Posts tagged Mr. Trump
Global Leading Indicators, March 2025 - The world before tariffs, and after

The March 2025 edition of the global LEI chartbook can be found here. Additional details on the methodology are available here. I’ve added a few new elements: a chart showing the G20 LEI and its three-year rolling Z-score; a comparison between headline LEI diffusion and global equities; and a chart of the first three principal components of the LEIs. Of these, the first component is the most significant—as I’ll explain below.

As the name suggests, leading indicators are designed to provide early signals on the business cycle, and by extension, on the cyclical component in financial markets and the most cyclical individual sectors. However, there are times when turning points or events disrupt the underlying conditions so abruptly that they effectively reset the clock. Trump’s tariff shock—and its implications for global goods and capital mobility—is one such event. But for the record: what did the global economy look like on the eve of this tariff shock? As it turns out, it was doing quite well.

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US Economy, Markets and Trading, Global Economy, Economics, Business, and Finance claus vistesenleading indicators, Mr. Trump, equities, bonds, global economy, markets
Circular Reasoning

It’s easy to trip over trying to formulate a market narrative at the moment. One interpretation of the dramatic decline in global bond yields is that the smart money is de-risking their portfolios ahead of global slowdown and a rout in equities and credit. The ramp-up in the global trade wars, and still-soggy economic data seem to confirm this version of the narrative, but it is also a somewhat naive story. The global economy is not in perfect shape, but it is hardly on the brink of a recession, especially not since it is usually coordinated tightening by central banks that push the major economies over the edge in the first place. The market is now pricing-in one-to-two rate cuts by the Fed this year, and three in 2020. The money market curve in the Eurozone is even starting to price in the idea that the ECB will further scythe its deposit rate below -0.4%. The argument in the U.S. is particularly delicious. Last year, the consensus was angling for a recession in 2020 based on the idea that the Fed was in search for a “neutral” FF rate at about 3%. Now that the Fed has thrown in the towel, the idea is that it will cut rates to prevent the recession that it itself was supposed to have sown the seeds for in the first place, by hiking interest rates.

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China, Global Economy, Markets and Trading, Monetary Policyclaus vistesenequities, bonds, recession, yield curve, Mr. Trump, Trade Wars, FOMC, ECB
Sweet Irony

You will find no harsher critique of Mr. Trump’s indiscriminate use of social media than yours truly. If it were up to me, the president’s phone would have been deactivated a long time ago. Last week’s performance on economics, however, struck at the heart of a story economists and strategists have been circling for a long time. How far will monetary policy divergence be stretched in this cycle? Mr. Trump first suggested that other major economies—Europe and Asia—are unfairly manipulating their interest rates and currencies, before following up with a swing at Fed for making things worse by hiking rates. In short; the White House is suddenly spooked by the risk to the economy from a stronger dollar and higher rates. This is probably a reasonable political worry ahead of the mid-terms, but it is also sweet irony. If Mr. Trump wants to complain to anyone about the vigour of the dollar, he should start with a look in the mirror.  Aggressive tax and short-term inflationary tariffs in an economy with a near record-low unemployment and savings rate could only have one outcome in the end. A more assertive Fed and a stronger dollar always were obvious side-effects of such a policy constellation. 

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Markets and Tradingclaus vistesenMr. Trump, monetary policy, ECB, PBoC, Federal Reserve, dollar, yuan
Agreeing to disagree about the DXY

One of the more interesting stories in markets last week was the disagreement about whether investors are bullish or bearish on the dollar. On the face of it, this is a silly debate. Clearly, sentiment has become significantly more positive on the dollar in the past three months, lifting the DXY index up by nearly 6% to a nine-month high of just under 95.0 at the start of Q3. On occasion, I nail my colours to the mast and try to come up with short-term ideas in equities and bonds, but I am generally loath to do it in FX markets. Currencies have a tendency to the exact opposite of what macroeconomists predict that they will. Usually, the stronger the conviction of economists, the stronger the countermove. With that warning in mind, I think it’s worthwhile looking at the stories which currently are propelling the dollar. The macroeconomic argument for a stronger dollar is simple. The synchronised global recovery has become de-synchronised since the beginning of the year, and the U.S. economy has emerged head-and- shoulders above the rest. Not only that; Europe and China have slowed while the U.S. economy appears to have gathered strength in the second quarter. 

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US Economy, Markets and Tradingclaus vistesendollar, China, Mr. Trump