The latest U.S. business surveys for August underlined that lack of urgency as they beat forecasts, due largely to robust responses from service sector firms. Home sales in July were also above expectations.
But it wasn’t all sweetness and light, with manufacturing still stuck in contraction mode and weekly jobless claims ticking higher. What’s more, the aggregate global economic surprise index compiled by Citi is now clocking its most negative reading since the depths of 2020’s pandemic lockdowns.
And so the direction of travel for “restrictive” U.S. interest rates remains down, almost 100bp of Fed cuts this year remain in futures prices and the dollar will likely struggle to reverse this month’s sharp retreat in that environment.
That’s especially so against the yen, where Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda told parliament the central bank will push ahead with further rate rises there as long as the incoming economic data pans out as now assumed. And on that score, the latest Japanese inflation numbers were bang in line, with annual core consumer price gains for July as expected at 2.7%.
Although he acknowledged policy caution following recent market turbulence, Ueda told parliament: “Japan’s short-term rates are very low. If the economy is in good shape, they will move up to levels deemed neutral.”
Dollar/yen slipped back below 146 after the testimony and the Nikkei stock benchmark closed 0.4% higher.
Two-year Treasury yields barely clung on to 4% ahead of Powell’s keynote speech at 10am New York time, albeit up more than 10bps from the week’s low.
And Wall Street stock futures clawed back much of Thursday’s swoon ahead of Friday’s bell, with the S&P500 still eyeing the record high it came within half a percent of hitting intraday yesterday. The VIX volatility gauge fell back to just above 17 – a fraction below its long-term median.
