Which is Right, Bond Spreads or Exchange Rates?
January 10, 2011
Despite heavily lagging the rally in the US market and especially the robust Asian markets, the JPY-denominated Nikkei 225 has rallied 19.7% from an August 2010 low of 8,796.45. The Japanese benchmark has seen bullish technical "golden crosses" between its 13-week and 26-week moving averages, as well as its 50-day & 200-day moving averages the bullish technical indicators plus improving trading volume indicate there is some sustainability in this rally. Further, the Nikkei 225 is still some 7.7% below its April 2010 high while the S&P 500 and other global markets have long since surpassed not only this high but are back to pre-2008 crisis levels.
The major difference between now and April 2010 is the strength in JPY/USD and in the real trade-weighted JPY index. When the Nikkei 225 hit its April 2010 high, JPY/USD was trading around JPY93 and JPY94/USD, or a full JPY10 weaker than where it is trading today (JPY83/USD). While there are expectations for a full-scale weakening of JPY versus USD and perhaps even in real trade-weighted terms, so far these are merely expectations, as JPY/USD is still far away from April 2010 levels even though investor growth expectations have returned to April 2010 levels._
We have emphasized for some time that the two key metrics to watch regarding rallies in Japanese equities are, a) JPY exchange rates and_ b) the spread between US and Japan 10-year bond yields. As a graph of US-Japan long bond rate spreads shows, the Nikkei 225 rally peak in April coincided with a peak in the US-Japan yield spread, as did the JPY/USD exchange rate. However, the US-Japan rate spread has shown a significant recovery since September 2010, the JPY/USD exchange rate is still in the process of re-confirming November 15-year highs. If direction bond yield spreads are right, JPY is being set up for a period of noticeable weakness vs USD, which will drive further gains in Japanese equities. If exchange rates are right, the upside in Japanese equities may be less attractive than foreign investors currently assume.
TJI source
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