Obama Dollar to ‘Devalue the Way to Prosperity’!

Contrarian long USD positions remain costly. Forget the Japanese housewife, it’s the Brown’s, Smiths, Jones etc who have been piling into a global carry trade, similar to Japans’ lost years, using the USD as a vehicle currency. It will end in tears. Is the Obama’s administration policy one of quiet, steady dollar devaluation? A weaker domestic currency gives way to cheaper exports and the potential for increased employment opportunities. With a 26-year high unemployment rate sitting at 10.2%, itching to go higher (real rate supposedly near 17%), is begging Obama to ‘devalue the way to prosperity’!

The US$ is weaker in the O/N trading session. Currently it is lower against 14 of the 16 most actively traded currencies in a ‘subdued’ trading range.

Fed voting member Janet Yellen and her dovish comments gave little support to her domestic currency yesterday. She stated the obvious when committing the Fed to a tighter monetary mandate ‘at some point’ in the future. She highlighted that US unemployment could stay elevated ‘for years to come’, and that the countries recovery will ‘be gradual and vulnerable’ to shocks. The Fed expects the commercial real estate sector to weigh down this recovery as their prospects are rather ‘worrisome’ to the committee. Despite the equity rally going some ways to rebuild household wealth, ‘strength, durability of expansion are in question’, as prospects for ‘consumer spending remain cloudy’. Not a strong endorsement to wear a train driver’s hat Buffett style.

The USD$ is currently lower against the EUR +0.35%, GBP +0.18%, CHF +0.35% and JPY +0.00%. The commodity currencies are stronger this morning, CAD +0.35% and AUD +0.22%. At 96c or 1.0417 expect the BOC to be drawing ‘their’ line in the sand. Governor Carney has insisted that they will use a combination of currency intervention, credit and quantitative easing options to influence the loonies’ value. The BOC believes that a strong currency is detrimental to economic growth. In the O/N session, the loonie has appreciated to its strongest level in 2-weeks vs. its southern trading partner on the back of the G20 maintaining their economic stimulus measures. Keeping the status quo is boosting speculators risk appetite for the higher yielding asset classes and commodity based currencies. Last week the Canadian economy managed to pare -43k jobs in Oct. (the market was expecting a gain of +10k) and push the unemployment rate up 2-ticks to an unexpected +8.6%. The data provides much stronger evidence that Canada has some ways to go to exit this recession, but, the data will make it easier for Governor Carney to follow through on his pledge to keep borrowing costs at record lows until June of next year to promote growth unless of course the inflation outlook changes materially. For now the loonie remains in a tight 3cent trading range with dealers continuing to play the support and resistance levels until fundamentally or technically told otherwise or commodity prices start to fall off a cliff!

The AUD near its strongest level in over a year as China, their largest trading partner, said that their industrial production (+16.1%) and retail sales (+16.2) accelerated last month. The currency has also climbed on speculation that the Fed will now have to keep its O/N borrowing costs low for a considerable period of time after Friday’s disappointing headlines, thus boosting demand for higher-yielding assets. It’s the same story, but at a different pace! Last week, Governor Stevens indicated that the Aussi economy will expand at more than three times the pace forecasted in Aug., and signaled he and his policy makers will continue to lead the world in raising borrowing costs. The currency is well supported by commodity prices and expects dealers to remain better buyers on pullbacks (0.9308).

Crude is higher in the O/N session ($79.54 up +49c). Crude prices have remained close to home after ‘Ida’ weakened in the Gulf of Mexico on its way to the US coast, thus reducing the potential of further supply disruptions. Initially, she dragged prices from their one week lows as she entered the Gulf and forced both BP and Chevron to cut production and evacuate some staff for safety reasons. It’s worth noting that the Gulf of Mexico produces 27% of the domestic US Oil production and 15% of its gas output! Earlier in yesterday’s session, prices declined after an official from OPEC said the group is unlikely to change production levels in Dec. Its does not help the commodity that the IEA cut its long-term forecast for global oil demand yesterday on the back of this economic crisis sapping consumption in developed economies and the uptick in alternative energy use. Last week the black-stuff prices plummeted after the 26-year high US unemployment rate conjured up fears that future fuel demand will once again weaken. To date, it has not been able to retrace all of its 3% losses from Friday. The commodity is contained within this $7 trading range for the time being, however, support levels are questionable as demand destruction remains strong and healthy in the US. Even last weeks bullish inventory report has provided little support. Weekly inventory reports appear tomorrow due to the Memorial Day holiday today.

Gold rose to a record in London this morning as the greenback is struggling for a 3rd consecutive day, thus boosting demand for the yellow metal as a hedge against further currency depreciation. The holiday shortened week had some speculators booking well earned profits earlier, however, disappointing US employment numbers along with the RBI purchase of 200 metric tons or $6.7b of the yellow metal from the IMF has speculators wanting to buy on pull backs push commodity higher ($1,115).

The Nikkei closed at 9,871 up +1. The DAX index in Europe was at 5,695 up +82; the FTSE (UK) currently is 5,289 up +60. The early call for the open of key US indices is higher. The US 10-year bonds eased 2bp yesterday (3.47%) and are little changed in the O/N session. Treasuries prices rallied yesterday despite the market setting itself up to absorb another $41b’s worth of US debt this week. Dealers managed to take down $25b 10-year product with another record of indirect bids. Dovish comments from the Fed’s Lockhart and Yellen gave way to risk reduction strategies being implemented. Money is being taken off the side-lines and been put to work in the FI asset class. The US treasury will issue $16b 30-year bonds tomorrow. One would have expected dealers to cheapen the curve a wee bit more, however, demand is there!

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