Russell Shor

Fed Chair Powell’s delivery at Jackson Hole had a hawkishness to it. He said that “although inflation has moved down from its peak…it remains too high.” This comes after the Fed’s 11 rate hikes since the beginning of 2022, which has the target range currently at 5.25%-5.5%. At face value, this seems restrictive, however labour markets are still tight, and GDP is still growing at a fair pace.

Gold has a robust inverse relationship to the 10-year real yield. The current correlation coefficient on the daily timeframe is -90%. Yesterday, the real yield declined by 6.57%, which saw the yellow metal respond and appreciate on the day.

With just a week left of the month, the NAS100 August candlestick (blue arrow) shows interesting price action. Initially, the month was bearish, with bears taking the index down to the month low of 14,555. However, the bears lost control at this level with the bulls taking over. The bulls have pushed price back up to the 15,350 levels and remain in control. We caution that the monthly candle is…

Constrained economic activity in the Euro Area is negatively impacting the EURUSD and influencing ECB policy. As such, the currency pair is sensitive to economic releases. Whilst the central bank has inflation foremost on its mind, the level of Euro Area slowdown cannot be ignored. Flash PMIs that were released today continue to indicate a challenging environment, implying contraction in both the manufacturing and services sectors.

The 10-year real yield and dollar were showing signs of moderation earlier today. However, both instruments’ trend-following indicators have now crossed up.

Microsoft presented a fresh proposal regarding the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. This move comes as a response to the initial proposition being turned down by regulatory authorities in the United Kingdom. The new deal includes a series of compromises and accommodations.

The 2-year yield serves as a good general proxy for monetary policy direction. The top chart shows the German 2-year yield, representing European monetary policy, and the chart underneath is the US 2-year yield. Since mid-July, the German 2-year has been trending down and the US 2-year has been trending up.

The 10-year real yield, adjusted for inflation, continues to climb. It is trading close to 2% at 1.96%. The last time real yields were at these levels was back in June 2009. This post-inflation yield will be appealing to a significant number of investors, adding increased rivalry for stocks, particularly stocks with elevated valuations. The daily candles in Chart 1 show that the 10-year real yield has charted a higher…

Bitcoin dropped markedly late in the trading day yesterday and is trading around $26,500. For the current week, the cryptocurrency is down 9.65%. The drop followed an article in The Wall Street Journal that reported that SpaceX wrote down its bitcoin holdings to the value of $373m in 2022 and 2021 and has sold its holdings.

The Peoples Bank of China has stepped up efforts to defend the renminbi. The Chinese currency has been declining off the back of poor economic data and woes in its property sector. This includes a weakening in exports and fragile consumer confidence.

Bitcoin has declined by about 1% over the last two days, to trade around $28,500. This comes after two weeks of muted price action. The market is starting to appreciate that rates may remain “higher for longer” and this is weighing on the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin’s volatility is still low, but the recent price movement is showing signs of life, albeit to the downside. The question is if the downside movement…