When it moves, everything moves. If the dollar rises sharply back to the middle of the range, it kills the inflation narrative for now.
The real guts of the inflation debate is more likely next year's story.
It is normal to see inflation fears immediately after recessions but they tend to ease sharply (or entirely reverse, as do bond yields).
And The Fed always cuts again (for 2 years) after the recession as stimulus and re-bound effects wear off...
Same happened with QE after last recession
The government tends to push through one or two more stimulus (in this case I think they will be massive) and the Fed balance sheet will continue to expand, and bond yields should drop once more...
My view remains that H2 is weaker than expected and inflation fears subside for now, and growth looks patchy. That results in more stimulus (not tightening) in Q4.
What does it mean for markets? Well, the dollar keeps rising for a bit. Commodities correct. Tech and Exponential Age stocks rip higher.
Weaker data will eventually lead to Gold and Crypto moving sharply higher, especially once the dollar stabilises a bit.
We need to see the dollar break this inverse head and shoulders first...
But I think the dollar is range bound and heads to the 96 to 98 level before settling...
Let's see how it plays out... but keep your eye on the dollar. It is still the king, and remember 100% of all forecasters on Bloomberg at the beginning of the year suggested it was going to weaken a lot. They are usually wrong when consensus is so high.
But massive infrastructure stimulus that will keep coming will drive up commodities over time as long as the dollar is not ripping. But I think the first wave is possibly done and will correct for a while now.
Let's see how the Fed plays out but PTJ's observation that if they stick with their unemployment narrative then that is wildly bullish tech (BTC and gold too). Many big tech charts are looking poised to break higher, along with $ARKK.
Also....
If they remain serious about full employment (which I think they are) then either yields rises and yield curve control kicks in, expanding the balance sheet and pushing up risk assets, after an initial drop... or...
the post reopening rebound slows, as does relation (as is normal after initial post-recession, and is my base base for 2021) and the Fed have a hair trigger to do more QE and gov has hair trigger to do more stim.
I find DeMark Indicators work well for me for assessing probabilities. The weekly 9 on the log trend line in BTC feels about the right chance of a reversal higher. If this fails over a few weeks (lower odds), its will lead to much longer pain. Lets see...
To be fair, my flippant comments about the BTC conference being a bit cringe was a reflection of the media coverage of the more extreme aspects but the truth is the speakers and many of the attendees are some of the smartest, most interesting forward thinkers Ive ever known.
We all have to learn to separate the people from the technology and opportunity. It is not about individuals, but about adoption of a network. Everyone plays their role and each plays different roles.
The negative reaction to some of the more over the top speakers also shows that the space has transitioned from early phase to a more mature adoption phase where individuals create less marginal positive impact and may even have negative impact
A major asset class crashed 42% in 14 days, wiping out $1.02trn in value in an orgy of liquidation of people up to 100 x levered, with very low regulation. Many tokens fell up to 70%, including unregulated lending and borrowing biz.
Beneath the head line:
Crypto had a major, major VAR-shock test and NOTHING happened.
Leverage liquidation was offset by overcollateralisation. No one was left holding the baby.
No firm went under.
The Fed didn't need to step in.
Defi didn't break and carried on near normal
There were no daisy chains of collateral losses.
There was no collateral pressure.
Stablecoins remained stable.
A few exchanges went down for an hour or two. No exchange big losses occurred, no need to mutualise losses either.
No protocol failed.
No firms needed rapid funding.
One of the key features of Network Effect models is volatility within a logarithmic trend. The vol is a feature not a bug as it is more than compensated by the returns over time.