Articles
21 March 2019 

ASEAN Morning Bytes

General market tone: Risk off.

Fed concedes and pulls rate hikes and balance sheet reduction off the table. Risk markets reacting negatively to excessive dovishness.

EM Space: None and done! Fed calls for a halt on slowing growth momentum

  • General Asia: Powell and company cancelled calls for a rate hike in 2019 while also announcing plans to end its balance sheet runoff by September as economic growth and inflation projections were revised lower. The Fed however moved to assure markets that the economy “was in a good place” but that it may have slowed from the blistering pace in 2018 post Trump fiscal boost with Asia seen to benefit from the Fed delay.
  • Philippines: The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is set to decide on monetary policy with analysts not expecting a move just yet from new central bank governor Diokno, who has a dovish leaning. ING however expects the BSP to reduce reserve requirements either on Thursday or next Thursday given relatively tight conditions with domestic liquidity grinding to single digit growth and inflation now back within target.

What to look out for: central bank super Thursday

  • Philippines BSP meeting (21 March)
  • Taiwan CBC meeting (21 March)
  • BoE meeting (21 March)
  • US initial jobless claims (21 March)
  • Indonesia BI meeting (21 March)

Disclaimer

"THINK Outside" is a collection of specially commissioned content from third-party sources, such as economic think-tanks and academic institutions, that ING deems reliable and from non-research departments within ING. ING Bank N.V. ("ING") uses these sources to expand the range of opinions you can find on the THINK website. Some of these sources are not the property of or managed by ING, and therefore ING cannot always guarantee the correctness, completeness, actuality and quality of such sources, nor the availability at any given time of the data and information provided, and ING cannot accept any liability in this respect, insofar as this is permissible pursuant to the applicable laws and regulations.

This publication does not necessarily reflect the ING house view. This publication has been prepared solely for information purposes without regard to any particular user's investment objectives, financial situation, or means. The information in the publication is not an investment recommendation and it is not investment, legal or tax advice or an offer or solicitation to purchase or sell any financial instrument. Reasonable care has been taken to ensure that this publication is not untrue or misleading when published, but ING does not represent that it is accurate or complete. ING does not accept any liability for any direct, indirect or consequential loss arising from any use of this publication. Unless otherwise stated, any views, forecasts, or estimates are solely those of the author(s), as of the date of the publication and are subject to change without notice.

The distribution of this publication may be restricted by law or regulation in different jurisdictions and persons into whose possession this publication comes should inform themselves about, and observe, such restrictions.

Copyright and database rights protection exists in this report and it may not be reproduced, distributed or published by any person for any purpose without the prior express consent of ING. All rights are reserved.

ING Bank N.V. is authorised by the Dutch Central Bank and supervised by the European Central Bank (ECB), the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) and the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM). ING Bank N.V. is incorporated in the Netherlands (Trade Register no. 33031431 Amsterdam).