Global Markets Podcasts

In today’s episode, MUFG Head of U.S. Macro Strategy George Goncalves recaps the key events of the last couple weeks of trading into and out of the Labor Day holiday in the U.S. He discusses the renewed hawkishness by central banks, which were taken up a notch at Jackson Hole. Meanwhile, Fed speakers kept the hawkish tone alive post-event, which has helped keep the direction of rates higher since. George highlights that a big driver of the U.S. rates move, especially out the curve, was the global rise in rates, where European and U.K. rates have actually risen more than what we have witnessed in Treasuries. Looking ahead, George will be watching if Fed speakers keep delivering a consistent message, and how hawkish or not the ECB will be at its upcoming policy meeting this week. George concludes that the Fed will likely do 75, so long as market pricing is at least 50/50 chance of a 75 hike at the September meeting.

In today’s episode, MUFG Chief Japan Strategist Takahiro Sekido reviews Japanese investor activity in foreign markets as reflected in Japanese Ministry of Finance data. He also shares his views on spot Dollar/Yen, Yen rate, and Yen basis.

In today’s episode, MUFG Head of Prepayment Modeling and Strategy Glenn Schultz reviews the July prepayment data, burnout in the moderately seasoned cohort and its implication for refinance risk in the new production cohorts, as well as the agency MBS basis relative value outlook.

In today’s episode, MUFG Head of U.S. Macro Strategy George Goncalves continues to suggest that the markets’ belief that the Fed has or is about to pivot is just wishful thinking and is more a narrative being used to explain the markets performance as of late. George thinks that inflation remains the Fed’s main focus. Even if the assumption is that the peak in headline inflation is behind us, so long as core PCE inflation stays elevated, it’s a binding constraint for them. Thus those in the marketplace expecting the Fed to dial back its hawkishness and/or eventually flip into easing in 2023 might be getting ahead of themselves.

In today’s episode, MUFG Head of U.S. Macro Strategy George Goncalves reviews the market price action post the strong July NFP report and what to look out for in the upcoming CPI report. At a minimum, the latest NFP report has made market participants put the “Fed pivot” concept on the backburner as the ongoing robust job growth, along with higher wage inflation, suggests that the Fed will have to lean harder to tightening monetary conditions to weaken aggregate demand.

In today’s episode, MUFG Chief Japan Strategist Takahiro Sekido reviews cross-border security flows and changes to the monetary base during the month of July. He also shares his view on spot Dollar/Yen, Yen rate, and Yen basis.

In today’s episode, MUFG Head of U.S. Macro Strategy George Goncalves explains that the broader markets are increasingly more concerned about recessions and growth versus just focused on inflation, however the Fed has not taken its eye off of the elevated levels of inflation. Thus it’s too early for markets to force a pivot and rally on bad news, as if the Fed would come to the rescue and stop hiking and/or ease. We think a couple more hikes are in store for 2H22 and that should keep curves inverted and eventually weigh on other asset classes, too. We briefly highlighted our views from a joint publication with the capital markets team on a piece called “Mixed Signals: An Assessment of US Recession Risk in the Year Ahead” reviewing our take on recessions and the signals we use to assess them.

In today’s episode, MUFG Chief Japan Strategist Takahiro Sekido reviews markets in July including the BoJ’s July Monetary Policy Board meeting and discusses potential JPY trading triggers for August. He also shares his views on Dollar/Yen, Yen rate, and Yen basis.

In today’s podcast, MUFG Head of U.S. Macro Strategy George Goncalves provides an update on his latest views. George believes that market participants are in a tug-of-war on the inflation versus recession debate and are hoping that central banks will start to pivot their focus to recession risks versus inflation. Even if that is what will ultimately happen, George feels that it’s too soon for that to be the prevailing theme because the Fed is only now getting toward neutral levels of rates.

In today’s episode, MUFG Chief Japan Strategist Takahiro Sekido discusses his July outlook for JPY cross assets and Japanese investor behavior based on the June Tankan survey, and reviews BoJ and MoF money flow data for June. He also shares his views on Dollar/Yen, Yen rate, and Yen basis.