Is the SNB at it again? EURO-phoria takes off as longer term investors get the nod.
Having focused on the USD in recent weeks, and how the market has rounded on the greenback ‘en masse’, we can finally look to some exchange rate moves outside of the major spot rates. Sharp losses in the CHF have shown that the big money is taking note of the recovery in the Euro zone, and that investment prospects look good as the smaller member states are gaining traction alongside the power house that is Germany. Last week, IFO economists said they saw little which could derail the domestic economy, including the strengthening EUR, which has traded to a little shy of 1.1800 in the past week, but more significantly, taking out the 1.1711/12 (long term range highs in the process. This led to the ‘follow through’ which saw EUR/CHF shooting up to levels close to 1.1400, having spent a year long slumber inside a 1.0600-1.1000 range.
More data out next week is expected to confirm the above, headlined by EU wide Q2 GDP on the Tuesday, with updated manufacturing PMIs due out for all the leading states, as well as unemployment data. Focus on Germany will be shared out a little to Spain and Italy, also seeing marked improvement in economic activity. Spanish jobs have increased significantly, and in Italy, industrial orders have taken off, so no surprise for widespread calls for the ECB to rein in their APP, but once again, market forces are threatening to choke off some of this recovery. As such, there is growing sentiment that once the ECB do signal policy change in Autumn, there will be a sense of disappointment – naturally linked to the rampant gains in the EUR seen already. German 10yr hit levels shy of 0.65% a few weeks back, but the moderation of some 10bps or so looks to have been a short lived affair as Bunds took a sharp hit as the regional inflation data out of Germany saw healthy pick up. On Monday we will see whether CPI is rising across the region as a whole, but consensus is looking for 1.3% in the headline, 1.1% in the core.
This post was published at Zero Hedge on Jul 30, 2017.
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