FOMC protocols & storm

Black swans did not fly by, and there were no important macroeconomic statistics or news injections either on the financial markets.

In general, the lull that has lately reigned in the financial markets is lingering and the silence begins to become painful. Usually, it all ends with a storm. But a storm needs a trigger. For example, Trump’s next demarche and the failure of negotiations between the US and China with a sharp intensification of trade wars.

But so far, markets do not believe in such a scenario. Goldman Sachs Group analysts predict the extinction of friction between the United States and China in 2020, and the WTO predicts the intensification of global trade next year: if by the end of 2019, world trade is expected to grow at 1.2%, then in 2020 WTO experts are counting on an increase of 2.7%. The dynamics of the VIX Index (Fear Index) is located in the area of historic lows. According to Deutsche Bank estimates, the currency market volatility for the major G10 currency pairs is at its lowest level over the past 45 years. The last time this happened only twice in the past - during 2007 and 2014.

Nevertheless, the calmer the financial markets look and the more optimistic the forecasts of financial analysts sound, the more worrying it becomes for us since all these are signs of an impending storm.

In this regard, our confidence in the advisability of medium-term purchases of safe-haven assets is growing stronger every day. But once again, we note that within the day, gold or the Japanese yen may well decline, especially if positive news from the trade negotiations appear.

Today promises to be more interesting than Tuesday. Because inflation statistics for Canada will be published, as well as FOMC protocols. Given that the next Fed’s actions are not what we can predict now, the markets will study with interest in the text of the last FOMC meeting. Our position on the dollar, meanwhile, is unchanged: we believe that the threat/opportunity balance for the dollar has now shifted towards threats and will continue to look for points for its sales in the foreign exchange market.