CAD CHF - FUNDAMENTAL DRIVERS
CAD
FUNDAMENTAL BIAS: BULLISH
1. The Monetary Policy outlook for the BoC
At their Oct meeting the BoC surprised to put an early end to QE purchases and updated forward guidance to suggest an earlier lift off in rates by explaining that project economic slack to be absorbed by the middle quarters of 2022. The initial reaction was bullish as one would expect but the biggest risk to further upside for the CAD from here is the fact that a lot of these positives that was confirmed by the BoC has already been reflected in both the CAD and rates markets over the past few weeks. The CAD has seen a similar run to the upside back in 1Q21 with the BoC’s hawkish tilt, and similarly to that we feel current prices for rates and the CAD already reflect a great deal of the positives. Thus, even though the med-term outlook remains tilted to the upside for the CAD, there is the risk of seeing some unwind of the recent upside and is something to be mindful of when making any med-term allocations to the upside in the CAD.
2. Commodity-linked currency with dependency on Oil exports
Oil massive post-covid recovery continues on the back of three drivers: supply & demand (OPEC’s production cuts); improving global economic outlook and improving oil demand outlook, even though slightly pushed back by Delta concerns; rising inflation expectations. Even though further gains for Oil will arguably prove to be an uphill battle, the bias remains higher in the med-term as long as current supportive factors and drivers remains intact. There will of course be short-term ebbs and flows which could affect the CAD from an intermarket point of view, but as long as the med-term view for Oil remains higher it should be supportive for Petro-currencies like the CAD. OPEC seems content to stick to their plan to bring oil supply back gradually, by this past week deciding to bring the expected 400K barrels of supply online from next month. The one risk factor to watch for Oil is the pressure being placed on OPEC from the US administration to pump more oil in order to cool rising oil prices. Until now, OPEC have not been moved to cave to the US pressure, but there is the risk that Saudi Arabia buckles under the pressure and opts to push for higher production in the months ahead. Similarly, we also need to keep an eye on the US in the case they release some of their strategic reserves which should be a short-term headwind for Oil .
3. Developments surrounding the global risk outlook.
As a high-beta currency, the CAD benefited from the market's improving risk outlook coming out of the pandemic as participants moved out of safe-havens. As a pro-cyclical currency, the CAD enjoyed upside alongside other cyclical assets supported by reflation and post-recession recovery best. If expectations for the global economy remains positive the overall positive outlook for risk sentiment should be supportive for the CAD in the med-term , but recent short-term jitters are a timely reminder that risk sentiment is also a very important short-term driver.
4. CFTC Analysis
Latest CFTC data showed a positioning change of +842 with a net non-commercial position of +4162. With a lot of positives in the price for the CAD and the front-end yields, it is encouraging to see that positioning isn’t stretched large specs or leveraged funds. That suggests that further upside could be possible if short-term sentiment for oil and risk assets remain favourable. However, since prices do look stretched, and since JPY positioning is very net-short, any sudden risk off bouts could see some decent mean reversion opportunities in CADJPY to the downside, especially if oil prices also come under pressure as falling oil prices will be a double positive for the JPY.
CHF
FUNDAMENTAL BIAS: BEARISH
1. Developments surrounding the global risk outlook.
As a safe-haven currency, the market's risk outlook is the primary driver for the CHF with Swiss economic data or SNB policy meetings rarely being very market moving. Although SNB intervention can have a substantial impact on CHF, its impact tends to be relatively short-lived. Additionally, the SNB are unlikely to adjust policy anytime soon, given their overall dovish disposition and preference for being behind the ECB in terms of policy decisions. The market's overall risk tone remains constructive in the med-term due to the global vaccine roll out and the massive amount of monetary policy and fiscal support from governments. The Delta variant and its impact on growth expectations is of course a sobering reminder that risks remain. Thus, there is still a degree of uncertainty and risks to the overall risk outlook remains which could prove supportive for the safe havens like the CHF should negative factors for the global economy develop. However, on balance the overall risk outlook is still positive in the med-term and barring any major meltdowns in risk assets the bias for the CHF remains bearish in the med-term .
2. Idiosyncratic drivers for the CHF
Despite the overall fundamental bearish bias, the CHF continues to remain surprisingly strong in the past few weeks. This divergence from the fundamental outlook does not make much sense, but this is a friendly reminder that the CHF often has a mind of its own and can often move in opposite directions from what short-term sentiment or its fundamental outlook suggests. Recent research from the team has revealed an interesting correlation between the CHF and simultaneous price action in both Gold and the USD, but it has not been enough to explain the current divergence between the CHF and its fundamental outlook. Apart from that, SNB intervention is of course always a downside risk to keep in mind, especially with the important EURCHF exchange rate drifting into an area between 1.07 and 1. 05 which have in previous years sparked additional intervention from the bank. Apart from that, ING investment bank has argued that recent CHF strength could also be due to the lower inflation in Switzerland compared to the EU which meant that the real trade-weighted CHF has been trading too cheap relative to the spot price. The bank also expanded that the ECB’s bond buying programs has meant that their balance sheet is expanding more rapidly compared to that of the SNB, which could have been reasons why the SNB did not see need for ramping up FX interventions as much as we would usually expect when EURCHF drift lower into key ‘intervention territory’. The bottom line is that there are often plenty of idiosyncratic drivers which might or might not impact the CHF and makes short-term price fluctuations a mixed bag for the most part.
3. CFTC Analysis
Latest CFTC data showed a positioning change of -1269 with a net non-commercial position of -20648. Positioning has again decreased for the CHF with the latest CFTC data. Even though we expect the currency to continue weakening in the med-term , any drastic escalation in risk off tones could continue to provide support for the safe-haven currency in the short-term. With the EURCHF pair treading water between 1.07-1. 05 the chance of intervention is rising, and at the current price levels the EURCHF does look attractive for some mean reversion value longs. But, if you choose to trade the CHF, be ready for some unexpected price action from time to time.
FUNDAMENTAL BIAS: BULLISH
1. The Monetary Policy outlook for the BoC
At their Oct meeting the BoC surprised to put an early end to QE purchases and updated forward guidance to suggest an earlier lift off in rates by explaining that project economic slack to be absorbed by the middle quarters of 2022. The initial reaction was bullish as one would expect but the biggest risk to further upside for the CAD from here is the fact that a lot of these positives that was confirmed by the BoC has already been reflected in both the CAD and rates markets over the past few weeks. The CAD has seen a similar run to the upside back in 1Q21 with the BoC’s hawkish tilt, and similarly to that we feel current prices for rates and the CAD already reflect a great deal of the positives. Thus, even though the med-term outlook remains tilted to the upside for the CAD, there is the risk of seeing some unwind of the recent upside and is something to be mindful of when making any med-term allocations to the upside in the CAD.
2. Commodity-linked currency with dependency on Oil exports
Oil massive post-covid recovery continues on the back of three drivers: supply & demand (OPEC’s production cuts); improving global economic outlook and improving oil demand outlook, even though slightly pushed back by Delta concerns; rising inflation expectations. Even though further gains for Oil will arguably prove to be an uphill battle, the bias remains higher in the med-term as long as current supportive factors and drivers remains intact. There will of course be short-term ebbs and flows which could affect the CAD from an intermarket point of view, but as long as the med-term view for Oil remains higher it should be supportive for Petro-currencies like the CAD. OPEC seems content to stick to their plan to bring oil supply back gradually, by this past week deciding to bring the expected 400K barrels of supply online from next month. The one risk factor to watch for Oil is the pressure being placed on OPEC from the US administration to pump more oil in order to cool rising oil prices. Until now, OPEC have not been moved to cave to the US pressure, but there is the risk that Saudi Arabia buckles under the pressure and opts to push for higher production in the months ahead. Similarly, we also need to keep an eye on the US in the case they release some of their strategic reserves which should be a short-term headwind for Oil .
3. Developments surrounding the global risk outlook.
As a high-beta currency, the CAD benefited from the market's improving risk outlook coming out of the pandemic as participants moved out of safe-havens. As a pro-cyclical currency, the CAD enjoyed upside alongside other cyclical assets supported by reflation and post-recession recovery best. If expectations for the global economy remains positive the overall positive outlook for risk sentiment should be supportive for the CAD in the med-term , but recent short-term jitters are a timely reminder that risk sentiment is also a very important short-term driver.
4. CFTC Analysis
Latest CFTC data showed a positioning change of +842 with a net non-commercial position of +4162. With a lot of positives in the price for the CAD and the front-end yields, it is encouraging to see that positioning isn’t stretched large specs or leveraged funds. That suggests that further upside could be possible if short-term sentiment for oil and risk assets remain favourable. However, since prices do look stretched, and since JPY positioning is very net-short, any sudden risk off bouts could see some decent mean reversion opportunities in CADJPY to the downside, especially if oil prices also come under pressure as falling oil prices will be a double positive for the JPY.
CHF
FUNDAMENTAL BIAS: BEARISH
1. Developments surrounding the global risk outlook.
As a safe-haven currency, the market's risk outlook is the primary driver for the CHF with Swiss economic data or SNB policy meetings rarely being very market moving. Although SNB intervention can have a substantial impact on CHF, its impact tends to be relatively short-lived. Additionally, the SNB are unlikely to adjust policy anytime soon, given their overall dovish disposition and preference for being behind the ECB in terms of policy decisions. The market's overall risk tone remains constructive in the med-term due to the global vaccine roll out and the massive amount of monetary policy and fiscal support from governments. The Delta variant and its impact on growth expectations is of course a sobering reminder that risks remain. Thus, there is still a degree of uncertainty and risks to the overall risk outlook remains which could prove supportive for the safe havens like the CHF should negative factors for the global economy develop. However, on balance the overall risk outlook is still positive in the med-term and barring any major meltdowns in risk assets the bias for the CHF remains bearish in the med-term .
2. Idiosyncratic drivers for the CHF
Despite the overall fundamental bearish bias, the CHF continues to remain surprisingly strong in the past few weeks. This divergence from the fundamental outlook does not make much sense, but this is a friendly reminder that the CHF often has a mind of its own and can often move in opposite directions from what short-term sentiment or its fundamental outlook suggests. Recent research from the team has revealed an interesting correlation between the CHF and simultaneous price action in both Gold and the USD, but it has not been enough to explain the current divergence between the CHF and its fundamental outlook. Apart from that, SNB intervention is of course always a downside risk to keep in mind, especially with the important EURCHF exchange rate drifting into an area between 1.07 and 1. 05 which have in previous years sparked additional intervention from the bank. Apart from that, ING investment bank has argued that recent CHF strength could also be due to the lower inflation in Switzerland compared to the EU which meant that the real trade-weighted CHF has been trading too cheap relative to the spot price. The bank also expanded that the ECB’s bond buying programs has meant that their balance sheet is expanding more rapidly compared to that of the SNB, which could have been reasons why the SNB did not see need for ramping up FX interventions as much as we would usually expect when EURCHF drift lower into key ‘intervention territory’. The bottom line is that there are often plenty of idiosyncratic drivers which might or might not impact the CHF and makes short-term price fluctuations a mixed bag for the most part.
3. CFTC Analysis
Latest CFTC data showed a positioning change of -1269 with a net non-commercial position of -20648. Positioning has again decreased for the CHF with the latest CFTC data. Even though we expect the currency to continue weakening in the med-term , any drastic escalation in risk off tones could continue to provide support for the safe-haven currency in the short-term. With the EURCHF pair treading water between 1.07-1. 05 the chance of intervention is rising, and at the current price levels the EURCHF does look attractive for some mean reversion value longs. But, if you choose to trade the CHF, be ready for some unexpected price action from time to time.
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