This month's Federal Open Market Committee statement may have slightly reduced the pressure on China and developing economies. But we are still far from a full-on bull case for emerging market assets.
In its statement, the Fed said it was "closely monitoring global economic and financial developments" – another way of saying it is taking into account the volatility, growth fears, and inflation scares that have buffeted markets since the start of the year. However, there was little sign that the Fed is about to radically back down from the multiple rate hikes that it expects this year and come closer to the market's much more dovish outlook for U.S. monetary tightening.
An investor looks at an electronic screen showing stock information at a brokerage house in Nanjing, China, January 26, 2016.
China Daily | Reuters
An investor looks at an electronic screen showing stock information at a brokerage house in Nanjing, China, January 26, 2016.
Judging from the reaction of stocks, bonds and currencies after the Fed statement, the market is afraid of the risk that the Fed is mistakenly tightening into a slowing economy. We do not share the market's fears to the same extent. But if this risk-case scenario materializes, the U.S. dollar would experience temporary upwards pressure. In turn, this would exacerbate currency concerns in China and other emerging markets.
Admittedly, this dollar appreciation would likely be short-lived. Soon, the dollar would decline as the Fed reversed course and rethought its plans for tightening as the economy faltered. A weaker dollar would help alleviate pressure on the Chinese yuan and other emerging-market currencies. But, in this risk-case scenario, to assume a more positive outcome for the yuan and emerging markets on a permanent basis may be jumping the gun.
First, the U.S. dollar-yuan exchange rate does not depend solely on U.S. factors. It also depends critically on confidence in the outlook for China, Chinese policy-making, and Chinese yuan-denominated assets, which is currently changeable.