La inflación en EEUU ha mostrado un repunte en abril, aunque me temo que no es suficiente para prever con seguridad lo que va a decidir el FOMC en su reunión de junio. Tim Duy, uno de los mejores FED watchers, nos comenta sus perspectivas. (Ver también la valoraciones de Paz Viruet).
En su gráfico vemos la trayectoria de la inflación total y subyacente.
La línea azul, la total, se mantiene todavía alejada del 2%. La línea verde, subyacente, se modera respecto al registro de marzo, con un 2,1% frente al 2,2% anterior.
Hay un abanico de indicadores de actividad que sugieren de todo, desde un calentamiento evidente, o una desaceleración, según. Por ejemplo, el empleo creado en abril ha sido menor de lo esperado, y se han revisado a la baja los dos meses anteriores. La producción industrial interanual está flaqueando, aunque en menos sectores.
Ídem los indicadores PMI, opinión de directores de compras.
Todo lo cual indica que no hay un perfil de valoración claro, aunque los miembros del FOMC hawkish ya han empezado a avisar que , si no en la reunión de junio, en julio no se puede dejar de subir los tipos.
Fedspeak was decidedly hawkish today, with both Atlanta Federal Reserve President Dennis Lockhart and San Fransisco Federal Reserve President John Williams insisting that market participants are wrong to assume the Fed will pass on the June meeting. Via Greg Robb at MarketWatch:
Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart and San Francisco Fed President John Williams, in a joint appearance at a lunch sponsored by the news site Politico, said that the decision on whether to raise rates at the June 14-15 meeting depends on the data.
June “certainly could be a meeting at which action could be taken,” Lockhart said.
“I think it is a little early at second-quarter data to draw a conclusion, so I am at this stage inconclusive about how I am going to be thinking about June, but I wouldn’t take it off the table,” Lockhart said.
He said he assumes there will be two to three rate hikes this year...
...Williams said he agreed with Lockhart and said he thought the economy was “doing great.”
“I think the incoming data have actually been quite good and reassuring in terms of policy decisions, so, in my view, June is a live meeting,” Williams said.
He added that there will a lot more data reported before the meeting.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal prior to the Politico lunch, Williams said raising rates two or this times this year “makes sense.”
Separately, Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan argued for a rate hike in June or July. Via Ann Saphir at Reuters:
"Whether that’s June or July, I can’t say right now," Kaplan told reporters after a speech. He said would prefer to pause after that first 2016 rate hike to assess conditions, and while he would "hope" to continue to normalize rates thereafter, the pace of rate hikes will depend on incoming economic data.
None of these three are voters. Still, there is a message here - many FOMC participants want to go into the June meeting with a reasonable chance that they will hike rates. They don't want the outcome of this meeting to be a foregone conclusion. Two other thoughts:
1.) The more hawkish Fedspeak could be foreshadowing that the minutes of the April FOMC meeting will have a hawkish tilt.
2.) Kaplan puts July on the table. I had been thinking that July was off the table due to the lack of a press conference. That said, I should be open to the possibility that they use the June press conference to clear the way for July.
Los mercados derivados, por su parte, apuntan a un aumento de la probabilidad de repunte del FED FUND, pero no alarmante.
Market participants raised the probability of a June rate hike to 15% today. Still probably less than the probability assigned by the median FOMC participant. Meanwhile, the yield curve flattened further - signaling that the Fed needs to move very cautiously. At the moment, the Fed doesn't have much room before they invert the yield curve. In my opinion, the bond market continues to signal that Fed's expectation of normalizing short rates in the 3.0 - 3.5 percent range are wildly - and dangerously - optimistic.
Sobre esto, reproducimos la opinión de Paz Viruet:
En junio hay un 12% de probabilidad de que suba un cuarto de punto. En julio las probabilidades son del 26%. Es verdad que estas probabilidades eran mucho mayores hace una semana (4% y 17%). Hay que irse a la reunión de septiembre para encontrar probabilidad de subida de tipos elevadas. Concretamente en la última semana, la probabilidad de que los tipos suban en la reunión de septiembre ha pasado del 30.6% al 46.6%.
A la espera de que la publicación de las actas del FOMC de abril de una pista, lo más probable es que "los idus de marzo" se trasladen de junio a julio. Junio será un mes de admoniciones severas.
No obstante, las actas se han publicado ahora mismo (21 h) y, en contra de lo dicho anteriormente, las opiniones de los miembros del FOMC en la reunión de abril se inclinan mayoritariamente por subir en junio el tipo de interés.
"Participants agreed that their ongoing assessments of the data and other incoming information, as well as the implications for the outlook, would determine the timing and pace of future adjustments to the stance of monetary policy. Most participants judged that if incoming data were consistent with economic growth picking up in the second quarter, labor market conditions continuing to strengthen, and inflation making progress toward the Committee's 2 percent objective, then it likely would be appropriate for the Committee to increase the target range for the federal funds" rate in June.
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