SNB & CHF

Back in October, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released GDP figures that suggested what those behind “reflation” had hoped. After a near miss to start 2016, the economy had shaken off the effects of “transitory” weakness, mainly manufacturing and oil, poised to perform in a manner consistent with monetary policy rhetoric. The Federal Reserve had been since 2014 itching to “raise rates” if for no other reason than to...

A new book has been published containing the best interviews and conversations with Max Frisch, the Swiss playwright and novelist, who died in 1991. His voice counted: even parliamentarians sat round the table to discuss things with him. (SRF/swissinfo.ch) --- swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss perspective on international events. For more articles, interviews and videos visit...

The US created 211k net new jobs in April, a sharp bounce back from the downwardly revised 79k gain in March.  It is the third month this year that the US created more than 200k new jobs. United States Nonfarm payrolls Government payrolls increased by 17k.  As we noted with the Administration’s federal hiring freeze, the real growth in government employment is on the state and local level.  In April the federal...

The Swiss National Bank held its annual general meeting of shareholders (web TV). In response to one of the questions posed by shareholders Thomas Jordan suggested (2:58–2:59) that possibly a digital Swiss Franc might be introduced sometime in the future. Tags: Digital currency,Electronic money,Featured,M0 base...

Risks to the Swiss property market remained elevated in the three months through September, according to UBS Group AG’s quarterly index. “While the buy-to-rent price ratio reached an all-time high, moderate mortgage growth and the slightly-improved economy prevented imbalances in the owner-occupied housing market from widening,” it said in a report. Major Findings The UBS Swiss Real Estate Bubble Index remained in the...

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, May 05(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ) - Click to enlarge  FX Rates The US dollar is narrowing mixed as the employment data, and Fed speeches are awaited. Six Fed officials speak today, including Yellen and Fischer. Regional Presidents Williams, Rosengren Evans and Bullard also speak. It will be the first flurry of speeches since the FOMC meeting. Lastly, we note some chunky...

  Fixation on the Consumer Price Index For most economists the key factor that sets the foundation for healthy economic fundamentals is a stable price level as depicted by the consumer price index. According to this way of thinking, a stable price level doesn’t obscure the visibility of the relative changes in the prices of goods and services, and enables businesses to see clearly market signals that are conveyed by...

Insect meatballs – Source: Coop Last year, Switzerland’s federal government announced plans to authorise the commercialisation of insects and worms as domestic food products, and the new law came into effect this week on 1 May 2017. According to 24 Heures, supermarket Coop will launch a new range of insect-based products this month. High in protein, insects come with a low carbon footprint and resource requirement. Coop...

 Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, May 04(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ) - Click to enlarge  FX Rates The US dollar is struggling to maintain even modest upticks against the euro and sterling despite the recognition of the increased likelihood of a June Fed hike.    Bloomberg sees current pricing in the Fed funds as making a hike in June a near certainty (97.5%), while the CME and our own calculation...

An article in February on BullionStar’s website titled “A Chink of Light into London’s Gold Vaults?” discussed an upcoming development in the London Gold Market, namely that both the Bank of England (BoE) and the commercial gold vault providers in London planned to begin publishing regular data on the quantity of physical gold actually stored in their gold vaults. Critically, this physical gold stored at both the Bank...