The Fall Of The Mexican Peso

 | Feb 27, 2020 01:55PM ET

Last week we discussed how yen and emerging markets (such as the Mexican peso) were being sold and currencies like the U.S. dollar and the euro were bought. Our reasoning was that Japan’s largest pension fund (GPIF) was selling yen for reallocation. At the time, stock markets were not as fearful of the spread of the coronavirus as they have been over the last few days. As stock indices have been moving lower around the world, more fuel has been added to the fire for a weakening Mexican peso.

At the time of last week’s writing, USD/MXN had just broken higher and closed at the top of the small blue channel within the larger green channel, near 18.85. Since then, the pair has sliced through resistance at the top of the larger green channel, the 200-day moving average and the bottom trendline of the longer-term triangle and 50% retracement level from the August 29 highs to the February 17 lows. If stocks continue to move lower, dips will be bought. Next resistance is at the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level of the same period near 19.60 and the top downward sloping trendline of the longer-term triangle near 19.95/20.00. Note that the RSI is in overbought territory. However, when markets are in strong trends, oscillators such as the RSI can become “more overbought.”