Monday Macros
Treasuries Rally Overnight...Reverse All Gains...Chinese Retail Sales Disappoint
10 year treasuries rallied to 1.245 overnight but gave it all back during London time and now back to 1.28, unchanged from Friday's close... Just as the vigilantes got close to breaking the 10 year early Friday, with a 1.38, on the way to 1.42 support, the consumer confidence plummeted, and 10 years rallied 8 basis into the close... Again the follow through overnight has reversed... We do not think the collapse of the Afghanistan government had much effect on treasuries, but Delta variant remains a concern...and the lack of debt increase discussions are starting to worry some that the Government may shut down in the fall... Still premature, but a concern.
So what does this week bring? FOMC minutes are the most important piece of information this week... Retail Sales are expected to be weak... And Powell is hosting a town hall discussion with educators, we doubt that is the right venue to speak before the Jackson Hole meetings next week..Kaplan speaks on Friday... Pretty clear where he stands... As for Jackson Hole, we see that the ECB President, Laguarde, is not making the trip... While we don't know why, we assume it is Covid related, but whatever it is, it waters down the importance of the meetings... Hawkish, Neutral ,and Dovish... Until Powell and Williams break to the neutral camp, tapering will be the proverbial kick the can down the road...Even though Rosengren has clearly pointed out that QE is raising asset prices, and not helping employment
Delta variant... How important is it to markets?... Clearly it has had a negative effect... While equities achieve new records and the European equities had risen 10 days in a row before today, we question whether it is really effecting spending... Morgan Stanley still thinks the quick rise in Delta variant cases will reverse in just a few weeks, we saw Gottlieb on CNBC, where he said "This wave could be the last for now, I do not think Covid is going to be an epidemic all through the fall and winter"... Another quote from Barron's from CIBC Private Wealth over the weekend, "if you look at the market action last week, it is saying Delta variant is a public health crisis, but not an economic crisis"
Trading equities was lackluster on Friday, where we had the lowest volume of 2021. Vix remains low. In 2021 the average equity was 577 billion a day, from MS, last week it was a paltry 350 billion. Seemingly, dealer gamma near record levels and fervent retail traders willing to buy the dip continue to keep the broader indices afloat.
Bonds and Stocks are sending different messages... Bonds are worried about a slowdown, while Stocks are not...seemingly lately they are correlated... Bonds go up in price, stocks go up in price... It won't last... 10 years today have resistance at 1.22 and support at 1.30, the 200 day moving average, and then 1.36...New issues are expected to be slow this week, with only 10-15 billion ...expect that to be front loaded.
It will be a quiet week, FOMC minutes look to be the big news of the week.