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Quantifying The USD-JPY Carry Trade Ratio Following Australia's Interest Rate Announcement

Tyler Durden's picture




The earlier announcement of a 25 bps rate hike by the RBA was not a big surprise. What was, however, was the knee-jerk reaction by both the USD and the JPY, and specifically the relative sizes of said jerk. As both currencies are funding currencies to AUD longs, the relative reactions provide a good, if crude, way to quantify the relative concentration of shorts in any given currencies (USD and JPY). Then again, it may merely indicate that tonight's USD-trading night shift at Goldman had much more Red Bull than the OZ one. In either way, both the initial knee jerk reaction as well as the subsequent follow through, indicate a roughly 50-100% greater concentration of dollar than yen-based shorts: in other words: the carry ratio funded in USD and JPY is between 2:1 and 3:2.

Chart 1 below presents the relative reaction following the immediate announcement (aka the kneejerk). The drop in the Yen was -0.2% compared to the dollar's -0.4%.

Chart 2 presents the stabilized follow through. While the Yen was still at -0.2%, the dollar had tapered off to -0.3%.

A 50-100% greater carry funding in USD vs JPY would not be surprising, especially since the dollar is backed entirely by rapidly deflating housing assets. However, any announcement by the BOJ that would even hint the country is adopting QE, and expect the carry ratio to shift significantly back in the traditional, Yen-based, direction.




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Tue, 12/01/2009 - 00:17 | Link to Comment phaesed
phaesed's picture

The knee jerk ain't over if the BOJ is set to go QE... damn what other banks are making announcements soon? Tomorrow is gonna be a tough one for GS to float and distribute all day to exit on VWAP by the close.

Tue, 12/01/2009 - 09:18 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 12/01/2009 - 00:22 | Link to Comment lizzy36
lizzy36's picture

Not sure, in this context, if knee-jerk is much different than circle jerk.

Tue, 12/01/2009 - 00:27 | Link to Comment RobotTrader
RobotTrader's picture

 

 

 

Tue, 12/01/2009 - 00:37 | Link to Comment Pinkfleud
Pinkfleud's picture

Thanks RT for the bedtime story ;- )

Tue, 12/01/2009 - 01:27 | Link to Comment Cursive
Cursive's picture

I know it's been said before, but when a market becomes this predictable and detached from fundamentals, the end will be messy.  Blankfein's background is J. Aron, a commodities trading firm.  That sums up the extent of GS right now.

Tue, 12/01/2009 - 01:31 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 12/01/2009 - 02:49 | Link to Comment faustian bargain
faustian bargain's picture

Was kindof hoping for someone a little more...Japanese.

Tue, 12/01/2009 - 05:23 | Link to Comment DalFin
DalFin's picture

Robotrader rock!   ZH isn't bad, either.

Tue, 12/01/2009 - 00:46 | Link to Comment KeyserSöze
KeyserSöze's picture

Yep just as planned...in 3,2,1......

Tue, 12/01/2009 - 00:52 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 12/01/2009 - 00:56 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 12/01/2009 - 03:34 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 12/01/2009 - 03:34 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 12/01/2009 - 04:03 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 12/01/2009 - 04:09 | Link to Comment CombustibleAssets
CombustibleAssets's picture

That's a clever bit of analysis Tyler.

Tue, 12/01/2009 - 05:00 | Link to Comment Unscarred
Unscarred's picture

Very clever.

Equally as clever as your avatar.

Tue, 12/01/2009 - 05:05 | Link to Comment Neophiliac
Neophiliac's picture

I think BoJ is trying to boost that ratio, but what they just announced won't work for the time being when it comes to USD. Using their 0.1% interest loans, one could do a riskless trade by using proceeds to buy 3-months sovereign debt and use it as collateral. US 3-months T-bills though, are yielding too little: just 4  bps these days.  

Tue, 12/01/2009 - 05:44 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 12/01/2009 - 06:00 | Link to Comment Hephasteus
Hephasteus's picture

Pariah Carry with her one and only hit single. Saving all my asian love for an investment hero, spending all my cash on drunken rockstar wannabes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBAhan8ZNGI

Tue, 12/01/2009 - 09:35 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 12/01/2009 - 09:39 | Link to Comment Anonymous
Tue, 12/01/2009 - 10:12 | Link to Comment SWRichmond
SWRichmond's picture

There you go with those (1st order) derivatives again...

Tue, 12/01/2009 - 10:16 | Link to Comment Anonymous
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