SNB & CHF

Economic Reports Scorecard The economic data released since my last update has been fairly positive but future growth and inflation expectations, as measured by our market indicators, have waned considerably. There is now a distinct divergence between the current data, stocks and bonds. Bond yields, both real and nominal, have fallen recently even as stocks continue their relentless march higher. The incoming, current...

© Lianna2013 | Dreamstime.com One year after Switzerland’s Council of States (upper house) voted in favour of controlling lobbyists’ access to parliament, the draft proposed implementation plan has been rejected by the commission in charge of it. Back in March 2016, the Council of States voted in favour of a parliamentary initiative put forward by state councillor Didier Berberat calling for those accessing parliament...

Summary: Populism-nationalism is not really a wave sweeping across the world. Where it succeeded was where a center-right party in a two-party system embraced part of the populist agenda. Center-right parties in Europe are not embracing key agenda for populist-naitonalist, but appear to be tacking to the right on domestic issues. The conventional narrative is that in the aftermath of the Great Financial...

  Why gold retains value? Interesting unknown gold facts “Prepare your jaws for a sizeable drop!” History, finite, rare and peak gold “It is beautiful to look at…” ‘Heavy metal’ – Thud sound of a gold bar (kilo) ‘Going for gold’ – Olympic gold medals to Chelthenham ‘Gold Cup’ Peak gold … “Hard work to get gold out of the ground…” How much an Oscar is actually worth? Importance of hiding gold creatively and securely if...

Germany is notoriously fickle when it comes to money, speaking as much of discipline in economy or industry as central banking. If ever there is disagreement about monetary arrangements, surely the Germans are behind it. Since ECB policy only ever attains the one direction, so-called accommodation, there never seems to be harmony. But that may only be true because “accommodation” doesn’t ever achieve what it aims to....

Summary A Korean special prosecutor indicted Samsung chief Jay Y. Lee on bribery charges. Korean press is reporting that China has told its travel agents to halt sales of holiday packages to South Korea. Bulgaria’s interim government said it may apply to join the eurozone within a month. South Africa’s main labor union Cosatu accepted a government-proposed minimum wage. New Commerce Secretary Ross appears to be taking...

There is gold in Asia, at least gold of the intellectual variety for anyone who wishes to see it. The Chinese offer us perhaps the purest view of monetary conditions globally, where RMB money markets are by design tied directly to “dollar” behavior. It is, in my view, enormously helpful to obsess over China’s monetary system so as to be able to infer a great deal about the global monetary system deep down beyond the...

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc March 03(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ) Source: Investing.com - Click to enlarge GBP/CHF Prime Minister Theresa May is still committed to triggering Article 50 before the end of the month in spite of what happened this week with the House of Lords’ decision to challenge the Brexit bill. The House of Lords are primarily concerned with keeping the rights of EU citizens living...

Photo source: Swiss MEM After a very difficult year in 2015, the Swiss mechanical and electrical engineering industries (MEM) started to recover in 2016, with new orders rising by 9.5%. At the same time 23% of the industry made a loss on the back of high costs and a 1.8% drop in sales, says the industry association Swiss MEM. The strong Swiss franc is still a challenge for a large number of companies. Developments will...

© Elxeneize | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge 24 Heures. According to the bank Raiffeisen, if rents had followed the path prescribed in the Swiss Code of Obligations, they would be much lower. Their figures show that changes in interest rates have not flowed through to renters. If rents had fallen in step with mortgage interest rates they would be 40% lower than they are currently. The bank’s report stated that while...