Fed Up? The fallout from overly sweetened monetary policy

Fed Up is a 2014 documentary about the food industry and how “Big Sugar” (among others) is responsible for the poor health of everyday Americans. It’s not a stretch to reference this film when speaking of the Federal Reserve (Fed) and central banks. Distinct parallels exist given their constant sweetening – through low interest rates and quantitative easing (QE) – of financial markets and willingness to meet any sign of volatility and drawdowns with more ‘sugar’ (i.e. larger policy responses to each crisis). This has created a generation of ‘financial consumers’ gorging on cheap debt. Yet, promises that this feasting can continue into perpetuity simply cannot be kept.

Inflation gets a vote

Fixed income investors face a particularly challenging time, as uncertainty over the global economic recovery and monetary policy entwine. Guiding investors on this journey falls in part to the (hopefully) steady hand of those in charge at the central banks, as they seek to sustain momentum of the post-pandemic economic reopening without allowing inflation to get out of hand. Adjusting the lever of QE is a delicate balance, and it’s no wonder bond markets are struggling to fully interpret the implications. For investors, the double whammy is that it comes at a time when fixed income returns are generally pedestrian, at best, with QE having kept real yields depressed for years.

The question of how persistent and at what level inflation remains is almost impossible to answer. Are we seeing reasonably constant improvement in economic data? Yes. Rising confidence in coronavirus vaccination efforts? Yes (noting the recent emergence of the Omicron strain). Border reopening plans progressing? Yes. But also impacting the pace of inflation are supply chain disruptions and the knock-on impact to the costs of goods and services. If we assume these issues resolve over time as the world continues to emerge from social restrictions and prices moderate, inflation should become more manageable.

Questioning authority

Recent bond price action has been driven by a sharp sell-off across developed market yield curves, particularly in the front end as markets hurriedly re-priced rate hike expectations to be sooner than expected due to inflation.

We are taught that central bank policy drives markets, but increasingly it seems it is the other way around as markets have begun to challenge the ultra-accommodative stance of central banks. The RBA’s loss of its YCC target is one example. As we turn our attention to the US, could the suspicious observer conclude the Fed is ‘on hold’ until the market forces its hand?

And now the Fed’s turn?

Key economic data in the US (such as lower unemployment) have provided a tailwind to the inflation story, with QE tapering anticipated in the near term, and bond yields moving higher. Let’s not forget that in the last cycle, the Fed began to normalise its balance sheet and embark on a rate-hiking cycle when i) inflation was lower, ii) unemployment was higher and iii) the tailwind of asset returns, while still positive, was softer. Why should central banks maintain emergency level policy settings? In light of this, we believe, interest rates should continue to rise in 2022.

Charting a path for bond portfolios

Rather than fretting over a half-empty plate, bond investors should keep in mind that rising rates are not necessarily a bad development. For over a decade, we’ve all moaned about astonishingly low bond yields. Important at this juncture is the pace of rate increases, as typically, that dictates the trajectory of bond returns. In the absence of short-term surprises, investors have the opportunity to reinvest maturing securities at yields higher than what had been available only weeks or months prior. This strategy is all the more relevant for strategies biased to shorter-dated assets that can exit highly liquid positions and reallocate towards longer-dated, higher-yielding securities of similar quality. If inflation proves more persistent than expected but policy rates remain on hold, shorter-dated strategies are also less impacted by rising rates than those that have extended duration profiles.

It’s clear interest rate uncertainty and volatility can impact bond markets. Conventionally managed portfolios have struggled to maintain their defensive attributes for investors. Performance has been fairly wild and low yields have been insufficient to offset the impacts of rate moves, quickly eroding capital and driving more traditional portfolios to not-immaterial losses in the 3-5% range.

COVID-19 and potential new waves or new strains of the virus will remain a cloud hanging over investors’ minds until vaccination and efficacy rates are meaningfully higher. We are beyond the peak in fiscal stimulus, with governments largely satisfied that they were able to avert a materially longer and deeper period of low growth. Central banks now have the unenviable task of managing the removal of ‘candy’ from outstretched hands. Do they continue to do so slowly, or does inflation force faster ‘dieting?’ If it’s the latter, what new tantrums are around the corner? Hopefully the only upset will be among the ungrateful kids spitting the Christmas dummy as supply chain constraints impact delivery of this year’s must-have toys. To placate them, just give ’em sugar… seems to work for markets.

Footnote

¹All market data sourced from Bloomberg.