Prospects for peace in trade wars, Japan’s GDP, OPEC+ and Brexit

20 במאי 2019

The previous week has been having a hard time fundamentally duo to Sino-U.S. trade war. China does not intend to a resumption of negotiation still Washington is continuous to speak from a position of strength and power. Therefore the “happy end” was very close but suddenly became subtle. Investors have been hoped for restarting the dialogue and rising in seeking compromise, but on Friday it became clear that it is not something should be counted on. According to the Chinese state media, the country sees no reason for the resumption of the negotiation process. Thus, all hope for a meeting of the heads of China and the United States in the framework of the G-20 summit at the end of June. That is, another month and a half should not count on stress-reduction.

From the perspective of such news, we have become even more confident about our position to buy safe-haven assets (Japanese yen and gold). Accordingly, we are planning to look for points for buying safe-haven assets (Japanese yen and gold) on the intraday basis. As for the yen, today's data on Japan's GDP is additional and a strong argument in favor of buying the Japanese currency. GDP growth in the first quarter significantly exceeded analysts' expectations.

Everything is still bad with the pound, that ended the week with the strongest decline in the last few years. Markets are selling duo to another Parliament vote failure in Britain. Prime Minister Theresa May is under pressure by not only her opponents but also members of her own party. We are talking about her resignation from the post of a leader according to the results of the fourth vote in Parliament. And the results for the current scenario are predictable - a vote “against” the May plan. Despite the extremely attractive points for pound buying, we continue to wait for a fundamental reason for their start.

The results of the previous week appeared pretty successful for oil. But we are still full of pessimism. On the one hand, the trade war is a very negative signal for oil demand, and therefore for a possible increase in asset prices. In addition, we are skeptical about the future of OPEC +. That is, from the supply side in the near future there is a very serious threat. Total, this week we will continue to look for opportunities to sell the asset. But do not tend to get carried away and each intraday position has to be limited with fairly rigid stops. The fact is that the OPEC + meeting held this weekend somehow reassured investors who were nervous. OPEC + participants expressed readiness to comply with the agreement until the end of 2019. And yes, the number of active rigs in the United States has fallen to a minimum over the last 13 months. There are enough bullish signals for oil, especially considering very serious tensions and problem situations in Iran, Venezuela and Libya.

As for our preferences for this week in general and Monday in particular, they are as follows: we will look for points for buying the euro against the US dollar, selling oil and the Russian ruble, as well as buying gold and the Japanese yen. Considering how uneasy the financial markets are, we will limit our positions with fairly shortstops, especially since some of the deals are definitely at odds with the current mood on the markets.