The start of a Fed rate-cutting cycle is a huge moment for the international financial system. Central banks in emerging markets can loosen a little without fearing a run on their currencies. Indonesia’s central bank has stopped defending the rupiah and dared to cut rates. India’s Sensex stock index hit an all-time high on Thursday as markets anticipate a new world of abundant liquidity and surging inflows of foreign funds.
The Fed’s jumbo half-point cut is transmitted instantly to the 40-odd countries and currency boards linked to the US dollar in one way or another. These regions were forced to import the most aggressive tightening cycle in 40 years through their exchange rates, whether or not their local economies were synchronised with the US cycle….
But there is a large caveat to this rosy global picture. It all depends on whether the Fed is ahead of the curve and delivers a soft landing; or whether it is behind the curve, has misjudged the delayed effects of past tightening, and has already let recessionary dynamics take hold.
These binary outcomes can have drastically different consequences for the world.
Mislav Matejka, equity strategist at JP Morgan, says there have been four soft landings and eight recessions in the last 12 Fed cycles. The “softs” delivered stock market gains of 20pc or so over the following year. The “hards” led to months of sell-offs, snowballing into wipeout crashes in 2001 and 2008. This time the starting point is stretched after a 26pc rise in Wall Street’s S&P 500 index over the last year.
Enjoy the torrid Fed rally, but the world is not out of the woods yet https://t.co/of6TpXposG
— Felix Randal (@felixrandal) September 20, 2024