Turkey, emerging market central banks, Eurozone divergence

Attention today is on developments in Turkey. Despite consensus expectations of a 100bp (1%) hike in rates, Turkey's central bank delivered a bigger than expected 200bp increase last week, with a hawkish statement.  This appears not have been welcomed by Turkish President Erdogan who promptly removed central bank (CBRT) Governor Aqbal on Saturday.  Despite some reassurance from Aqbal's replacement that policy would deliver price stability the result has been substantial pressure on Turkey's currency the lira (TRY) at the start of trading in Asia today, with the lira down as much as 15% initially, erasing more than four months of gains.  Turkish authorities are likely to intervene to limit the damage, but the damage has been done.  There has also been some, albeit more limited fall out on other emerging market currencies.

The end of the week saw a bit of a reversal in recent trends, with tech stocks gaining most, at the expense of bank stocks, which were weighed down by the news that the US Federal Reserve would not extend the Supplementary Leverage Ratio (SLR) exemption but rather to look at a more permanent solution. This could lower banks demand for Treasuries while constraining dealer balance sheets. Both S&P 500 and Nasdaq recorded declines over the week amid a further rise in US Treasury yields.  Quadruple witching saw an increase in volumes and oil prices recorded a sharp close to 8% decline over the week while Chinese stocks continued to suffer. 

Aside from Turkey there was some interesting central bank action last week in the emerging markets.  The BCB in Brazil hiked by 75bps, more expected, and indicated the high likelihood of another 75bps at the May meeting.  The CBR in Russia also joined in on the hawkish emerging markets (EM) action surprising markets by hiking rates by 25bps, with a likely acceleration in tightening likely over coming meetings.  EM central bank decisions this week include China (today), Philippines (Thu), Thailand (Wed), Hungary (Tue), South Africa (Thu), Mexico (Fri) and Colombia (Fri).   Separately, the SNB in Switzerland also decides on policy (Thu). China's loan prime rates were left unchanged as expected and no changes are likely from any of the other central banks this week. 

Other data and events this week include the US PCE report (Fri), President Biden's press conference (Thu) which could offer clues to the "Rescue" package that could amount to $3-4trn. A host of Fed speakers are also on tap, including Fed Chair Powell, as well as Eurozone flash purchasing managers indices (PMIs) (Wed), and UK retail sales (Fri).  The data will reveal stark differences in the recovery picture in the UK and Eurozone while the difference between the US and Europe looks even more stark.  Europe is struggling with a third wave of Covid case, vaccination delays and tighter restrictions, leading to a reduction in growth forecasts, while US growth forecasts are being revised higher in the wake of the $1.9tn stimulus package. This will likely result in some underperformance of Eurozone markets relative to the US.