in Libya disrupted its supplies and renewed concern of wider disruptions in the Middle East. While the Libyan crisis has cut supply from a country that normally provides almost 2 percent of world output, the prospect of unrest spreading to larger producers such as Saudi Arabia is a far more bullish scenario for oil markets. "The major risk remains the prospect of the political unrest spreading to the Gulf producing region," said Caroline Bain, economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit. "However, even if there is civil unrest in Saudi Arabia, it is not a given that oil production will be affected." Wrong: it is a given.

RANsquawk European Morning Briefing - Stocks, Bonds, FX etc. – 07/03/11