Is Fresh USD Breakdown A Leading Move Toward Bearish Equities?
Erik Swarts | Apr 26, 2017 12:24AM ET
On the heels of this past weekend’s EU-supportive first round election results in France, the euro closed up by 1.35 percent in Monday’s session, with the highs from last month ~109 overtaken yesterday in early trading. Keeping it simple—as we have with the US dollar index this year—we expect the troubled European currency to make higher highs and higher lows as it grinds its way out of a major cycle trough.
On the other shore of the exchange, the US dollar index is now flirting below long-term support extending from the July 2014 breakout, in a window we have anticipated would bring a resolution to the cyclical uptrend in the dollar.
And while it’s still early in the week—with ample domestic and exogenous catalysts to trade through (ECB policy decision, US first quarter GDP, possible tax reform and a contentious debt ceiling debate), the dollar is still following long-term Treasuries' (via iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond (NASDAQ:TLT)) leading move from the last major election results in November, corresponding with breakdowns in US Treasuries and gold and a breakout in equities and the US dollar.
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As we’ve described in previous notes, over an intermediate timeframe, the dollar has followed pivots in Treasuries by several months over the past several years, with the relative performance of US equities closely tracking the respective trend in the dollar. Along these lines—careful what you wish for President Trump—as a weaker dollar will likely see US equities underperform globally while also a telltale for future monetary policy, as the dollar has led short-term yields by several weeks.
Generally speaking, we view the EUR/USD exchange rate and the US dollar index as relative equivalent benchmarks for the dollar, as the majority of the index tracks the inverse performance between the exchange rate of the world’s two largest reserve currencies. That said, the Fed’s preferred broad dollar index also benchmarks closely with the inverse performance of the EUR/USD exchange rate. Longer-term, when normalized from the inception of the euro in electronic trading in 1999, the Fed’s broad dollar index has increasingly tightened with the inverse performance of the EUR/USD exchange rate.
When indexed to the current cycle low in May 2011, the broad dollar index has more closely correlated with US short-term yields, although performing within a few percentage points from the other dollar benchmarks. The long and short of things, technically we tend to follow the EUR/USD exchange rate and the US dollar index, but expect a cyclical pivot lower to also be reflected by the Fed’s broad dollar index.
Not surprising in hindsight – although a testament to the times – significant pivots in the financial markets over the past year have corresponded with major political outcomes. The Brexit vote last June brought new all-time highs to long-term Treasuries and a fresh cycle high to gold and silver, before quickly reversing course in July as equities, yields and the dollar traded sharply higher out of key lows for the year. Greatly muddling causality, however, was the improving economic backdrop and outlook that forced the Fed’s hand to raise rates twice over the past 5 months.
Looking back, the outsized moves in the markets from the Brexit vote were unwound almost immediately, as the economic data broadly improved last summer – both domestically and abroad, and as Europe appeared to take the blow from Britain with no immediate systemic consequence. Although the respective breakouts and breakdowns that followed the surprise US election outcomes in November are also retracing their steps this year, the arc has been much wider as hope and sentiment springs eternal, while realized figures on the US economy continue to underwhelm.
With realistic expectations towards future monetary and fiscal policy, our working thesis has been that the economic expansion has very likely seen its best days, with the prospects for a revival of more robust growth largely tapped out. In our experience—and with a long view of history—hope floats best after the throes of a recession or economic crisis, where those in life jackets are carried on the waves of uncertainty to a more sheltered shoreline of a new cycle.
The opposite is very much the case at the top, where hope will sink those left swimming far offshore, in quiet waters after a distant storm. Call me Ishmael, Minsky or Buffett, the lesson is typically the same.
Getting back to other comparative set-ups in the markets – the dollar, long-term yields and gold are also continuing to echo the cyclical pivots from 2002, where US equities began to heavily underperform globally, while commodities overall enjoyed a declining real yield market environment.
Considering the relative lofty disposition of both the dollar and US equities today, the prospective pivot presents another substantial long-term opportunity for investors, as we expect real yields to eventually break their respective cycle lows from 2011. Coming through this shift, gold offers the more conservative intermediate-term risk/reward profile, although we expect the silver:gold ratio to continue to outperform over a longer-term horizon.
And while US equities have found a very healthy bid this week – extending the retracement rally from the lows of the previous, we maintain our bearish read on the future prospects of the reflationary rally in equities and view the fresh breakdown in the dollar this week as a leading move.
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