Global Stocks Rebound As Brexit Odds Decline Following Tragic Death Of UK Lawmaker
By Tyler Durden
Traders are still stunned by the dramatic move in risk assets during yesterday’s US session. As a reminder, at the lows for the day in the mid-morning Eastern Time, we saw the DAX at -1.81%, FTSE -1.13%, S&P500 -1.03%, US 10y yield 1.516% (lowest since August 2012) and GBPUSD 1.401. By the various closes these rallied to -0.59%, -0.27%, +0.31%, 1.580% and 1.420 respectively!
What changed?
Unfortunately it had everything to do with the death of Jo Cox, which as even Deutsche Bank admits, “while it seems insensitive to talk about markets in relation to this event, unfortunately this story heavily influenced them yesterday. Before this news came out the two phone polls that the market had been waiting for both came out in favour of ‘leave’ (Ipsos-Mori 53%/47% and Survation 45%/42%).” The reason: BBC eyewitness reports (later questioned) suggesting the killer shouted ‘put Britain first’. As a result, campaigning has been suspended for now and it’s unclear when it will get going again. As we first noted, the immediate outcome of the shooting was a rumor that the Brexit vote next Thursday will be postponed, which in turn boosted “Remains” odds.
And, as Bloomberg also puts it, “Sterling rebounded from a two-month low as an opinion poll on voter intentions in next week’s referendum was delayed.“
Odds on the U.K. leaving the EU slid to 38 percent after hitting a record 44 percent on Thursday, according to Oddschecker calculations based on bookmakers’ quotes. “If you do see uncertainty, that typically will drive voters to the status quo,” said Karl Schamotta, director of foreign-exchange research and strategy in Toronto at Cambridge Global Payments, which hedges currencies for companies. “We’re seeing a trade that’s entirely too crowded — at the end of the day, the market expectation remains that we will see a stay vote.”
In short, as Bloomberg, DB and Reuters all admit, the tragic death of Jo Cox had a morbidly levitating effect on all risk assets. “The halt in campaigning may just take Brexit off the headlines momentarily, and that may have given an opportunity to just to see a little bit of a retracement in a comparatively quieter environment,” said Orlando Green, a rates strategist at Credit Agricole SA’s corporate and investment-banking unit in London. “We’ll see a choppy environment as we head toward the referendum.”
Ten-year bonds in Japan and the U.K. declined for the first time in more than a week. Global stocks rebounded from a four-week low and commodities advanced with the pound as campaigning in Britain’s referendum on European Union membership was suspended for a second day. Oil rose, paring its biggest weekly decline in more than two months.
German bonds fell for the first time in four days, ending a three-day rally that pushed the yield into negative territory for the first time. The yield was near-zero, from minus 0.02 percent on Thursday. Similar-maturity U.K. debt snapped an eight-day run of gains. Spanish and Italian debt rallied as investors snapped up higher-yielding assets.
Japan’s …read more
Source: Global Stocks Rebound As Brexit Odds Decline Following Tragic Death Of UK Lawmaker
