SNB & CHF

27.05.2019 – In the 1st quarter 2019, total employment (number of jobs) rose by 1.3% in comparison with the same quarter a year earlier (+0.5% with previous quarter). In full-time equivalents, employment in the same period rose by 1.5%. The Swiss economy counted 6700 more vacancies than in the corresponding quarter of the previous year (+9.4%) with the employment outlook indicator showing a downward trend (–0.1%). These...

Two shipments to the US were halted last year because they contained goods that could be used to develop nuclear weapons. (Kcna Via Kns) Federal authorities are stepping up efforts to prevent the sale of Swiss machinery that could be used to develop nuclear weapons. The latest interventions concern direct sales to the US and France. According to reportsexternal link by the German-language newspaper NZZ am Sonntag, the...

If you want to identify tomorrow’s superpowers, overlay maps of fresh water, energy, grain/cereal surpluses and arable land. The status quo measures wealth with “money,” but “money” is not what’s valuable. “Money” (in quotes because the global economy operates on intrinsically valueless fiat currencies being “money”) is wealth only if it can purchase what’s actually valuable. As the world slides into an era of...

As May winds down, the light economic calendar will allow investors to take their cues from the evolution of three disruptive forces–trade, Brexit and the US economy.   With actions against Huawei and possibly a handful of Chinese surveillance equipment producers, the US raised the stakes. The retaliatory tariffs are effective on June 1, but Beijing has not formally responded to the moves against Chinese companies.  ...

Swiss consumers pay a premium to read their favourite titles – unless they go over the border to get a copy. (Keystone / Martin Ruetschi) Swiss consumers pay a “high price island” premium of up to 245% for magazines and clothing compared to prices being charged for the same goods in neighbouring countries. A consumer group study found the price differential to be higher in Italy and France than in Germany. For many...

If China wants superpower status, it will have to issue its currency in size and let the global FX market discover its price. Quick history quiz: in all of recorded history, how many superpowers pegged their currency to the currency of a rival superpower? Put another way: how many superpowers have made their own currency dependent on another superpower’s currency? Only one: China. China pegs its currency, the yuan (RMB)...

Swiss banks are generally considered reliable and secure by the public The image of Swiss banks has returned for the first time to pre-financial crisis levels, according to a survey by the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA). Cybercrime remains a concern, however. “The banks’ positive image is the result of a combination of their commercial success and social responsibility, and the respondents’ positive experiences with...

Deflation eats credit-dependent, mass-consumption economies alive from the inside. While AI (artificial intelligence) garners the headlines, the next wave of disruptive technologies extend far beyond AI: as the chart of technologies rapidly being adopted shows, this wave includes new materials and processes as well as the “usual suspects” of machine learning, natural language processing, data mining and so on. While...

Swiss exports are expected to stagnate this year before recovering in 2020. (Keystone / Steffen Schmidt) The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has revised its growth forecasts for Switzerland downwards for the next two years due to a global economic slowdown. After a strong 2018 (+2.5%), gross domestic product (GDP) growth should slow in 2019 (+1%), the OECD said on Tuesday. This compares...

Understand what the word “transitory” truly means in this context. It is no different than Ben Bernanke saying, essentially, subprime is contained. To the Fed Chairman in early 2007, this one little corner of the mortgage market in an otherwise booming economy was a transitory blip that booming economy would easily withstand. Just eight days before Bernanke would testify confidently before Congress, the FOMC had met to...