Wednesday Sep 18 2024 10:36
4 min
It’s Fed Day. There will be lots of takes and noise about the decision. Whether it’s a cut of 25 or 50 basis points matters little – the signal on the neutral rate and how fast the Federal Reserve thinks it needs to get there will be important. And also, the landing – the Fed thinks it has room to move slowly – i.e. maintaining a degree of restriction for longer — but the worm may have already turned.
I still favour 25bps over 50bps as a prediction (not a recommendation) — it gives them room to cut interest rates aggressively after the election and avoid being tarred with political interference. And with the market at an all-time high, it’s hard to argue that financial conditions are overly restrictive. With the market pricing in a fair few cuts in the coming months, financial conditions remain accommodative and can stay that way with 25bps.
As another sign of financial conditions not being overly restrictive – the Chicago Fed index is at its loosest since Jan. 2022.
Policy mistake? Some might would argue it’s already too late and that the Federal Reserve has already made a huge policy error. Yesterday the 2-year Treasury rate was 3.56%, while the Fed funds rate was 5.33%, resulting in a spread of -1.77 percentage points, which is the widest it’s been since 1988.
Investors are not concerned – the BofA Global Fund Manager Survey reports sentiment improving on ‘Fed cuts + soft landing’ optimism... you get both? It also notes that nine in ten see a steeper yield curve whilst investors have tactically switched to bond proxies in September from cyclicals — but cyclicals are the biggest beneficiaries of rate cuts.
The S&P 500 ended almost after hitting a record high on Tuesday. European stock markets are mixed this morning with all eyes clearly on the Fed. The dollar came back yesterday after hitting its weakest in over a year, but gains are limited for now.
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UK inflation was steady at 2.2% ahead of tomorrow’s Bank of England meeting – always the bridesmaid. The worry for the MPC is sticky services inflation — up to 5.6% from 5.5% the month before. And core inflation rose to 3.6% in August from 3.3% in July. The BoE was expected to pause rate cuts tomorrow and the inflation figures tend to support this view. Markets suggest a one-in-four chance of a cut. The Fed should not have an impact as the MPC meets today and makes its announcement tomorrow.
The pound rose on the inflation figures. Short-term positive MACD crossover for GBPUSD with the rally off the CPI print at 7 a.m. seen clearly. Resistance at 1.320 but could push up to 1.3230 this morning and then bulls should look beyond to 1.3266 – the recent 2-year peak – should the Federal Reserve go big with a 50bps cut and sound dovish.
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