Insights
Market Insights
Central Banks Tighten Their Messaging
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Market Insights
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September 30, 2021
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Central Banks Tighten Their Messaging
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September 30, 2021
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Central Banks Tighten Their Messaging
Central Banks Tighten Their Messaging |
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Federal Reserve Board1
While the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) did not formally meet in August, Chairman Powell spoke at the annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. At last year’s conference, Chairman Powell outlined changes to policy including average inflation targeting, which in effect lets inflation run temporarily hotter. This year he hinted at the timing for a policy action. The Federal Reserve (Fed) chairman hinted that the Fed is likely to start reducing its monthly bond purchases before the end of 2021 as the economy and inflation have exceeded expectations. In addition, he stated that future rate hikes are neither tied to the pace nor the timing of the bond buying reduction. While inflation is a significant piece of the Fed’s dual mandate, Chairman Powell added, “we have much ground to cover to reach maximum employment.” For the Fed to raise rates, inflation will need to be solidly above 2% and maximum employment must be reached. However, the chairman also cautioned that COVID-19 continues to pose risks to the economy as the Fed monitors the impact of the delta variant.
European Central Bank1
The European Central Bank (ECB) did not hold a formal policy meeting in August. However, investors will want to pay close attention to the ECB’s September meeting as economic indicators and inflation gauges have moved upward recently.
Bank of England1
The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted unanimously to maintain the Bank Rate at 0.10% and voted 7-1 to leave the size of its U.K. government bond purchase program unchanged at the conclusion of its August 5 meeting. The MPC noted that inflation was likely to temporarily increase toward 4% in the fourth quarter of 2021 before settling back down to closer to 2%. The policy committee shares similar sentiment with the Fed, as both suggested hotter inflation data to be “transitory.” While COVID-19 restrictions are likely to impact third quarter gross domestic product (GDP), the BOE projects fourth quarter GDP to be at or around pre-pandemic levels. Moving forward, the MPC will monitor economic activity to ensure proper policy measures are taken and suggested that “modest” tightening may be necessary in the next two years.
Source: Bloomberg
Source: Bloomberg
Source: Bloomberg
Source: Bloomberg
Source: Bloomberg.
Source: Bloomberg.
PORTFOLIO STRATEGY
MSLF EURO LIQUIDITY FUND (LVNAV)
The flattening/inversion of the euro yield curve is now well established, and term rates are almost flat from overnight out to 6-month maturities. The European Central Bank’s dovish new forward guidance, as well as the scale of excess liquidity in the system, has done little to abate this. These conditions have meant that many term assets are not yielding enough to justify moving cash out of overnight instruments and SSA (sovereign, supranational and agency) names. Therefore, weekly liquidity remained between 40% and 45% for much of August. As money market yields look less attractive, tail-end bonds have again provided some yield pick-up for the Fund. However, while we continue to look for opportunities to replace maturities in this space, the assets remain difficult to source. The Fund gained assets in the run up to month-end, closing August at circa €9.5 billion, with the inflows allowing us to position the Fund for quarter-end and year-end by investing in assets with maturities just beyond both periods.
MSLF STERLING LIQUIDITY FUND (LVNAV)
Yields have fallen at the front end of the sterling curve, with high levels of excess liquidity and year-end pressures dampening rates in 6-month maturities and under. However, we are seeing more attractive levels in 9- and 12-month maturities, as the market starts to price in future interest rate hikes. We have been able to pick up some longer-dated assets in rare AA names, which took the WAM to 55 days by the end of August, but we have been selective with the investments in order to meet our sub-60 day WAM requirement. The WAL was only slightly longer than the WAM for much of the month, but we would aim to extend this further if floating rate opportunities arise. Having started the month at £7.6 billion, the Fund reached another all-time high of circa £7.8 billion before outflows left the Fund at £7.4 billion by month-end. Weekly liquidity has remained elevated and ended August at circa 48%.
MSLF U.S. DOLLAR LIQUIDITY FUND (LVNAV)
Minutes from the July FOMC meeting released in August indicated that participants concluded their inflation goal had been attained while still needing to make progress on their employment mandate, stating that “Most participants judged that the Committee’s standard of ‘substantial further progress’ toward the maximum-employment goal had not yet been met.” Throughout the month, broader market volatility caused by concerns over the spreading delta variant did not flow through to the money market space, with 3-month LIBOR remaining range-bound near all-time lows. With a flat curve not compensating to extend maturities and take on additional credit and interest rate risk, we remain patient in our investment approach, waiting for dislocations in pricing before putting capital to work. Portfolio WAM (weighted average maturity) and WAL (weighted average life) organically rolled down throughout the month, with weekly liquidity remaining elevated in excess of 50%.
MSLF U.S. DOLLAR TREASURY LIQUIDITY FUND (PUBLIC DEBT CNAV)
Overall Treasury yields remained similar to the prior month with most yields between 0.04% and 0.06% throughout the front-end curve. Bill auctions for late October through early November maturities stopped out 1-2 basis points higher due to some investor sensitivity near a potential debt ceiling limit date. There has been no legislation to address the debt limit yet as Congress continues to delay any resolution. We proactively sold Treasury positions we felt could be most at risk of a technical debt default. Given the lack of the market pricing in such risk, bids were competitive, and our portfolio had minimal yield impact to reinvest sale proceeds. Additionally, in our view, the risk of a potential deterioration of Treasury bids for those positions if market dynamics changed outweighed a “wait and see” approach. We continued to invest a significant amount of cash in overnight repurchase agreements and to manage the portfolio to be responsive to changes in market conditions and interest rate levels.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. The net performance data shown is calculated net of annual fees. The sources for all performance and Index data is Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Please visit our website www.morganstanley.com/im to see the latest performance returns for the fund’s other share classes.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. The net performance data shown is calculated net of annual fees. The sources for all performance and Index data is Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Please visit our website www.morganstanley.com/im to see the latest performance returns for the fund’s other share classes.
Institutional Distributing and Institutional Accumulation Share Class Risk and Reward Profile
