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9 January 2014
FX Blueprint: Thin end of the wedge
with our own view. That said, the Australian rates
market has a tendency to sell off considerably once it
becomes clear than an easing cycle in Australia is over.
(Figure 4). As to what might spark such a sell-off; an
improvement in the labor market stands as one clear
possibility. RBA action - and market pricing for the
RBA - is often driven by conditions in the labor market.
As Figure 5 shows, our tracking of 11 different monthly
indicators of labor demand and sentiment suggests a
pick-up in the pace of employment growth over
coming months. All up, we therefore see the risks
being skewed toward a narrowing of the front end
interest rate differential between Australian and New
Zealand, something that would be supportive of our
long AUD/NZD stance.
Finally, it would be remiss of us not to consider the
outlook for China when discussing any view on AUD,
either against the USD or crosses. Our house view
remains quite constructive on China, with GDP growth
expected by DB to continue its recovery towards 8.6%
in 2014. Despite the modest decline in the December
PMI reading, our local economists note that the PMI's
Q4 average reached 51.3, 0.5pts above the Q3 average
which suggests that Q4 IP and GDP growth are unlikely
to have decelerated from that seen in O3. Looking
forward, stronger external demand should see an
acceleration of GDP growth over 2014. If this view on
China is correct, then it should be supportive of the
AUD given the tendency of the market to see the
Aussie as a China proxy (see Figure 6).
We are; however, a little cautious about overplaying
any impact that stronger growth in China may have on
the AUD, given that Australia's key commodity export
to China (iron ore) is likely to be moving into an
oversupply situation this year. We should note here
that while many analysts focus heavily on relative
commodity prices when considering the AUD/NZD
cross; we are inclined to think that the true importance
of commodity prices is captured through the influence
on interest rate differentials. In other words, we take
the view that the impact of divergent commodity price
trends is likely to have already been captured by
interest rate differentials.
All up, some recovery following the sharp fall in 2013.
the favorable valuation backdrop, and the risk that the
interest rate differential moves in the AUD's favor over
coming months has us long AUD/NZD.
Adam Sayre'', Sydney
'Figure 4: Once the RBA is 'done' easing, Australian
rates usually (and often incorrectly) price a lot of hikes
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Page 11
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CONFIDENTIAL
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