Founder

Olivier Desbarres

Exacting. Excellent. Exceeding. Exemplary.

4X Global Research

4X Global Research was founded in 2017 to provide institutional and corporate clients with the substantive research, high-quality analysis and thoughtful insight on Emerging and G20 economies and financial markets they need to make informed and timely decisions and gain an edge in their investments.

FX & Rates

Despite buoyant domestic expectations (or at least hope) football will not be coming home after the England football team lost on penalties to Italy in Sunday’s final of the Euro Championship but Sterling is arguably coming home, albeit slowly. The GBP/EUR cross has this week traded mostly above 1.17, a level which has proven hard to break. GBP/EUR is up about 0.6% since late-June, in line with our modestly bullish view, and we expect further modest appreciation in the remainder of Q3 (see “<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/sterling-leads-euro-1-0-at-half-time-in-dull-encounter-but-could-extend-advantage" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sterling leads Euro 1-0 at half-time in dull encounter but could extend advantage</a>”, 29th June 2021).The catalyst for Sterling’s outperformance versus the Euro has arguably been the widening differential between UK and Eurozone CPI-inflation, the Bank of England’s more hawkish rhetoric relative to a still very dovish European Central Bank and markets upping their pricing of Bank of England policy rate hikes. The recent hawkish pivots by Monetary Policy Council members Ramsden and in particular Saunders may not yet enjoy consensus support. However, it is increasingly clear, in our view, that the MPC is divided (and vocally so) as to if and when it should prematurely terminate its QE program and when it should start hiking its policy rate. The rates market, which is now pricing in 21bp of Bank of England hikes by mid-September 2022, is seemingly siding with the hawks which is in turn providing some ammunition (even if still a little blunt) to Sterling bulls. We expect reasonably robust UK GDP growth in coming months to push headline CPI-inflation above the Bank of England’s “peak forecast” of 3% yoy. We are thus sticking to our view that the gap between UK and Eurozone growth and CPI-inflation will widen further and see the Bank of England becoming increasingly hawkish, in absolute terms and relative to the ECB.Finally, the typically very large UK tourism deficits, including with Eurozone countries, are likely to be far smaller than normal in July-August, which could in turn up-end Sterling’s typical seasonal weakness versus the Euro in these two months.

Despite buoyant domestic expectations (or at least hope) football will not be coming home after the England football team lost on penalties to Italy in Sunday’s final of the Euro Championship but Sterling is arguably coming home, albeit slowly. The GBP/EUR cross has this week traded mostly above 1.17, a level which has proven hard to break. GBP/EUR is up about 0.6% since late-June, in line with our modestly bullish view, and we expect further modest appreciation in the remainder of Q3 (see “Sterling leads Euro 1-0 at half-time in dull encounter but could extend advantage”, 29th June 2021).The catalyst for Sterling’s outperformance versus the Euro has arguably been the widening differential between UK and Eurozone CPI-inflation, the Bank of England’s more hawkish rhetoric relative to a still very dovish European Central Bank and markets upping their pricing of Bank of England policy rate hikes. The recent hawkish pivots by Monetary Policy Council members Ramsden and in particular Saunders may not yet enjoy consensus support. However, it is increasingly clear, in our view, that the MPC is divided (and vocally so) as to if and when it should prematurely terminate its QE program and when it should start hiking its policy rate. The rates market, which is now pricing in 21bp of Bank of England hikes by mid-September 2022, is seemingly siding with the hawks which is in turn providing some ammunition (even if still a little blunt) to Sterling bulls. We expect reasonably robust UK GDP growth in coming months to push headline CPI-inflation above the Bank of England’s “peak forecast” of 3% yoy. We are thus sticking to our view that the gap between UK and Eurozone growth and CPI-inflation will widen further and see the Bank of England becoming increasingly hawkish, in absolute terms and relative to the ECB.Finally, the typically very large UK tourism deficits, including with Eurozone countries, are likely to be far smaller than normal in July-August, which could in turn up-end Sterling’s typical seasonal weakness versus the Euro in these two months.

With England due to play Germany in the last-16 round of the Euro Championships in a few hours time, now is a good time to revisit the Sterling-Euro exchange rate. 
Football fans will be hoping for a pulsating sporting encounter rich in history while traders will be hoping that the GBP/EUR cross, which is currently trading in the middle of a narrow 7-week range of only 1.4% and has exhibited very little volatility, will throw up some excitement of its own in the second half of the year. 
Our core scenario is that the GBP/EUR cross will fall short of setting the FX world alight but will appreciate slightly in Q3, for three inter-connected reasons.
First, international travel restrictions in the UK and Eurozone, while admittedly fluid, are likely to result in far smaller net outbound tourism from the UK this summer than compared to previous “normal” years, in our view. 
If this holds true, the typically very large UK tourism deficits, including with Eurozone countries, are likely to be far smaller than normal in July-August, which will could in turn up-end Sterling’s typical seasonal weakness versus the Euro in these two months.
Second, we think these respective travel restrictions will help boost the UK economy, particularly if as per our core scenario the British government lifts all, or at least most remaining social distancing restrictions on 19th July. The UK is on track to have double-vaccinated 80% of its adult population by mid-July, with Eurozone countries on average still about six weeks behind according to our estimates.
The upshot is that the GDP growth differential between the UK and Eurozone as measured by the Composite PMI, which has narrowed in the past two months, will widen again in coming months and push GBP/EUR higher, in our view.
Finally, as a result of this (expected) relative pick-up in growth and inflation dynamics in the UK and Eurozone we think the risk is tilted towards the Bank of England’s monetary policy stance becoming increasingly less dovish relative to the European Central Bank’s.

With England due to play Germany in the last-16 round of the Euro Championships in a few hours time, now is a good time to revisit the Sterling-Euro exchange rate. 
Football fans will be hoping for a pulsating sporting encounter rich in history while traders will be hoping that the GBP/EUR cross, which is currently trading in the middle of a narrow 7-week range of only 1.4% and has exhibited very little volatility, will throw up some excitement of its own in the second half of the year. 
Our core scenario is that the GBP/EUR cross will fall short of setting the FX world alight but will appreciate slightly in Q3, for three inter-connected reasons.
First, international travel restrictions in the UK and Eurozone, while admittedly fluid, are likely to result in far smaller net outbound tourism from the UK this summer than compared to previous “normal” years, in our view. 
If this holds true, the typically very large UK tourism deficits, including with Eurozone countries, are likely to be far smaller than normal in July-August, which will could in turn up-end Sterling’s typical seasonal weakness versus the Euro in these two months.
Second, we think these respective travel restrictions will help boost the UK economy, particularly if as per our core scenario the British government lifts all, or at least most remaining social distancing restrictions on 19th July. The UK is on track to have double-vaccinated 80% of its adult population by mid-July, with Eurozone countries on average still about six weeks behind according to our estimates.
The upshot is that the GDP growth differential between the UK and Eurozone as measured by the Composite PMI, which has narrowed in the past two months, will widen again in coming months and push GBP/EUR higher, in our view.
Finally, as a result of this (expected) relative pick-up in growth and inflation dynamics in the UK and Eurozone we think the risk is tilted towards the Bank of England’s monetary policy stance becoming increasingly less dovish relative to the European Central Bank’s. 

Sterling Leads Euro 1-0 at Half-Time in Dull Encounter but Could Extend Advantage

Time and time again in the past five weeks US Treasuries and the S&amp;P 500 have sold off and the Dollar rallied in the wake of hawkish US surprises only for markets to quickly unwind these moves. Volatility in US financial markets has ultimately remained subdued and directionality has been limited. In the month to 3rd June US Treasury yields rose only very marginally and the S&amp;P 500 was broadly unchanged. Notably the Dollar NEER weakened a further 1%, suggesting that markets’ appetite to short the Dollar was not significantly curtailed by these bouts of inflation-concerns.Moreover, quasi-dormant US financial markets have since come to life (or at least a semblance of life), with the 10-year Treasury yield down 13bp to a 3-month low of 1.49% and the until-recently stagnant S&amp;P 500 up 0.8% to a new record-high of 4,227 on 8th June.The erosion of the Dollar’s long-term real yield and rally in riskier assets have resulted in the “safe-haven” Dollar NEER depreciating a further 0.8% to its weakest level since late-April 2018. The Dollar NEER has now weakened over 2% since 19th April, to a 37-month low, in line with our bearish Dollar outlook. Our take is that markets’ belief that the current spike in year-on-year US inflation above the Federal Reserve’s medium-term target will be permanent has further eroded. As we argued a fortnight ago, markets are rightly in our view not (yet) buying into the notion that the Federal Reserve is “behind the curve” and will have no choice but to announce in the near-term a tightening of US monetary policy.The bottom line is that “wait-and-see” is still seemingly the default setting for most developed central banks, including the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank.Some analysts have argued that the release tomorrow of US CPI-inflation data for May, even if in line with consensus forecasts, could prove to be the straw that finally breaks the markets’ dovish back. Based on precedent we do not think this will the case.

Time and time again in the past five weeks US Treasuries and the S&amp;P 500 have sold off and the Dollar rallied in the wake of hawkish US surprises only for markets to quickly unwind these moves. Volatility in US financial markets has ultimately remained subdued and directionality has been limited. In the month to 3rd June US Treasury yields rose only very marginally and the S&amp;P 500 was broadly unchanged. Notably the Dollar NEER weakened a further 1%, suggesting that markets’ appetite to short the Dollar was not significantly curtailed by these bouts of inflation-concerns.Moreover, quasi-dormant US financial markets have since come to life (or at least a semblance of life), with the 10-year Treasury yield down 13bp to a 3-month low of 1.49% and the until-recently stagnant S&amp;P 500 up 0.8% to a new record-high of 4,227 on 8th June.The erosion of the Dollar’s long-term real yield and rally in riskier assets have resulted in the “safe-haven” Dollar NEER depreciating a further 0.8% to its weakest level since late-April 2018. The Dollar NEER has now weakened over 2% since 19th April, to a 37-month low, in line with our bearish Dollar outlook. Our take is that markets’ belief that the current spike in year-on-year US inflation above the Federal Reserve’s medium-term target will be permanent has further eroded. As we argued a fortnight ago, markets are rightly in our view not (yet) buying into the notion that the Federal Reserve is “behind the curve” and will have no choice but to announce in the near-term a tightening of US monetary policy.The bottom line is that “wait-and-see” is still seemingly the default setting for most developed central banks, including the Federal Reserve and European Central Bank.Some analysts have argued that the release tomorrow of US CPI-inflation data for May, even if in line with consensus forecasts, could prove to be the straw that finally breaks the markets’ dovish back. Based on precedent we do not think this will the case. 

Fixed Income and Currency Strategist

Gautam Jain, PhD, CFA

In this note, we discuss the rise in the volatility of EM currencies as the dollar's volatility picks up and what to expect ahead.The attached file is a snapshot of EM currency market, which we produce daily, and where we seek to identify the leaders and laggards among currencies by comparing the performance of each to its history as well as to other currencies based on their respective betas to the broad market.

In this note, we discuss the rise in the volatility of EM currencies as the dollar's volatility picks up and what to expect ahead.The attached file is a snapshot of EM currency market, which we produce daily, and where we seek to identify the leaders and laggards among currencies by comparing the performance of each to its history as well as to other currencies based on their respective betas to the broad market.

FX Dashboard: EM FX Volatility Rises from the Lows

We compare the beta-adjusted performances of EM currencies to identify leaders and laggards in the latest bout of dollar appreciation.The attached file is a snapshot of EM currency market, which we produce daily, and where we seek to identify the leaders and laggards among currencies by comparing the performance of each to its history as well as to other currencies based on their respective betas to the broad market.

We compare the beta-adjusted performances of EM currencies to identify leaders and laggards in the latest bout of dollar appreciation.The attached file is a snapshot of EM currency market, which we produce daily, and where we seek to identify the leaders and laggards among currencies by comparing the performance of each to its history as well as to other currencies based on their respective betas to the broad market.

FX Dashboard: Leaders and Laggards in EM in the Dollar’s Latest Appreciation Bout

United Kingdom

The British Pound Sterling is the official currency of The United Kingdom. 

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GBP (GBPUSD CURNCY)

Sterling’s Coming Home…albeit Slowly

GBP/EUR has inched higher, in line with our bullish view. We expect further gains. UK recording faster growth and inflation than Eurozone and Bank...

Olivier Desbarres

Sterling Leads Euro 1-0 at Half-Time in Dull Encounter but Could Extend Advantage

GBP/EUR in narrow range in past 7 weeks as UK has lost macro & social distancing lead over Eurozone. But GBP/EUR could rally in Q3 as summer...

Olivier Desbarres

Have Hawks Finally Lost Altitude?

Recent price action - US yields and USD down - suggests markets increasingly less concerned about US inflation and risk of a hawkish Fed surprise....

Olivier Desbarres

FX Dashboard: EM FX Volatility Rises from the Lows

In this note, we discuss the rise in the volatility of EM currencies as the dollar's volatility picks up and what to expect ahead.

Gautam Jain, PhD, CFA

FX Dashboard: Leaders and Laggards in EM in the Dollar’s Latest Appreciation Bout

We compare the beta-adjusted performances of EM currencies to identify leaders and laggards in the latest bout of dollar appreciation.

Gautam Jain, PhD, CFA

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)