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A quick look at the US VIX (volatility) Index, largely renamed “Fear Gauge,” puts the last few weeks’ panic selling into perspective. The BOJ’s rate hike, combined with fears that the Fed was going to push the US into a recession by cutting interest rates too slowly, sent shockwaves through global equities, although ultimately, the ASX200 and S&P 500 only fell 6.4% and 9.7%, respectively. However, it was the manner of sharp declines which caught a relatively complacent market, which had been revelling in new all-time highs through much of July, napping:
The ASX200 experienced yet another rollercoaster of a week, finally ending down -2.1%, but it was much worse before Friday’s strong +1.25 broad-based bounce. However, the bulls mustn’t get carried too away after the end-of-week jump; the index has only recovered around 30% of its sharp losses since the unwinding of the Yen “Carry Trade” sent shock waves through financial markets. Reporting season is starting to have an impact on major over/underperformers, but it’s likely to be far more pronounced next week as things really get underway this week. Only the Utilities Sector finished last week in positive territory, with the Energy, Tech and Financial Sectors weighing heavily on the main index:
A good way to end a very volatile week for equities with the ASX rallying nicely in a broad based move, 90% of the ASX 200 finishing up on the day. For the week, the ASX lost 2.1%, not too bad considering, with Utilities being the lone sector to end the 5-days in the green.
Further consolidation at the index level today, though there was some big moves in stocks and some clear divergence across sectors, unfortunately, we were end of a downgrade from Mirvac (MGR) while weakness amongst resources and energy stocks worked against us.
A reasonable day for the ASX buoyed by relative calm in Asia, the Nikkei in Japan up ~1% while US Futures also improved during our time zone. Buying was tentative, but broad-based, with 9/11 sectors trading higher. We get the sense that volatility is not over, more likely to be a pause, the carry trade in Japan still has some way to play out, and given we don’t get any data of substance in the US for the remainder of the week to throw markets much in either direction, a period of consolidation in the very short term seems the most likely scenario.
The market clearly doubts whether the RBA seriously considered another hike. We’ve been saying for months that the RBA doesn’t want to hike, although it’s not totally off the table, and this view still feels on point. A few days of market volatility, largely driven by the unwind of the “Yen Carry Trade”, isn’t enough to make central banks cut interest rates; inflation is their primary focus, although they will remain vigilant to external circumstances, including ongoing market volatility. If we stand back and put things into context, the ASX200 is up +1.2% in 2024 and posted new all-time highs last week, numbers that shouldn’t unsettle the RBA.
No change as expected today from the RBA with rates staying at 4.35%. They talked to the pace of disinflation slowing, while they maintained its previous guidance that it was not “ruling anything in or out” when it came to interest rates, the board said policy would need to be “sufficiently restrictive” until the board was confident inflation was “moving sustainably towards the target range”. This view is at odds with the market, Interest rate futures fully pricing in a cut before Christmas as the table below shows (29bps priced in), and an interest rate of ~3.5% by the end of FY25. The new press conference format provided a bit more meat on the bones of this view, and the Governor even had a crack at explaining volatility in equities over the past 48 hours, saying that one employment print in the US shouldn’t have us running for the hills…not bad advice from Governor Bullock!
The ASX200 plunged almost 300 points on Monday as global equity markets continued to panic that a recession was imminent for the US and the rest of the world would follow suit. Nobody felt the pain more than Japan following the BOJ’s rate hike last week; the Nikkei was down a staggering 12.4%, its worst day since “Black Monday” in 1987, wiping out all of this year’s gains in one fell swoop. We believe the unwinding of the “Carry Trade” has been the catalyst that has ignited the current volatility – more on this later. Market sentiment has turned on a sixpence as reduced liquidity collided with the perceived increased risk of an economic slowdown; cash has become the asset class of choice for many investors, i.e. if in doubt, get out! Everything from stocks, gold and Bitcoin, has sold as “risk off” ruled dominated over recent days.
