Wednesday 20 July 2016

The PBOC is speculated to be using intervention again

Last week I spoke about the ramifications of Brexit on the nature of global monetary policy going forward and said the Bank of England was poised to open its war chest of monetary tools to avert a deepening crisis in the British economy. I also said I thought a loosening stance from the BoE was likely to apply pressure on the US Federal Reserve regarding their divergent pledge to see interest rates normalised as opposed to its developed world counterparts such as Europe and Japan.

My assertiveness that this will indeed be the case was strengthened after it was reported the People's Bank of China may have intervened in the onshore currency market following an appreciation in the US Dollar which should've been offset by a devaluation in the Chinese Yuan with officials decidedly fixed the rate stronger.

The PBOC had steadied its hand with intervention when it abruptly devalued the local currency in the middle of last year causing shockwaves throughout the global financial system. After finding stability towards the beginning of this year it took the decision to allow market forces to dictate the direction of the price rather than set it itself.

Having followed this decision up until the Renminbi reached a six year low of 6.70 in the days gone by, its becoming abundantly clear that policymakers have reached an end of this resolution by observing the sudden appreciation of the local currency in an attempt to ward it away from this critical resistance.

Either the PBOC will be left to vehemently defend this level with all its might or it envisions a situation where the US economy is susceptible to economic headwinds that defer the Fed from raising rates as the global outlook remains bleak. Its own economy has yet to inspire forecasts that's turning the tide against the notion of a perpetual economic value generating machine.  

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