Trading with point and figure

as we marked before the open 25K to 25500 was rez
wide area...wild market
excellent sell off from rez
 
- Digesting blockbuster China Trade, UK RICS House Prices awaiting
BoE meeting and inflation report, rash of Fed and ECB speakers,
US weekly jobless claims, US 30 yr sale and more corp earnings;
rate decisions: Mexico and Philippines, Peru and Romania

- BoE: forecasts likely little changed, focus on rate trajectory

- Philippines: CPI surge likely to force BSP's hand on rates

- Mexico: further 25 bps rate hike seen, expected drop in CPI may
allow Banxico to signal a pause

- Romania: loose fiscal policy, strong growth, rising inflation
and wages leaves BNR with little choice other than another hike

- Table: BOE rate probabilities

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** EVENTS PREVIEW **
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A busier day is in prospect as the so called bonfire of the volatility sellers at the start of the month appears to have ebbed, at least for the time being. Central banks will again be front and central, with the BoE rate decision and Q1 Inflation report accompanied by another rash of ECB and Fed speakers. The expected no change from the RBNZ overnight precedes policy rate meetings in Mexico, Peru, the Philippines and Serbia, while the ECB also published its Economic Bulletin. Statistically the world's two trade powerhouses - China (very robust, but beware base and lunar new year timing effects) and Germany report their monthly trade data, and there is also the UK RICS House Price Balance ahead of US weekly jobless claims and Mexican CPI. In terms of corporate earnings, the headline grabbers are likely to be ABB, Commerzbank, L'Oreal, Societe Generale, Total and Zurich Insurance in Europe, and AIG, Goodyear, Kellogg, Twitter and Tyson Foods in the USA. Meanwhile the US rounds off its quarterly refunding with $16.0 Bln, with Ireland auctioning 10 & 20-yr paper. Markets are discounting a further 25 bps rate hike to 7.50% Mexico as inflation rates remain stubbornly high, the question is whether the expected drop in CPI to 5.52% y/y from a near 17-yr high of 6.67% in December (in no small part due to base effects) is sufficient for Banxico to at least signal a pause in the current rate hiking cycle. The Philippines BSP rate decision is seen as very finely balanced after the unexpected surge in both headline CPI (4.0% from December's 3.3% against a forecast of 3.5%) and core (3.9% y/y vs. December 3.2% and a forecast of 3.5%), which along with a further bout of PHP weakness should force the BSP's hand to hike its borrowing rate from an all-time low of 3.0%, probably by 25 bps, and its first rate hike since 2014.

** U.K. - BoE rate decision **
- Markets are discounting no change in rates at this meeting, but have raised the probability of a May rate hike from around 25% at the start of the year to around 50% now (see attached chart), even though incoming data for the UK has been decidedly mixed since they last met. As much as Mr Carney suggested in last week's annual testimony to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee that the MPC would be making rather greater efforts to rein in inflation going forward, it would be a surprise if there was any clear shift from the very gradual rate hike message, and the ever present reference to the outlook for the economy being highly contingent on the outcome of the Brexit negotiations. In passing, the much delayed exchange of letters between Carney and Chancellor Hammond in respect of the breach of the upper limit on CPI in November will also be published. But as ever, this will be nothing more than protocol. Of rather more interest will be the extent and direction of any tweaks to its inflation, growth and labour market forecasts, and its rate trajectory.



from Marc Ostwald
 
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