- US: Federal Reserve expected to keep the Fed funds target range unchanged at 5.25-5.50%
- UK: Bank of England to drop tightening bias but remain cautious on rate cuts
- Hungary: NBH cuts rates by 100bp but FX will be key
US: Federal Reserve expected to keep the Fed funds target range unchanged at 5.25-5.50%
The Federal Reserve is widely expected to keep the Fed funds target range unchanged at 5.25-5.50% on Wednesday while continuing the process of shrinking its balance sheet via quantitative tightening.
At its December FOMC meeting we saw a dovish shift from the Fed, signalling that it expected to cut the policy rate by 75bp this year. Given the perception that the Fed always starts out conservatively and typically ends up shifting policy by more than initially suggested, this was interpreted by markets as giving them the green light to push on more aggressively. Just a few weeks ago seven 25bp moves were being priced by markets for this year with the first cut coming in March, but recent strong jobs and activity data have since scaled that back to a 50-50 call while Fed commentary has also suggested that FOMC members are not in a hurry to cut.
Nonetheless, inflation pressures continue to softenc, with the Fed’s favoured measure of inflation, the core PCE deflator, running at 2% annualised for two consecutive quarters. We think it is only a matter of time before they do indeed cut interest rates, but we think the starting point will be in May. We continue to see some downside risks for growth in the coming quarters relative to the consensus as the legacy of tight monetary policy and credit conditions weighs on activity and Covid-era accrued household savings provide less support. Our forecast is for the Fed funds target range to be cut to 3.75-4% by the end of this year.
On Friday, we have the US jobs report for January. It does feel as though there have been a growing number of job lay-off announcements, but this is not apparent in jobless claims data. We have little survey data to go on at this stage, but given the strength in activity numbers, there seems little reason to expect the jobs market to roll over. We look for payrolls growth of around 200,000, once again led by government, leisure and hospitality and education and healthcare services. Nonetheless, the household survey is expected to show the unemployment rate ticking a little higher to 3.8%.
UK: Bank of England to drop tightening bias but remain cautious on rate cuts
The Bank of England was careful not say anything at the December meeting that could be misconstrued as an endorsement of market pricing on rate cuts. Investors are currently pricing roughly 100bp of cuts this year. But the reality is that defending a “higher for longer” stance on interest rates is getting harder to defend as the inflation backdrop shows signs of improving.
Both services inflation and private-sector wage growth, the two variables guiding BoE policy right now, are well below the Bank’s November projections. Even so, we expect the Bank will still want to tread carefully. Lower market rates will at least offset the recent improvement in inflation and it’s possible the BoE’s two year-ahead forecast will be a little above 2%.
What really matters for markets though are what the Bank does to its policy statement. We suspect it will drop the suggestion that it could raise rates further, but keep the signal that rates need to stay restrictive for an extended period. As for the vote split, we suspect the hawks will finally throw in the towel and stop voting for a rate hike. At the same time, we think it’s probably too early to see the doves voting for a cut. That leads us to expect a unanimous decision to keep rates on hold.
Hungary: NBH cuts rates by 100bp but FX will be key
We see the National Bank of Hungary cutting the base rate by 100bp on 30 January. This could bring the key rate down to 9.75% after the rate-setting meeting, while we expect the Monetary Council to also cut both ends of the rate corridor by 100-100bp. There remains one major factor that poses a downside risk to our call and that is FX stability. We believe that if we were to see a further marked deterioration in EUR/HUF, this would encourage the central bank to remain more cautious and maintain the previous pace of 75bp of easing.
However, as the central bank will certainly remain in data-dependency mode, this does not mean that 100bp cuts will be automatic going forward. Rather, we expect the NBH to cautiously assess both internal and external developments and act accordingly on a meeting-by-meeting basis. Catch our full National Bank of Hungary preview here for all the latest details.
