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U.S. Dollar: Another Piece of the Puzzle?
Individual investors can be wrong about a market trend. But countries?
Monday, Sept. 14, was a quiet day in the markets. Stocks were mostly flat, so were currencies. But it's precisely such quiet moments when experienced forex traders know to pay attention.
Unless you're a financial professional with a keen interest in international bond markets, you probably didn't even notice an obscure news item from Germany last week. "Germany Plans First Sale of Dollar Bonds Since 2005," said a Sept.10 Bloomberg.com headline.
What's the big deal? Well, for one, Germany is a euro country, and "they don’t sell dollar bonds so often." In fact, Germany has done this only once before, in 2005. Now they're doing it again to "appeal to a wider range of investors, including money managers in the U.S. that don’t want to take on foreign-exchange risk."
Why is Germany doing it now? “This is simply taking advantage of the market conditions,” said one market strategist. And that is the key phrase in this entire story, says Jim Martens, the editor of Elliott Wave International's intensive Currency Specialty Service.
As Elliotticians, we know that news doesn't create long-term trends. So for us at EWI, what a story says is less interesting than its timing. And here's what Jim Martens had to say about the timing of Germany's decision:
"'Taking advantage of the market conditions,' in this case, means that Germany is betting on the dollar's continued decline. They hope that when these dollar-denominated bonds mature, they will pay back in dollars worth less then when they borrow. But this is precisely the wrong moment to do it, because everyone is on the bearish dollar bandwagon right now.
"Remember, the Daily Sentiment Index numbers have been showing USD bulls in single digits. Also, my subscribers know that we can count five waves down in the Dollar Index charts. Selling is becoming exhausted. When there is no one left to sell, the only way for the market to go is UP. Germany is riding the dollar downtrend when instead they should borrow in euros (which have more purchasing power now) and hope to repay with cheaper euros later.
"We're not saying the bottom is in for the buck just yet. But when it finally rises -- and it remains our view -- Germany will have to pay back with dollars worth more than when they received the funds. Interest + inflated dollar equals more expensive debt -- the opposite of what they are hoping to accomplish with these dollar-denominated bonds."
How will we know when the dollar has turned? Keep watching Elliott wave patterns in charts. "For our EUR/USD outlook to turn bearish," says Jim, "all the euro needs is to fall in five waves." Stay tuned to EWI's intensive Currency Specialty Service to know when that moment is here.