Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

Is Fed Playing Cat And Mouse With Investors?

Published 07/16/2021, 02:34 PM
Updated 07/09/2023, 06:31 AM

Investors prick up their ears to front-run the Fed’s taper. It looks like a tricky game though, given its contradictory statements. What’s the truth?

You Don't Say!

At first it was nothing, then it was something, and now it’s:

Source: CNBC

Speaking with CNBC on July 15, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen – who preceded Jerome Powell as the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve – said that declining long-term Treasury yields is “the market expressing its views that inflation does remain under control.” However, while the contradictory statements of “several more months of rapid inflation” and “inflation does remain under control” are quite humorous, she has a point: with bond investors eager to front-run the Fed’s forthcoming taper, the U.S. 10-Year Treasury yield has been the main casualty. And with gold often moving inversely of the U.S. 10-year real yield, the development has strengthened the yellow metal.

See below:

Gold Vs. 10-Year Yield.

To explain, the gold line above tracks the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) Gold Price, while the red line above tracks the inverted U.S. 10-Year real yield. For context, inverted means that the latter’s scale is flipped upside down and that a rising red line represents a falling U.S. 10-year real yield, while a falling red line represents a rising U.S. 10-Year real yield.

If you analyze the relationship, you can see that one’s pain is often the other one’s gain. And if you focus your attention on the right side of the chart, you can see that the U.S. 10-year real yield’s recent malaise has uplifted the yellow metal.

Despite that, while Powell and Yellen continue to make excuses for their lack of foresight, Powell actually told Congress on July 15 that surging inflation caught ‘everyone’ by surprise.

Please see below:

Source: CNBC

However, while I’ve been warning for months that inflation was likely to boil, both policy-makers are underestimating the lasting effects. And in the process, bond investors have buried their heads in the sand. Conversely, while “temporary” and “transitory” remain Powell’s favorite buzzwords, supply chain disruptions still haven’t fully filtered into the core Consumer Price Index.

Please see below:

Core PPI And CPI.

Source:

Robin Brooks/Institute of International Finance (IIF)

To explain, the chart on the left depicts the effect of supplier delivery times on the core Producer Price Index. If you analyze the relationship, you can see that the red and light blue lines are roughly three standard deviations above their historical average (follow the scales on the right side of both charts). Conversely, if you analyze the chart on the right, you can see that the core CPI (the light blue line) is still less than two standard deviations above its historical average. As a result, the core CPI still hasn’t felt the brunt of the inflationary surge.

What’s more, the New York FED released its Empire State Manufacturing Survey on Jul. 15. And with one header reading “Selling Prices Increase at Record-Setting Pace,” cost-push inflation remains alive and well.

Please see below:

Source: NY FED

In addition, New York’s’ manufacturing sector expanded rapidly and supply chain disruptions (delivery times) remain an issue. An excerpt from the report read:

Business activity grew at a record-setting pace in New York State. The headline general business conditions index shot up 26 points to 43.0. New orders and shipments increased robustly. Delivery times continued to lengthen substantially, and inventories expanded. Employment grew strongly, and the average workweek increased. Input prices continued to increase sharply, and selling prices rose at the fastest pace on record. Looking ahead, firms remained optimistic that conditions would improve over the next six months, with the index for future employment reaching another record high.”

Turning to the second major player in gold’s bearish forecast, the USD Index is hitting its stride. And as sentiment shifts, the U.S. dollar is gaining significant support from speculators.

Please see below:

USD Index.

To explain, the dark blue, grey and light blue lines above represent net-long positions of non-commercial (speculative) futures traders, asset managers and leveraged funds. When the lines are falling, it means that the trio have reduced their net-long positions and are expecting a weaker U.S. dollar. Conversely, when the lines are rising, it means that the trio have increased their net-long positions and are expecting a stronger U.S. dollar. And if you analyze the right side of the chart, you can see that non-commercial futures traders and asset managers have completely changed their tune (though leveraged funds’ movement has been minimal).

On top of that, the latest USD Outlook from Vanda (NASDAQ:VNDA) Research offers an interesting take on the FED’s forthcoming taper. Predicting that a ‘buy the rumor, sell the news’ event will unfold over the next several weeks, the firm believes that speculators will likely front-run the expected announcement.

Please see below:

To explain, if you analyze the first chart on the left, the pink bars (two months before), the dark blue bars (actual event) and the light blue bars (two months after) depict speculators’ USD positioning before, during and after hawkish Fed announcements. And if you analyze the relationship, more often than not, speculators buy the U.S. dollar in anticipation, hold throughout the event and then bail after the drama unfolds. As further evidence, if you turn to the chart on the right, you can see that leveraged funds are notorious for front-running the Fed’s actions. With eight weeks preceding major Fed events often resulting in significant increases in net-long positioning, leveraged funds aim to strike while the iron is hot. The bottom line? With the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium scheduled for Aug. 26-28 (roughly six weeks away), another front-run could already be under way.

Finally, while I’ve been warning for some time that the Fed’s daily reverse repurchase agreements are the fundamental equivalent of a shadow taper (though, it doesn’t have the same psychological effect), the FED sold $776.261 billion worth of reverse repos on July 15 and $859.975 billion worth of reverse repos on Jul. 14. More importantly, though, with the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield often moving inversely of the Fed’s international reverse repos, bond investors are behaving as if the taper is already under way.

Please see below:

To explain, the dark blue line above tracks the quarterly percentage change in the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield, while the light blue line above tracks the Fed’s inverted (scale flipped upside down) international reverse repos. If you analyze the relationship, you can see that the larger the liquidity drain, the more bond investors position for slower growth, lower inflation and a hawkish Fed.

Conversely, the dynamic has the opposite effect on the USD Index. With U.S. dollars being siphoned out of the system, it’s akin to the Fed reducing its QE program. As such, the liquidity drain (lower supply of dollars) is extremely bullish for the greenback.

In conclusion, while precious metals have been buoyed by falling real yields, their relative performance has been extremely subdued. From March through May, gold rallied sharply once the U.S. 10-year real yield reversed course. This time around, however, the bounce has been tepid, as concerns over a prospective taper counters the bullish optimism. As a result, with the USD Index gaining steam, inflation surging and a taper announcement likely to commence in September, the precious metals’ optimism could evaporate at the drop of a dime. Thus, it’s prudent to avoid reading too much into their recent strength.

Latest comments

Yes, like over filling a gas tank with fuel letting it spill into tbr street because it placates wallstreet
so you wanna buy bonds? where do you find them? Europe? Japan? UK? Brazil? I think USA.
Gold is out, do yourself a favor and buy BTC while the price is down.
Nice to see crypto folk coming and begging few $$$
Once that “cbdc” comes out, btc will have some major tailwind. I can’t even pronounce cbdc. Hand over your freedom coin. What a joke. Buy both metals and btc.
Either way the FED is not raising rates until end of 2022 or 2023. How many times do they have to say it?
Youd be wrong ….Fed is and has lied , however they have raised selective rates alread ( reverse repo)
We can say that when they started hiking rates from 2016 up until 2019, and gold started moving higher. Hence, the theory where gold will move far lower than here coz rates is very very flawed. It would be more realistic to state that gold will go lower because gold wedding rings aren't cool anymore, and from now one the wooden ones would be preferred.
And rever repo isn't rates at all, liquidity sucked with reverse repo was still within banks and not circulated.
Always do the opposite of what this guy says and you will make money
First of all Powell has been saying the same thing over and over consistantly. Secondly its the media quoting any isolated Fed member about their 'OPINION' on the matter in order to manufacture hysteria among investors that is playing cat and mouse. Is it possible the 5 or 6 major media group majority stock holders are finding a volatile stock market easy pickings?
I just Wonder how these obviously incompetent people can still continue and are not sacked already?
gold is hedge only against super inflation, not other types of medium inflation. gold is mostly safe haven against unforeseen sudden events such as big fast stock sell offs .. not slow ones
theory is that bill gates will not need or buy 1000 cars or 10000 TV sets though he has money. as long as money is in stocks inflation will be low, when sell off occurs cash will chase the too few goods to cause inflation
cat and mouse game is being and will be played out by supplies and consumers, sellers and buyers supplies waiting for more buying to come in holding higher offers and buyers waiting with lower bids ... all in all, who blinks first is the game being played out
Please explain. Isn't gold is a very good hedge against inflation, and doesn't the dollar drop in a high inflation environment? I read the dollars gonna hit $.85, and maybe run down to $.80
I'm old enough to recall the FED is always full of it during times like these. But, I think it's likely the administrations demand they paint a rosy picture, so they get a few more months of looking good, and the FED staff gets to keep their yobs. With the administrations, its kinda like denying that there's a huge hemorrhoid hanging out their bottom for as long as possible. As long as possible means, until it falls out their pant leg into public sight. I've never understood their desire to leave the people totally unprepared. Seems like rotten leadership.
This administration wants to keep spending and spending and spending and for that they need money printing, more money printing and even more money printing.  Everyone with a few working neurons know that this is heading towards stagflation, but they will keep denying it or they will blame the delta variant.
no more precious metals???
Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.