NAB Morning Call

Thursday 7th July 2022The FOMC minutes are out, pointing to significant risk if inflation isn’t nipped in the bud. Markets are taking this as a sign that the Fed will lift rates more quickly, starting with a 50-75 basis point hike at the next meeting. This has added to concerns about the Fed inducing a recession, yet equity markets continue to climb. Phil asks NAB’s Ray Attrill whether the minutes are a little out of date, given the ISM read shows a fall in employment. We’ll get a clear indication of the jobless rate with initial claims for the US tonight. And Australia’s trade balance is the major release locally. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wednesday 6th July 2022The Euro is getting closer to parity with the US dollar. In today’s podcast NAB’s Skye Masters points out that the Markets team had forecast parity by the end of the year, but it looks like it wil happen much sooner than that. The big moves overnight, including a sizable fall in oil and copper, show recession fears are front and centre, even though there’s been very little data, and what there has been has not been particularly bad news. Skye says days like today, where there are some contradictory shifts, demonstrate the importance of looking at the trends and focusing on the bigger picture. Tomorrow could easily see a reversal of the moves we’ve seen today. The US share market had a wide trading range today, showing just how much uncertainty there is in the direction of travel right now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tuesday 5th July 2022The RBA meets today and the NAB expectation is that they will lift interest rates by 50 basis points. Phil asks NAB’s Tapas Strickland whether, by seeing inflation rising slower than many other parts f the world, whether we’ll see a lower peak and hence, less work needed by the RBA. There seem to be lots of hope lately that inflation might be showing signs of peaking, but the war rages on and oil and food supplies are still heavily constrained. The most telling reality check is that Germany trade has fallen heavily into deficit, for the first time since 1991 (and even then, only relatively briefly). It could be worse still if Russia restrains supply even further. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Monday 4th July 2022Recessions fears continue to rise, pushing bond yields lower. As NAB’s Rodrigo Catril explains, the ISM manufacturing report in the US on Friday added to the fears, showing a contraction in new orders. It’s no longer an issue of supply constraints, demand is also softening. Yet inflation continues to rise. In Europe it grew from 8.1% year on year in May, to 8.6% in June. A big fall in copper prices also suggests an expected fall in demand. All this uncertainty is knocking the Aussie dollar down more than most currencies. This environment provides the ammunition for the RBA to make a large hike (50 basis points) tomorrow. Later in the week we’ll see if the tight labour market in the US is easing any, with the release of the monthly non-farm payrolls data. Prepare for a bumpy week again. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Friday 1st July 2022Yields are lower in the US and Europe as recession fears grow, prompted by weaker than expected personal spending in the US, with a very strong chance of a negative Q2 GDP, which would mean the US economy was in recession. Whilst you might hope less consumption would mean falling inflation, NAB’s Tapas Strickland days there’s little sign of it yet. It wasn’t just the US receiving bad news. There was a flurry of negative data for Europe, even before the EDB lifts rates, and a particularly bad activity outlook report from New Zealand. So, if the US, Europe, UK and New Zealand all go into recession, does that mean Australia will follow? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Thursday 30th June 2022Markets are confused as to where the global economy is heading. If investors were looking to the ECB Forum in Sintra for clarification, they will have been disappointed, with Jerome Powell confessing that recent experience has shown ‘how little we understand inflation’. NAB’s Gavin Friend says it doesn’t inspire you with confidence, when central banks are feeling their way. Meanwhile, all we can do is look for signs of softening economies, in the hope that falling demand will match up with lower supplies. On that basis a downward revision in US GDP could be seen as good news and Australian retail sales holding up the opposite side of the coin. There is a plethora of data today to add to the confusion, including the core PCE deflator, that the Fed has traditionally turned to as its measure of inflation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wednesday 29th June 2022US equities switched direction overnight. NAB’s Taylor Nugent says it was a swift response to a weaker than expected consumer sentiment read in the US, with a particularly sharp fall in the expectations component. European yields are markedly higher today as Christine Lagarde spoke up the task at hand for the ECB, even though she continues to outline a hike of just 25 basis points in July. Today, Australian retail sales numbers are out, NATO continues to meet and the ECB forum in Sintra finally gets down to some meaty discussion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tuesday 28th June 2022The volatility of the past few months means there is likely to be a greater need for rebalancing at the end of the quarter this time, says NAB’s Rodrigo Catril. Hence, we have seen a mixed picture overnight, with equities down, yields rising, the Aussie dollar suffering another fall and oil and iron ore rising in price, but each for differing reasons. Yet the overarching picture is one of uncertainty. Nobody is sure that central banks can combat inflation without instigating a recession, and nobody has a clear picture about how the Ukraine war will end. Once again, we try and map out a picture in the face of markets, geopolitics and data releases. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Monday 27th June 2022These are strange times. Market sentiment improved at the end of last week because of weaker consumer sentiment and a downward revision in consumer inflation expectations. The hope is this means that central banks will need to do less to curb inflation, which is reducing recession fears. But as NAB’s Ray Attrill says, that could all change tomorrow. Or today. The war in Ukraine is escalating and the G7 resolve to do more against Russia is increasing. Also today, what the RBA’s Philip Lowe said in Zurich last week, and the fate of the Aussie dollar? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Friday 24th June 2022There have been big movements in bond yields overnight. NAB’s Ken Crompton says there’s been a reaction to weak PMI data from Europe and the US. There were promising signs, though, particularly in Europe were rising inventory numbers suggest demand is softening and prices are weakening, which could lessen the need for aggressive hikes by the ECB. Nothing, it seems, will stop the Fed though, with Jerome Powell renewing his unconditional commitment to reducing inflation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.