10 November 2022
Sue Trinh, Head of Macro Strategy, Asia
Movements in the U.S. dollar are closely monitored by investors and policymakers—it is, after all, the world’s dominant reserve currency. Crucially, big swings in the currency’s value can have important implications on growth.
Within the financial community, the U.S. dollar (USD) can mean different things to different people. When traders refer to USD performance, they could be referencing one of the following:
Whichever benchmark you choose, the USD has appreciated 45% to 60% since 2008, with a large portion of those gains occurring in the past 18 months.
USD strength gathered pace in the past 18 months
Source: U.S. Federal Reserve, Macrobond, Manulife Investment Management, as of 27 October, 2022. DXY refers to the U.S. Dollar Index.
There are three channels through which USD strength could affect the global economic outlook at the current juncture:
1 Restraining economic growth in the rest of the world through weaker global trade
The stronger the USD is, the more expensive imports become for just about every economy apart from the United States. This will no doubt weigh on demand for global trade and hence global growth: Roughly 40% of world trade is invoiced in USD and this figure is much higher in many EMs.
A substantial amount of global trade is invoiced in the USD
Source: South East Asian Central Banks, Manulife Investment Management, as of July 2022.
There are already signs that global trade is weakening: South Korea’s nominal export growth in the first 20 days of October fell sharply by about 9%, on average, on a year-over-year basis after adjusting for working days—a 2-year low—and the new export orders index in global manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index slipped further into contractionary territory in September.
2 Implications on global inflation
Given the share of global trade that is invoiced in the greenback, it’s clear that a strengthening USD will translate into higher import costs for nearly all countries as local currencies weaken. This will inevitably feed into the global inflation picture and could force central banks to respond with more aggressive tightening.
In Asia, we’ve already seen central banks in Indonesia, South Korea, and the Philippines making explicit references to local currency depreciation/stability as a driver behind their respective decisions to raise interest rates. While net-exporting economies may typically find greater export competitiveness from weaker local currencies, the current context of weak global demand may offset those gains.
3 USD strength weighs disproportionately on EM economies
A strong greenback can also hurt EM economies with large external vulnerabilities, particularly those with a substantial amount of USD-denominated debt, large current account deficits, and low foreign exchange reserves. This dynamic can potentially force central banks—specifically those in economies with weak external positions—to respond with more aggressive tightening than otherwise would be the case to stem capital outflows.
Overall, we believe that a strong USD is one of several key factors that are contributing to a weaker global economic outlook. We expect the currency’s appreciation will weigh further on global trade, add to global inflationary pressures, and push some central banks to hike policy rates further.
In our view, respite from the strong USD may arrive once we’ve witnessed a peak in inflation, U.S. Treasury yields, and Fed expectations (in other words, a dovish pivot by the Fed). We believe January’s U.S inflation data will be important: It’ll inform whether we should revisit our base case expectation that the Fed will pause its tightening efforts and reassess its path forward at the 21-22 March, 2023, FOMC meeting.
As always, there are risks to our views:
Interest-rate differentials may not be a major driver of USD strength
Source: U.S. Department of Treasury, Macrobond, ICE, Manulife Investment Management as of 27 October, 2022. DXY refers to the U.S. Dollar Index.
1 ICE refers to the Intercontinental Exchange.
2024 Outlook Series: Global Healthcare Equities
2023 was a tumultuous year for equity markets and the healthcare sector. For 2024, we maintain a sense of considerable optimism for the performance of healthcare equities and the underlying key subsector themes.
Asset allocation outlook: proceed with caution
There were a number of key economic and market themes in flux in 2023, most notably a global economic environment that held up stronger than most market participants predicted. As 2024 gets under way, we look at some of the themes driving our asset allocation outlook.
A brighter 2024 outlook for U.S. regional banks as rates and deposit costs change course
With interest rates appearing to have peaked and lenders’ deposit costs easing, 2024 could turn out to be a far more hospitable year for U.S. regional banks than 2023.
Hong Kong/Mainland China market update
Despite the market fall, we believe that the China Q4 2023 GDP growth trend has already been priced into the index, with some bright spots being neglected. Mainland China’s four mega trends (i.e., the “4As”) remain intact as better-than-expected inventory destocking and increased policy measures suggest a potential bottoming of the economy.
India’s bond index inclusion: Attracting foreign investment; bolstering its regional position
Indian government bonds would be included in the JPMorgan Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) Global index suite starting in June 2024. We examine the short- and long-term implications of this significant decision for the Indian bond market.
Index inclusion reinforces India’s transition to its next stage of growth
We explain how India’s impending inclusion in the JPMorgan Government Bond Index- Emerging Markets (GBI-EM) index should lead to an increase in global inflows.