Interest rates and FX outlook

Transcription

1 Interest rates and FX outlook Central bank outlook Monthly Forecast Review Norges Bank: Unchanged forecast. We keep our outlook for Norges Bank to hike rates in September 2018, followed by two additional rate hikes in 2019 and Inflation has disappointed; however, with growth in the housing market picking up and a rise in the oil price, we believe Norges Bank will view the economic developments as strong enough to support a rate hike. We project that the next rate path (presented in June) will continue to point to a rate hike after the summer. Fed: Unchanged forecast. The last FOMC Minutes showed that the Fed is confident with an upcoming rate hike in June, the third rate hike in The Fed has pointed to the slowdown in growth in Q1 as temporary, supporting our view that inflation will stabilise somewhat above the 2% target. In sum, we believe the Fed will continue with one rate hike each quarter, and maintain our call for two more hikes this year and four hikes in 2019 and ECB: Delayed policy normalisation. The ECB s three criteria for ending the QE programme (convergence, confidence and resilience in the inflation outlook) are still not fulfilled. Together with disappointing macro data and rising political uncertainty, we believe this has heightened the barrier for the ECB to end the QE programme in the near-term. We now expect further tapering in Q4, and an end to QE by year-end. Our forecast for the first rate hike is delayed, predicting a hike in the deposit rate by 15bp in September 2019 (previously June) and then by 25bp in March 2020 (previously December 2019). Read more. BoE: Unchanged forecast. The BoE restrained from hiking rates in May, due to a slowdown in inflation and much weaker growth than expected in Q1. This was in line with our changed rate outlook from early May. The central bank kept signals of gradual, but limited rate hikes ahead. Since then macro data have continued to indicate a slowdown in growth, limiting the need for higher rates and supporting our outlook for only one rate hike in In sum, we forecast the BoE to hike rates in November 2018, followed by one additional rate hike in Riksbanken: Delayed rate hike. With the ECB predicted to delay its policy normalisation, we now see a high chance that Riksbanken will postpone the first rate hike to avoid hiking rates significantly before the ECB. Due to this, we have changed our outlook for the first rate hike from December 2018 to February Thereafter, we expect Riksbanken to hike rates two times in 2019 and three times in Read more. Signal rates 4 Percent. Actual/forecast 28-May May-11 May-13 May-15 May-17 May-19 May-21 US EZ Sweden Norway Source: Thomson Datastream/DNB Markets Ten year swap yields Percent. Actual/forecast 28-May May-07 May-10 May-13 May-16 May-19 May-22 USA Japan EMU UK Sweden Norway Source: Thomson Datastream/DNB Markets Interest rate outlook 10Y swap rates: US rates revised slightly higher. 10Y US rates have edged up another 15bp since our last April update, testing above the important 3% level. With inflation projected to stabilise above the 2% target and the Fed set to hike further, we see potential for long-term rates to edge higher and have revised our 3- to 6- month forecast up 25bp to 3.25% and 3.50%, respectively. However, the risk of a further rise in political uncertainty could weigh on the long-term US rates, as a preferred safe haven.

2 3-month money market rates: Small revisions. The USD premium (3M Libor minus OIS), has dropped ~15bp since our April update. This has fed through to Nibor, with the Nibor premium down close to 10bp to the current ~55bp. The declines in both USD and Nibor premiums have come somewhat faster than expected, and we have revised our outlook for both premiums lower in the near-term. We project the Nibor premium to stay close to ~50bp in the next 12 months, which is somewhat higher than Norges Bank predicted in its latest monetary policy report. Foreign exchange outlook EURNOK unchanged: The NOK has been catching up with fundamentals, testing the strongest level against the EUR so far this year. Still, EURNOK is trading at weak levels compared to the historical relationship with interest rate differentials and the oil price, and we see potential for the NOK to strengthen somewhat as Norges Bank gets closer to starting its hiking cycle. Trade tensions and political uncertainty however, are creating a less favorable climate for the NOK and should limit the short-term potential for NOK strength. We keep our projections for EURNOK at 9.40 in 3 months and 9.10 in 12 months. EURUSD revised lower: Disappointing eurozone data and increased political uncertainty have weighed on the EUR lately. On the flip side we have seen solid US data and higher US 10-year yields, helping the USD to recover and adding to the downward pressure on EURUSD. Going forward we expect euro data to recover after a temporary setback in Q1 and keep our projection that EURUSD will resume an upwards path, but have revised our 1- to 12-month projections somewhat lower. We now expect EURUSD at 1.19 in 1 month (previously 1.23) and 1.28 in 12 months (previously 1.30), and see increased downside risk to our projections due to a strong USD, and the risk of political uncertainty holding up with a possible new election in Italy. EURSEK revised higher: We postpone the outlook for SEK strength, as Riksbanken is expected to delay its first rate hike, indicating a more dovish rate path than the current market pricing. Due to this we have raised our 6-month projection for EURSEK to (previously 9.90), while we keep our forecast for EURSEK at 9.80 in 12 months. Marit Øwre-Johnsen, DNB Markets

3 Revised forecasts (red=changed forecast) Policy rates 28-May-2018 Change USA: Fed Funds Japan: Day-to-day Euro: Repo UK: Base rate Sweden: Repo Norway: Folio Switzerland: 3M Libor CHF month money market rates Country USA Japan Euro U.K Sweden Norway Switzerland year swap rates Country USA Japan Euro area U.K Sweden Norway Switzerland Source: DNB Markets Exchange rates 28-May-2018 Change EURNOK USDJPY EURUSD EURGBP EUR/DKK EURSEK EURCHF USDCNY Exchange rates (calculated) SEKNOK USDNOK GBPNOK JPYNOK DKKNOK CHFNOK I Source: DNB Markets

4 DNB Markets Macro Team: Kjersti Haugland Chief Economist, Euro zone / kjersti.haugland@dnb.no Jeanette Strøm Fjære Economist, Norway and Sweden / jeanette.strom.fjare@dnb.no Ole A. Kjennerud Economist, China and Japan / ole.kjennerud@dnb.no Knut A. Magnussen Senior Economist, USA and UK / knut.magnussen@dnb.no Magne Østnor FX Strategist / magne.ostnor@dnb.no Marit Øwre-Johnsen FX Analyst / marit.owre-johnsen@dnb.no Kyrre Aamdal Senior Economist, Norway, Sweden, Fixed Income / kyrre.aamdal@dnb.no

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