SNB & CHF

Economic Reports Production Production ended the year on a strong note but early readings from January are not as positive. The December industrial production report headline was strong at a 0.9% gain but a lot of that strength was in the mining (oil drilling) and utility sectors. Mining has actually led the way the last year as rig count has risen with drilling activity. I’d love to see our economy less dependent on...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.33% to 1.1559 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, January 29(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The US dollar is modestly firmer, but nothing to suggest a outright correction rather than consolidation. However, have a dramatic drop over the past month, much more than we think is justified by macroeconomic developments and interest...

If you rent a home in Switzerland it is more likely to belong to an individual than a big real estate company or pension fund. © Kevkhiev Yury | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge In 2017, 49% of residential rental properties in Switzerland were owned by individuals, according to Statistics published by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office. The highest rate of rental home ownership by individuals was in the...

Silver Bullion: Once and Future Money – “Silver is as much a monetary metal as gold” – Rickards – U.S. following footsteps of Roman Empire which collapsed due to currency debasement (must see table) – Silver bullion is set to rally due to a combination of supply/demand fundamentals, geopolitical pressures creating safe haven demand, and increasing inflation expectations as confidence in central banking and fiat money...

Durable and capital goods orders and shipments all increased in December by growth rates consistent with those registered in the months leading up to the big storms Harvey and Irma. We continue to find evidence that accelerated growth in October and November was nothing more than the anticipated after-effects cleaning up after those hurricanes. New orders for durable goods (excluding transportation orders) had...

Many investors are confused, and the official communication only fanned the confusion. Before turning to next week’s key events and data, let’s first spend some time, working through some of the confusion. There was no change in policy last week. The US did not suddenly become protectionist. It did put tariffs on solar panels and washing machines. At the end of last week, unexpectedly the US International Trade...

Stock Markets EM FX closed Friday on a mixed note, but still posted solid gains for the week as a whole. Best performers last week were ZAR, PLN, and CZK while the worst were ARS, PHP, and IDR. The bearish dollar environment remains intact and so we see further gains for EM FX this week. However, we continue to warn that divergences within EM are likely to assert themselves. Stock Markets Emerging Markets, January 27...

Professional Forecasters survey shows a substantial improvement in economic growth and employment, consistent with the ECB’s own assessment. The ECB will be pleased by its latest Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF). The headlines are unambiguously positive, fuelled by the uninterrupted improvement in economic data, with expectations of GDP growth and HICP inflation revised higher for the next couple of years,...

Schneider-Ammann (right) is holding talks with various business leaders on the sidelines of this year’s WEF meeting in Davos. Among them was Nestlé Vice President Marco Settembri Swiss Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann has downplayed concerns that Swiss-based American firms might relocate to the United States in the wake of tax reform. Speaking in Davos ahead of a visit by US President Donald Trump,...

Jeffrey Snider Jeffrey Snider, head of global investment research at Alhambra Investments, says China is in fact not growing rapidly, which sounds disheartening for commodity investors. He reckons a crucial investment metric has weakened, pointing to slower economic expansion: https://www.bnn.ca/video/forget-it-china-s-not-booming-money-manager~1310003...