The MUFG Global Markets Podcast

This week George Goncalves, MUFG Head of U.S. Macro Strategy, reviews a recent special topic from the latest Macro2Markets Monthly report, where the team has found that the last few years of higher nominal activity (boosted by higher prices given elevated inflation levels) has made the economy, company earnings, and market performance look better than what they truly are. George concludes by discussing the upcoming CPI report which should continue to point towards lower reading as the disinflationary trends in the economy seem to be on track. The key area that the Macro Strategy team is focusing on is the evolution of shelter costs and is there finally a catch up to more real-time measures of rental prices.

Lee Hardman, Senior Currency Analyst, and Simon Mayes, Head of UK, Ireland and Switzerland, Corporate Sales, discuss the FX market implications from the UK and French elections.
Will the USD continue to weaken in the week ahead following the release of the latest NFP report?   
 
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As we come to the mid-point of the year Derek Halpenny, Head of Research Global Markets EMEA & International Securities talks to Seiko Kataoka-Fisher, Head of JC FX Sales about MUFG’s forecasts and where the biggest divergences have been relative to expectations at the start of the year.
 
Derek also talks through the scenarios for the French parliamentary elections ahead of the first round election on 30th June and what the implications could be for the euro. The political uncertainty also could be intensifying during a key week of US economic data.
 
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Lee Hardman, Senior Currency Analyst, and Jack Greenslade from the Global Customer Marketing Group, discuss the latest central bank policy updates in Europe. Will the policy updates alter European currency performance ahead of the upcoming French elections? 

This week George Goncalves, MUFG Head of U.S. Macro Strategy, quickly reviews that first two weeks of June, which were macro event intense with various central bank meetings and inflation reports among other things. The more hawkish Fed event led to the strategy team pushing back their first Fed cut view to September from July. George believes the market becomes more technical-driven and less macro-focused into quarter-end.
 

Heightened political uncertainty in France has emerged as important driver of FX market performance over the past week. Lee Hardman, Senior Currency Analyst talks to Michael Owen, Head of Global Client Desk EMEA, about how election risks in France and the UK are impacting the outlook for the FX market alongside the latest policy updates from the BoJ, BoE and Fed.

This week George Goncalves, MUFG Head of U.S. Macro Strategy, gets us caught up on what has been happening in global macro and markets, with a focus on recapping the May NFP jobs report, which he believes wasn’t as strong as the headlines suggested, and that it is another report that demonstrates there are clearly macro divergences forming in various parts of the labor force.
George also provides his thoughts on what to look out for in the CPI report, where we are waiting to see if the shelter costs ever come down enough to pull inflation readings lower. Meanwhile, the CPI report takes place ahead of the June FOMC meeting where we are keenly focused on the dots (interest rate estimates) and the terminal level estimates for the core PCE inflation reading published in the summary of economic projections (SEP) by the Fed. In addition, will Chair Powell sound dovish (and echo some of the same concerns that the strategy team has around the true health of the jobs market) or will Chair Powell be hawkish. Chair Powell has threaded the needle lately with his communications, but if markets deem that his message is hawkish, after a hawkish release of the dots, a major risk-off would be in store.

With the rupiah falling to a four-year low, it's perhaps timely for us to re-assess our short-term outlook for the currency. We also delve into how the long-term appeal of the rupiah has improved, led by EV. 
 
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The US jobs data was much stronger than expected today and Derek Halpenny, Head of Research Global Markets EMEA & International Securities, speaks to Shan Husain, Institutional FX Sales about the implications of the data for the dollar and ahead of the FOMC meeting next week.
Derek also discusses the possibility of the BoJ altering its policy on JGB purchases at the meeting next Friday.   
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Lee Hardman, Senior Currency Analyst, and Seiko Kataoka-Fisher, Vice President from Japanese Customer Sales for EMEA in London, discuss what to expect from next week’s BoC and ECB policy meetings. Will the FX market impact from the policy updates be overshadowed by next week’s NFP report?
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Michael Wan, Senior Currency Analyst with Global Markets Research Asia, discuss three key things to watch in India - 1) the upcoming General Elections, 2) RBI policy on 7 June, and 3) the impact of larger than expected dividends from RBI
 
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This week Derek Halpenny, Head of Research Global Markets EMEA and International Securities talks to Abdul-Ahad Lockhart, currency analyst, about safe-havens in the FX market.
What determines safe-haven currencies and what other factors need to be considered in anticipating currency performance during a bout of risk-off? Derek argues that while the US dollar is the obvious safe-haven choice in the FX markets there are scenarios when that might not be the case and other currencies could take precedence.
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Lee Hardman, Senior Currency Analyst, and Seiko Kataoka-Fisher, Vice President from Japanese Customer Sales for EMEA in London, discuss why the USD has been weakening in recent weeks and whether it is likely to extend further.
Will Biden’s decision to impose fresh tariffs on imports from China derail strengthening growth momentum outside of the US? 
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This week George Goncalves, MUFG Head of U.S. Macro Strategy, recaps what he has learned from the various trips he has been on while visiting investors and how it compares to our house view. He also goes over his short-term views on inflation ahead of the all-important CPI report. In George’s view, just like the last NFP report captured some of the concerns that have been forming for quarters now (and something we have been flagging), what if shelter cost declines show up now and actually start driving CPI lower, just in time for a Fed that needs greater confidence before thinking about when to ease rates ahead.

From the best performing G10 currency last week, the yen has turned and is the worst performer this week. Derek Halpenny, Head of Research Global Markets EMEA & International Securities talks to Simon Mayes, Head of UK Ireland and Switzerland FX Corporate Sales about the shift in tone from BoJ Governor Ueda who turned a lot more hawkish with concerns increasing over yen weakness. Derek also discusses the potential for the BoE cutting rates in June following the MPC meeting this week and the stronger GDP data today.

Lee Hardman, Senior Currency Analyst, and Andrea Hayward, Vice President of the Japanese Client Sales Group for EMEA in London, discuss the fallout from a volatile week for USD/JPY.
What have been the main drivers behind the sharp correction lower for USD/JPY?  
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This week George Goncalves, MUFG Head of U.S. Macro Strategy, walks through what to expect at the May FOMC meeting. We believe that QT will be tapered while the Fed will start to acknowledge that real rates are too restrictive. Our base case is that Chair Powell will say tightening is working, but they are being mindful of the long and variable lags. Also, on the slightly more hawkish side, Chair Powell will likely reiterate that the FOMC lacks confidence on future inflation path and is not ready to commit to the timing on rate cuts. Lastly, George briefly highlights why we are still focused on and worried about the ongoing macro divergences in U.S. economic data and that the economy looks stronger due to fiscal policy.

After today’s BoJ policy meeting and the heavy yen selling, Derek Halpenny, Head of Research Global Markets EMEA & International Securities, talks to Chris Jakubowski, Director – Institutional FX Sales, about the BoJ policy outlook ahead following the meeting and the fallout in the FX market with the yen hitting new lows.
Why has the MoF not yet intervened to halt yen selling? Tune in to listen to Chris and Derek’s discussion.
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Heightened geopolitical risks in the Middle East have been an important driver of the FX market over the past week. Lee Hardman, Senior Currency Analyst talks to Michael Owen, Head of Global Client Desk EMEA, about how geopolitical risks are impacting MUFG’s outlook for the FX market and how the BoJ’s upcoming policy meeting could impact JPY performance in the week ahead.

This week saw the FX markets come back to life after a long period of lull with a sharp appreciation of the US dollar. Derek Halpenny, Head of Research, Global Markets EMEA & International Securities talks to Simon Mayes, Head of UK, Ireland and Switzerland Corporate Sales about the implications for the US dollar outlook following the US inflation data and the ECB policy announcement. Derek also discusses the JPY intervention prospects next week and beyond and provides an update on MUFG FX Research trading views.

Lee Hardman, Senior Currency Analyst, and Abdul-Ahad Lockhart, Currency Analyst, discuss the recent performance of the USD which has benefitted from the paring back of Fed rate cut expectations.
Will the release of the latest US inflation data for March encourage the Fed to delay rate cuts until 2H of this year?

This week George Goncalves, MUFG Head of U.S. Macro Strategy, walks through the ever evolving reaction function from the Fed, where George isn’t terribly concerned about the recent Fed hawkish comments. George feels that this has been standard operating procedure, where the Fed tries to calibrate their message after a FOMC meeting.
What we learned at the March FOMC is still important, the Fed is increasingly focused on their dual-mandate and will react to labor market weakness just as it would to changes for the path for inflation. George also walked through a special topic theme from the latest Macro2Markets Monthly report, the topic being how healthy is the consumer and are there signs of the wealth effect at work post the recent large rally in financial assets. Lastly George gave a mini-NFP preview.

At the end of an event-filled week for the financial markets Derek Halpenny, Head of Research Global Markets EMEA & International Securities runs through with Shan Husain, Vice President Institutional Investors FX Sales EMEA, the key takeaways for the US dollar and other FX pairs.
Derek also looks ahead to what will be in focus for the markets going forward. Derek also provides an update on MUFG Research trade views.
 
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This week George Goncalves, MUFG Head of U.S. Macro Strategy, gives us an update on his latest view since his last podcast and highlights what is driving market sentiment and views lately. George then walks us through the March FOMC preview report, focused on what is our base-case and risks around our views into and out of the Fed meeting. George believes Chair Powell will aim to sound neutral as the market has already priced-out a lot of the recent cut expectations and the data trends remain mixed.