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The focus of this piece is the Yen trade. Specifically, the short-yen-against-anything-not-nailed-to-the-floor trade that has been FX position de jour for the last 3 months. As of current, technicals indicate that the currency is oversold, the Nikkei is overbought, and both markets are due for a few nasty corrections before it's said and done. I don't disagree, but remain strongly bearish Yen (and by extension bullish on the Nikkei, at least in the short run). I'm targeting north of 100 (USDJPY) by year end and would advise anyone to do the same. The easy part of this trade is over but that doesn't mean there isn't still money to be made. First, some charts: USDJPY chart from the December election to current. Notice the trend towards greater and greater oscillations within the ascending channel http://static.cdn-seekingalpha.com/uploads/2013/1/...4242670864_2.png
The proposed medicine for the economy, now fully apparent following last week's BoJ minutes, is fiscal stimulus, monetary easing via "unlimited" GJB purchases, maintained low interest rates, and (apparently) sustained, overbearingly dovish rhetoric from Tokyo. In other words: the same Keynesian policies that they've been unsuccessfully attempted for years, but in higher dosage, and all at once.
In addition to the magnitude of Tokyo's effort, there are several factors conspiring to help the Abe administration lift USDJPY out of double digits.
1. The Current Account: Japan is fast approaching an impasse regarding its trade deficit. Constraints on the energy sector following the 2008 earthquake have forced Japan to import an increasing amount of energy from abroad to replace the nuclear power that previously supplied roughly 35% of the nation's electricity. Additional downward pressure on the trade balance comes from escalating tension with China. In 2011, Japan posted its first trade deficit in 20 years and if the trend continues, the nation will move from a trade deficit to a current account deficit, a change which would all but force a reevaluation of Japan's credit rating. A nudge downward would bump borrowing rates and put pressure on the already large fiscal deficit. It is important to remember that one of the primary reasons that Japan has been able to borrow over two times its annual output is that it has, for years, and years, and years, run a current account surplus. A move into negative territory for Japan's balance of payments would be an incredibly bearish signal in and of itself, to say nothing of the problematic implications of a shift from domestic to foreign debt holders.
interest rates are finally just about as low as they can go.... an actual increase in yields abroad (and especially in the U.S.) would draw money out of the Yen and remove some of the fundamental demand that has supported the currency for the last two decades. Either by active replacement or passive reinvestment of funds, it is reasonable to expect flows out of Yen as it begins to look less attractive relative to its safe-haven peers.
And the trade: Obviously there are a number of ways to get Yen exposure. ETFs are one possibility. JYN and FXY each offer direct exposure to the Yen on a 1:1 basis. YCS and YCL are double-levered (short and long, respectively) Yen USDJPY tracking funds. I propose three separate trades offering three distinct risk / return profiles:
1. Going naked short JPY against a basket of G10 currencies is the simplest, most straightforward trade...... I said that this time was different (and it is), but that does not mean that all is well in the land of the rising sun. If the Abe administration gets its inflationary wish, Japan will be forced to contend with rising borrowing costs which would make their precarious debt situation less sustainable. The idea of Japan growing its way out of debt is already laughable and unless a weakening currency affords the nation a massive boost in exports, it is hard to foresee a circumstance in which Japan could raise enough revenue to make the current debt sustainable in a higher rate environment. The timing couldn't be worse: policy makers will grapple with either deflation or deficit (pick your poison) from atop a demographic time bomb ticking closer and closer to zero. And this is their last bullet. Probably. |