As we find ourselves in a phase where possible solutions to the Covid-19 pandemic are in the news, the economic consequences for 2021 are optimistic. For example, it looks as though it will mean the type of Lockdown the UK is experiencing will get less and less likely. That is a relief as the issue of the Lockdown strategy is that you end up in a repeating loop. The more hopeful reality does have potential consequences for interest-rates and some of this has been highlighted by Reuters.
LONDON (Reuters) – Expectations of interest rate cuts in some of the world’s biggest economies have melted within the space of a month on hopes a successful coronavirus vaccine will fuel a growth bounceback next year.
Why? Well in line with this from Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane yesterday.
LONDON (Reuters) – Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane said the economic outlook for 2021 was “materially brighter” than he had expected just a few weeks ago despite short-term uncertainty from a renewed COVID-19 lockdown in England.
Except as you can see the changes are in fact really rather minor in the broad scheme of things.
Between Nov. 5-9, a period when it became clear Democrat Joe Biden had won the U.S. election and Pfizer announced its vaccine news, eurodollar futures, which track short-term U.S. rate expectations, flipped to reflect expectations of 10 bps in rate hikes by Sept 2022.
Just the previous week, markets were predicting no changes. Futures now expect U.S. rates at 0.50% by September 2023, from 0.25% forecast a month previously.
At the ECB where rates are already minus 0.5%, a nine bps cut was expected by September 2021 but that is now slashed to only five bps.
After all the interest-rate cuts we see that the US is expected to increase interest-rates by a mere 0.25% over the next 3 years. That is a bit thin if you note the promises of economic recovery. But it is in line with one of my main themes which are that interest-rate cuts are for the now and are large whereas interest-rate rises are for some future date and are much smaller if they happen at all. For example Bank of England Governor Mark Carney provided Forward Guidance for interest-rate increases in the summer of 2013. It is hard not to laugh as I type that his next move was to cut them! There was a rise some 5 years or so later to above the original “emergency” level of 0.5% which rather contrasts with the cuts seen in March.
As to the ECB which hasn’t has any increases at all since 2011 there has been this today by its President Christine Lagarde.
While all options are on the table, the pandemic emergency purchase programme (PEPP) and our targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTROs) have proven their effectiveness in the current environment and can be dynamically adjusted to react to how the pandemic evolves.
So Definitely Maybe, although these days interest-rate cuts may not be widely announced as for example the present TLTROs allow banks access to funds at -1% as opposed to the more general -0.5% of the Deposit Rate.
Meanwhile
I did point out earlier that interest-rate cuts are for the here and now and they seem to be rather en vogue this morning starting early in the Pacific region.
BI Board of Governors Meeting (RDG) in November 2020 decided to lower the BI 7-Day Reverse Repo Rate (BI7DRR) by 25 bps to 3.75%, as well as the Deposit Facility and Lending Facility rates which fell by 25 bps, to 3.00% and 4.50%.
Bank Indonesia did not have to wait long for company as the central bank of the Philippines was in hot pursuit.
At its meeting on monetary policy today, the Monetary Board decided to cut the interest rate on the BSP’s overnight reverse repurchase facility by 25 basis points to 2.0 percent, effective Friday, 20 November 2020. The interest rates on the overnight deposit and lending facilities were likewise reduced to 1.5 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.
Perhaps the Bank of Russia fears missing out.
Russian Central Bank: Monetary Policy To Remain Accommodative In 2021…….Russian Central Bank: See Room For Further Rate Cuts But Not That Big.
Probably they are emboldened by the recent rise in the oil price which is a major issue for the Russian economy.
Indonesia
We looked at the Pacific region back in 2019 as an area especially affected by the “trade war” between the US and China. Some of that looks set to fade with the new US President but the Pacific now has another one.
China is digging in its heels as the trade spat between Canberra and Beijing continues, with officials laying responsibility for the tensions solely at Australia’s feet. ( ABC)
As well as the interest-rate cut Bank Indonesia is working to reduce bond yields.
As of 17 November 2020, Bank Indonesia has purchased SBN on the primary market through a market mechanism in accordance with the Joint Decree of the Minister of Finance and the Governor of Bank Indonesia dated April 16, 2020, amounting to IDR 72.49 trillion, including the main auction scheme, the Greenshoe Option (GSO) and Private Placement.
Primary purchases are unusual especially for an emerging market and another 385 trillion IDR have been bought via other forms of QE.
Philippines
The central bank gives us a conventional explanation around inflation as a starter.
Latest baseline forecasts continue to indicate a benign inflation environment over the policy horizon, with inflation expectations remaining firmly anchored within the target range of 2-4 percent. Average inflation is seen to settle within the lower half of the target band for 2020 up to 2022, reflecting slower domestic economic activity, lower global crude oil prices, and the recent appreciation of the peso. The balance of risks to the inflation outlook also remains tilted toward the downside owing largely to potential disruptions to domestic and global economic activity amid the ongoing pandemic.
But we all know that the main course is this.
Meanwhile, uncertainty remains elevated amid the resurgence of COVID-19 cases globally. However, the Monetary Board also observed that global economic prospects have moderated in recent weeks. At the same time, the Monetary Board noted that while domestic output contracted at a slower pace in the third quarter of 2020, muted business and household sentiment and the impact of recent natural calamities could pose strong headwinds to the recovery of the economy in the coming months.
Comment
As you can see the story about the end of interest-rate cuts has already hit trouble. Central bankers seem unable to break their addiction. I will have to do a proper count again but I am pretty sure we have now had around 780 interest-rate cuts in the credit crunch era. So it seems that the muzak played on the central bank loudspeakers will keep this particular status quo for a while yet.
Get down deeper and down
Down down deeper and down
Down down deeper and down
Get down deeper and down.
There are issues as I noted on the 11th of this month as all the fiscal stimuli puts upward pressure on interest-rates. But the threshold for interest-rate cuts is far lower than for rises. Also we get cuts at warp speed whereas rises have Chief Engineer Scott telling us that the engines “cannae take it”
Putting it another way we have another example of a bipolar world where there may be drivers for higher interest-rates but the central banksters much prefer to cut them.This gets more complex as we see so many countries with or near negative interest-rates and bond yields.