The risks surrounding ECB stimulus withdrawal are high

Subject Monetary divergence Significance After reaching multi-year highs in the second half of 2017, euro-area manufacturing and services surveys are now signposting slower growth. Meanwhile, euro strength is dampening inflation pressures. Thus the ECB will be cautious in its plans to ‘normalise’ its ultra-loose monetary policy. Impacts The euro has gained 15% against the dollar over the past twelve months; growing divergence with US policy will fuel further strength. Further euro strength is likely to put more downward pressure on euro-area core inflation and could damage export competitiveness. Markets are likely to remain volatile; the S&P 500 equity index is experiencing its second-most volatile year outside a bear market. Investors’ appetite for ‘risk assets’ will remain strong; 65 billion dollars has gone into emerging market bond and equity funds in 2018.

Significance This drop has taken oil into its second bear market in the space of just over a year amid a broader rout in the prices of commodities, notably copper and gold. The commodity sell-off is fuelled by mounting concerns over the economy and financial markets of China, the world's top crude importer and its largest energy user. The sell-off is exacerbated by fears over the fallout from a US interest rates rise, which could come as early as September. Country-specific risks are weighing on emerging market (EM) assets, notably the currencies of large commodity exporters such as Brazil and Russia. Impacts The sharp fall in commodity prices will exert further downward pressure on inflation in both emerging and advanced economies. Re-emerging disinflationary trends will bode ill for the ECB efforts to boost inflation in the euro-area. The commodity sell-off will exacerbate economic and political crises in Brazil and Russia. The EM currencies fall is forcing many central banks to signal an end to monetary easing or to tighten policy.


Subject Global equity market trends. Significance The four main US stock market indices began March at record highs, including the benchmark S&P 500 index at 2,400. Driven by expectations of stimulative and pro-business policies under the new US administration, equity markets are flying in the face of signals from the Federal Reserve (Fed) that interest rates will rise three times this year. The probability of a hike at the Fed’s March 14-15 meeting has risen above 80% on growing price pressures and stronger economic data, buoyed by hawkish comments from several Fed governors, including those who were previously dovish. Impacts Despite the post-election US bond market sell-off, around one-third of the stock of euro-area sovereign debt remains negative yielding. The gap between the two-year US Treasury bond yield and its German equivalent has widened to a record, a sign of rising monetary divergence. The euro lost 2% against the dollar in February as political risks escalated in the euro-area, centred around the French election. The emerging market MSCI equity index is 8.6% up this year, after losing 4.5% from November 9 to end-2016, a sign of higher confidence.


Subject The outlook for the koruna, forint, zloty and leu. Significance Although emerging market (EM) bond and equity funds suffered heavy outflows in the week to February 14, the Czech koruna has barely budged against the dollar and the euro, after rallying sharply over the past few months. The Polish zloty and Hungarian forint have also remained stable, after enjoying sharp gains versus both currencies. The Romanian leu remains under pressure, owing partly to a significant deterioration in the country’s fiscal and current account balances. Impacts The surge in volatility in global markets in early February is abating partly because of strong economic and corporate fundamentals. Also, the global economy is enjoying its strongest synchronised expansion since 2010. The dollar will remain under significant strain despite the tightening of US monetary policy, with the dollar index at a three-year low. German business confidence, at a record high in January, is buoying sentiment across the euro-area and within export-dependent CE.


Subject Reasons behind the current bond sell-off. Significance The sharp fall in the prices of government bonds, which has wiped 450 billion dollars off the value of sovereign debt over the past month, is attributable to crowded positioning by investors. It is unlikely to be the start of a 'reflation trade' stemming from a sudden improvement in the prospects for global growth and inflation. While there is debate about whether the sell-off in longer-dated government debt since mid-April amounts to the start of a bond bear market, the modest recovery in the euro-area and the renewed weakness of the US economy suggest technical factors are at work. Impacts The two main consensus trades (long European equities and government bonds and short the euro) are being unwound. The euro-area government bond sell-off is probably a 'buy the rumour, sell the news' trade after the ECB's QE announcement. The sell-off in long-dated government bonds is not spreading to corporate debt and to EM currencies.


Significance Pressure is mounting on the ECB to justify its withdrawal of monetary stimulus, following a sharp fall in German industrial activity in November that has increased the risk of Europe’s largest economy slipping into recession in the final quarter of 2018. The downturn across the euro-area, which is dragging down inflation rates and government bond yields, is starting to dampen growth in Central Europe. Impacts The euro-area economy’s outlook has dimmed, with Germany’s ten-year government bond yield plumbing its lowest level since April 2017. The open Hungarian and Czech economies are most at risk from a euro-area slowdown, since the weakness is concentrated in the car industry. However, sentiment towards emerging market bond and equity funds has improved despite a global growth scare centred around China’s economy.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Szymon Stereńczak

Purpose This paper aims to empirically indicate the factors influencing stock liquidity premium (i.e. the relationship between liquidity and stock returns) in one of the leading European emerging markets, namely, the Polish one. Design/methodology/approach Various firms’ characteristics and market states are analysed as potentially affecting liquidity premiums in the Polish stock market. Stock returns are regressed on liquidity measures and panel models are used. Liquidity premium has been estimated in various subsamples. Findings The findings vividly contradict the common sense that liquidity premium raises during the periods of stress. Liquidity premium does not increase during bear markets, as investors lengthen the investment horizon when market liquidity decreases. Liquidity premium varies with the firm’s size, book-to-market value and stock risk, but these patterns seem to vanish during a bear market. Originality/value This is one of the first empirical papers considering conditional stock liquidity premium in an emerging market. Using a unique methodological design it is presented that liquidity premium in emerging markets behaves differently than in developed markets.


Significance The rise in yields is stirring memories of the 2013 ‘taper tantrum’, which led to a dramatic decline in emerging market (EM) currencies and local bonds, prompting three years of net outflows from EM debt and equity funds. Investor fears of US tightening have risen with growth and inflation expectations. Impacts If the trade-weighted dollar index rises further, this will threaten EM currencies, especially those with large dollar-denominated debts. The Brent oil price has gained 70% since November to USD68 per barrel but further upside is limited, with no commodities ‘supercycle’ ahead. Recent moves fuel fears of the normally staid US bond market becoming volatile; stable ten-year Chinese yields are being seen as a haven.


Subject The role of the private sector in strengthening regional ties between African states. Significance Over the past decade, the African continent has experienced greater integration within and across its regions, especially through trade. While still lagging behind many other emerging market regions, this growth has been driven in large part by the private sector. More African companies are now expanding beyond the borders of their home countries. Private equity is playing an important role in funding this expansion, supporting companies with knowledge and experience to access broader markets. Impacts Commercial ties are pushing regulators to harmonise aspects of economic policy across borders, eg on banks and insurance firms. Longer-term integration projects -- eg African Central Bank and African Monetary Fund -- are unlikely to succeed. Firms from regional hegemons (Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa) will tend to have the greatest pan-Africa footprint.


Subject Software and IT services policies. Significance Over the past 15 years, Argentina and Brazil have promoted their software and IT services (SIS) sectors. Strong sectoral growth has followed in both countries. However, this growth has depended largely upon low-value-added activities whose profitability has diminished amid economic recession. Sectors must move to higher-value-added activities if recent levels of growth are to be sustained. Impacts Exchange rates and (in Argentina’s case) inflation may eat into export competitiveness. Both countries will need to add value to their SIS activities to maintain sectoral competitiveness. Increasing the complexity of SIS activities will be crucial to maximising their value.


Subject The fallout in Central-eastern Europe (CEE) from Brexit. Significance While CEE government bond markets are being supported by investor expectations of further monetary stimulus in response to the uncertainty stemming from the UK decision to leave the EU ('Brexit'), the zloty is suffering from both its status as one of the most actively traded emerging market (EM) currencies and concerns about the policies of Poland's new nationalist government. A sharp Brexit-induced slowdown in the euro-area economy would put other CEE currencies and equity markets under strain. Impacts The ECB's full-blown QE is helping keep government and corporate bond yields in vulnerable southern European economies historically low. Uncertainty generated by Brexit reduces the scope for further US interest rate hikes later this year, lifting sentiment towards EM assets. The Brexit vote will increase investors' sensitivity to political risks, auguring badly for Poland. Poland has already suffered a downgrade to its credit rating mainly as a result of the interventionist policies of the PiS government.


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