The Turkish lira is still seen as an easy short as it sets more record lows. Bond kings don't agree on where to call the end of the 30-year bull market, and Trump will face questions later.
Lira drag
The Turkish lira fell to another new record low this morning, and was trading at 3.8456 to the dollar as of 5:15 a.m. ET. Investors see an interest-rate hike from the central bank as both needed to stop the decline, and unlikely, which is making the currency an easy short. The wider MSCI EM Currency Index dropped, with Egypt's pound the next worst performer, retreating 0.5 percent against the U.S. dollar, for the second day of losses.
Big oil
Should prices remain above $50 a barrel in 2017, oil majors are set to reap the rewards from investments made before the rout in crude, according to analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein. West Texas Intermediate, which hit a one-month low yesterday, was trading at $51.24 a barrel by 5:18 a.m. ET after Saudi Arabia was said to curb exports to Asia as part of the OPEC production-cut deal.
Bond bull market end
Investors are looking for the end of the 30-year bull market in bonds. They're just not in agreement on when that will be. Bill Gross said that a yield of more than 2.6 percent on 10-year U.S. Treasuries would mark the end of the run. Meanwhile, DoubleLine Capital's Jeffrey Gundlach thinks the threshold that would signal the end of the three-decade rally is a yield that tops 3 percent. The instrument was yielding 2.390 percent this morning, well below the post-election peak of 2.5967 percent.
Markets rise
Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 0.4 percent, while Japan's Topix index closed 0.5 percent higher. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index had gained 0.2 percent by 5:25 a.m. ET with London's FTSE 100 Index on course to continue its record-breaking start to the year. S&P 500 futures were broadly unchanged.
Dollar rally struggles, the pound slump drives FTSE to record record, and the end of an era at Yahoo.
Dollar drops
Investors worried that the market has got too long dollars are paring back positions ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's news conference tomorrow. The yen strengthened to trade as high as 115.20 to the dollar overnight, before giving up some of those gains. It is a different story for the Turkish lira, which fell to another new record low against the greenback this morning, and was trading at 3.7816 to the dollar at 5:15 a.m. ET.
FTSE record record
Another currency that has a bad start to the new year is the British pound, which was trading at $1.2148 at 5:19 a.m. ET. But as the pound falls, the sterling-denominated FTSE 100 rises. So much so that the index has closed at a new record high every day since markets reopened after Christmas. Should it close higher at the end of today's session, that would be nine successive record highs — which would itself be a record, the longest previous streak being eight back in 1997.
End of an era at Yahoo
Yahoo! Inc. Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer will leave the board of the investment company that will remain after the proposed sale of Yahoo's internet properties to Verizon Communications Inc. closes. The company will also drop the Yahoo name, and become Altaba Inc. The chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., who met Donald Trump yesterday, is steering his company to take big steps offline as it leads a bid to take department store chain Intime Retail Group Co. private for as much as $2.6 billion.
Markets quiet
Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.2 percent, with Japan's Topix index dropping 0.7 percent as the yen rallied, putting pressure on exporters. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index was 0.1 percent lower at 5:24 a.m. ET with a decline in lenders offset by rises in carmakers and miners following data from China showing producer prices rose at the fastest pace in five years. S&P 500 futures were broadly unchanged.
The shutters come down on Greek banks, European stock markets plunge and credit risk surges. Greece dominates the conversation this morning.
Sterling slides
The British pound was trading 1.1 percent lower at $1.2148 as of 4:55 a.m. ET following comments over the weekend from Prime Minister Theresa May which stoked fears that the U.K. will lose access to Europe's single market. In an interview with Sky News she said that regaining control of immigration and lawmaking are a greater priority than membership of the single market. Meanwhile, data from Halifax this morning showed U.K. home prices had a strong end to 2016, but the U.K. mortgage lender warned growth is likely to slow in 2017.
Yuan volatility
The Chinese currency's lively start to the year continued overnight, with the offshore yuan dropping 0.4 percent by 5:20 a.m. ET, adding to a 0.9 percent fall on Friday. Last week, a short squeeze helped the currency to a record weekly advance. Over the weekend, the People’s Bank of China revealed that the country's foreign reserve holdings fell for a sixth month in December to $3.01 trillion, down from a record $4 trillion in June 2014. Fan Gang, an adviser to the People's Bank of China, said that additional measures to stem capital outflows are unlikely.
Fed hawks
With just over a year remaining on Janet Yellen's current term as chair of the Federal Reserve, comments from three of her potential successors at this this weekend's annual American Economic Association meeting are noteworthy. Glenn Hubbard of Columbia University, along with Stanford University’s John Taylor and Kevin Warsh, are all seen by Fed watchers as potential future chairs should President-elect Donald Trump decide not to re-nominate Yellen. All three criticized the U.S. central bank for trying to do too much, and suggested interest rates would be higher if they were in charge.
Markets mixed
Dollar fall
The greenback posted its biggest drop since Donald Trump's election as the Federal Reserve's minutes showed uncertainty over how the president-elect's policies would impact the pace of interest-rate hikes. The dollar was lower against almost all of its major peers this morning, with the biggest losses against Asian currencies. Bucking the trend was the Turkish lira, which fell to a new all-time low of 3.64 to the dollar this morning.
Yuan squeeze
China's attempts to control capital flows are paying off — in the short term, at least. The offshore yuan surged the most on record while the overnight deposit rate in Hong Kong also jumped to an all-time high of 80 percent, as the spread between the offshore and onshore exchange rates widened to the most since 2010. In China, the liquidity crunch is easing somewhat, but investors are bracing for another crunch during this year's unusually early Lunar New year. While the seven-day repo rate plunged 37 basis points, one-month Shibor continued to climb, rising for a 39th day in a row.
Gold rises, oil flat
Gold has risen to a four-week high as dollar weakness and safe haven demand ahead of Trump's inauguration increase appetite for the yellow metal. Oil, meanwhile, is broadly unchanged this morning, despite data showing OPEC's crude production fell by 310,000 barrels a day. The drop in production was not due to enthusiastic implementation of the production cut deal — which is due to start this month — but rather production problems in Nigeria.
Markets mixed
Overnight, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index added 1.2 percent, with Japan's Topix index gaining 0.1 percent as the weakening dollar weighed on exporters. In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index was unchanged at 5:23 a.m. ET, while London's FTSE 100 Index was also unchanged despite positive services sector PMI data. S&P 500 futures slipped 0.1 percent.