FICC

While the Fed's recent forward guidance leading markets to increase the odds of a policy-rate hike earlier than previously expected will restrain the recovery in crude oil prices, fundamentals will dominate price formation now that markets have rebalanced.

A Fed rate hike in June, July or September is likely to send our 12-month fed funds discounter toward 70bps by the date of the next hike. This re-rating of rate expectations will cause significant flattening at the long-end of the curve. Investors should enter a 5/30 flattener to profit.

There is a risk that global bond yields move higher in the near term, although we prefer to position for that move via cross-market spread, yield curve and inflation trades.

Special Report

Long-term fundamentals are often poor predictors of the outlook for currencies over the subsequent 12 months. For shorter time horizons, investors should focus on the medium- and short-term currency determinates introduced in this Special Report.

The BoC will continue to watch from the sidelines. Our short-term model shows that the Canadian dollar is modestly cheap after having reached technically overbought levels earlier this month.

Against a backdrop of continuing supply destruction, particularly in the U.S., and a pick-up in crude demand, markets will remain in balance this quarter and go into a deficit in 2016H2.

A June rate hike is a real possibility, but the Fed still needs evidence that growth is rebounding toward 2% in order to follow through. Whether the next rate hike occurs in June or later this year, a persistent hawkish shift from the Fed will send Treasury yields higher during the next few months.

This week, we present five of the more interesting yield curve trades in the Developed Markets for the latter half of 2016.

As the sole shock absorber left in the global economy, FX markets will grow more volatile. The currency market's reaction to the recent Fed minutes exemplifies this phenomenon. Despite its sores and blisters, the U.S. economy wins the global beauty contest. Caught between those forces, the USD will continue to weaken over the next quarter or two before resuming its broader bull market.

Gold will remain well bid over the short term. The surge in demand that pushed prices up by 20% ytd (Chart of the Week) will continue to dominate supply growth.