SNB & CHF

The ABB plant in Meyrin, Geneva. (Keystone) The ABB electronics group announced on Monday the offshoring of up to 150 positions from its Geneva production centre, while Roche is cutting 235 people in canton Aargau. Employees and trade unions reacted angrily. Rumoured to be in the works for some weeks, the Zurich-headquartered ABB group announced on Monday that it would be relocating positions from its Geneva plant to a...

While Bitcoin bulls will probably never have it so good as they have in 2017, we wonder whether many of them have stopped to think about the environmental downside of this roaring bull market. After all, back in the dot.com boom, people had ideas about potential internet businesses, issued pieces of paper representing ownership and watched their prices go parabolic parabolic. All it took was a Powerpoint presentation,...

This interaction will spark a runaway feedback loop that will smack asset valuations back to pre-bubble, pre-pyramid scheme levels. According to the conventional economic forecast, interest rates will stay near-zero essentially forever due to slow growth. And since growth is slow, inflation will also remain neutral. This forecast is little more than an extension of the trends of the past 30+ years: a secular decline in...

  A Flawless Flock of Scoundrels One of the fringe benefits of living in a country that’s in dire need of a political, financial, and cultural reset, is the twisted amusement that comes with bearing witness to its unraveling.  Day by day we’re greeted with escalating madness.  Indeed, the great fiasco must be taken lightly, so as not to be demoralized by its enormity. Symphony grotesque in Washington [PT] - Click to...

USD/CHF EUR/CHF Euro / Swiss Franc FX Cross Rate, November 06(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge USD/JPY [embedded content]>> USD/JPY with Technical Indicators, November 06(see more posts on USD/JPY, ) - Click to enlarge EUR/USD [embedded content] EUR/USD with Technical Indicators, November 06(see more posts on EUR/USD, ) - Click to enlarge GBP/USD...

Politicians, business directors and companies in Switzerland are among those connected to the so-called Paradise Papers, a massive trove of leaked offshore investment documents. There is currently no evidence of any legal wrongdoing. One of the most interesting names for the Swiss authorities is convicted criminal Jean-Claude Bastos, the Swiss-Angolan founder and CEO of Quantum Global Group, an international investment...

Today, gold is increasingly viewed by German investors as a regular form of saving: 25% of those surveyed in 2016 said their gold purchase had been part of a regular review of their investments, while 23% said it was part of their retirement planning. We should all learn some German If we are to believe Western media then this year’s decision by various central banks to start unwinding easy monetary policy is a signal...

Neuchâtel, 6.11.2017 (FSO) – The consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.1% in October 2017 compared with the previous month, reaching 100.9 points (December 2015=100). Inflation was 0.7% compared with the same month of the previous year. These are the results of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Switzerland Consumer Price Index (CPI) YoY, Oct 2017(see more posts on Switzerland Consumer Price Index, )...

Summary: Quiet week ahead. RBA and RBNZ policy meetings; no change is expected. US tax reform and the newest Fed governor, Quarles speaks. Q3 data renders September data too old to matter much. United Kingdom The week ahead does not have nearly the event risk of last week. It is difficult to compete with a BOE rate hike that spurred the largest sterling decline in five months, the nomination of a new Fed...

Stock Markets EM FX ended the week under pressure. News of the Venezuela debt restructuring was digested well, but sentiment went south as the day wore on.  Weakness was concentrated in the weakest links TRY, BRL, RUB, and ZAR, while MXN and COP were dragged along for the ride.  We see EM selling pressures persisting into 2018. Stock Markets Emerging Markets, November 04 Source: economist.com - Click to enlarge...