SNB & CHF

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet famously dismissed gold. “Gold has two significant shortcomings, being neither of much use nor procreative.” I have recently written about how a government with gold mining tax revenues can use gold. The benefits of issuing gold bonds include reducing risk, and getting out of debt at a discount. Pretty useful, eh? As to his second point, one should never confuse suppressed with...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.48% to 1.1322. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, August 16(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Two developments have helped turned sentiment, or at least arrested the markets’ momentum. First, the developments in Turkey, where officials have taken a few measures that will make it somewhat more difficult to access the lira. This may...

Neuchâtel, 16.08.2018 (FSO) – The number of employed persons in Switzerland rose by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter 2018 compared with the same quarter of the previous year. The unemployment rate as defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) rose during the same period by 0.2 percentage points to 4.6%. The EU’s unemployment rate based on the ILO definition decreased from 7.6% to 6.9%. These are some of the results...

The Zürcher Kantonalbank agrees to pay $98.5 million as part of a settlement with US tax authorities after a seven-year investigation into the bank’s activities with US customers. The Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB) has agreed to pay the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) $98.5 million (CHF97.7 million) to resolve a long-running investigation into its role in tax evasion by wealthy Americans using undeclared Swiss...

This Great Graphic is a weekly bar chart of the dollar-yen exchange rate. It shows a three-year downtrend line (white line). The US dollar had popped above it last month, but this proved premature and has not closed about it for a month. The trendline is found near JPY111.55 now. Connecting the 2016 dollar lows and the low from late March this year is a red line. It is found near JPY105.60. Together both lines mark a...

Which Disturbance in the Farce can be Profitably Ignored Today? There has been some talk about submerging market turmoil recently and the term “contagion” has seen an unexpected revival in popularity – on Friday that is, which is an eternity ago. As we have pointed out previously, the action is no longer in line with the “synchronized global expansion” narrative, which means with respect to Wall Street that it is best...

Fourth banknote in latest series showcases Switzerland’s scientific expertise The Swiss National Bank (SNB) will begin issuing the new 200-franc note on 22 August 2018. Following the 50, 20 and 10-franc notes, this is the fourth of six denominations in the new banknote series to be released. The current eighth-series banknotes will remain legal tender until further notice. The inspiration behind the new banknote...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.09% to 1.1264. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, August 15(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The Turkish lira is extending yesterday’s recovery today on the back of actions by officials that are aimed at limiting foreign access to the lira to short. Without introducing new capital controls, regulators halved the amount of swap...

Travelling within cities is good value in Switzerland Using public transport infrequently in Switzerland is expensive, but thanks to new special offers such as “early bird” rates Switzerland does well when it comes to value for money, according to an international study. “Travelling by train, bus or boat is expensive in Switzerland,” is a common refrain among Swiss people – and especially tourists. But this is partially...

Nowadays, trade and “prosperity” are dependent on currencies that are created out of thin air via borrowing or printing. So here’s the story explaining why “free” trade and globalization create so much wonderful prosperity for all of us: I find a nation with cheap labor and no environmental laws anxious to give me cheap land and tax credits, so I move my factory from my high-cost, highly regulated nation to the low-cost...