SNB & CHF

I grew up a block away from the 7-train, where I’d take a short ride from the 90th Street station to the Willets Point–Shea Stadium station to watch my favorite team, the New York Mets. Sitting in the stands as a young child, I learned quickly that there were a number of ways to obtain and interpret information. I could watch the umpire and immediately have known whether Al Leiter threw a strike or a ball. Another...

SMI Swiss pharmaceutical and luxury goods giants pulled the Swiss Market Index (SMI) down again this week as investors dropped large cap firms. Global stocks however continued to rise, along with energy prices, on the promise of Trump’s reflationary administration. The US dollar headed further up, reaching decade highs. SMI Index, November 25 - Click to enlarge Economic Data Better-than-expected economic reports...

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, November 25(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ). - Click to enlarge FX Rates The US dollar’s recent gains are being trimmed today, and it is down against all the major currencies. Many emerging market currencies, including the Turkish lira, Indian rupee, and Hungarian forint are firmer today. The dollar’s losses are minor, and the forces that drove it higher remain intact. One of...

Summary: Euro fell to new 20-month lows before steadying. The dollar extended its recovery against the yen. Emerging markets remained under pressure, and Turkey’s central bank surprised with a 50 bp hike in the repo rate. While US markets were closed for the celebration of Thanksgiving, the underlying trends remained intact. Here is a summary of several developments. The euro edged to a new low, a little below...

Today, Swiss Rail announced big price increases on some tickets and passes. The new prices will apply from 11 December 20161. According to the Swiss government consumer price index, average prices declined by 2.1% between October 2010 and October 20162. Over the same six years, from December 20103 to December 2016, the price of a second class Swiss Rail GA pass will have gone up by 22.3%, a rise of 25.0% in real...

Can we be honest and say that many of the reductions in value, quantity and quality are actually instances of fraud? Yesterday, I showed how Consumer Prices Have Soared 160% Since 2001 for everything from burritos to healthcare. This enormous loss of purchasing power is not reflected in the official measure of inflation, which claims inflation is subdued (1% or so annually). But price inflation doesn’t necessarily...

It is a very interesting discrepancy: Health Care Costs Have Fallen By 0.6%  On one side, Swiss Statistics regularly publishes the consumer price index. In this statistic health care prices have fallen by 0.6% against the previous year: one major reason is the stronger franc that allowed for buying health equipment at lower price abroad. We should remind that Swiss Statistics uses these effective prices for inflation...

The U.S. Elections: The Latest Crack in the System The 2016 U.S. presidential elections are unprecedented: I don’t believe we have ever witnessed before a campaign year so toxic, so dangerously divisive and full of ad hominem attacks. Both camps have vilified the opposition and their followers, creating a schism in society. There has been no rational dialogue on the issues that truly concern the American public....

The Swiss plane Solar Impulse 2 has come back to Switzerland after finishing its round-the-world flight. (Carlo Pisani, swissinfo.ch) The plane covered more than 40,000 km (24,800 miles) in 16 months, becoming the first solar-powered aircraft to fly around the planet without the use of fuel. Solar Impulse 2 left Abu Dhabi on March 9, 2015 and returned on July 26, 2016, completing the record-breaking circumnavigation of the earth after 550 hours in the air. Along the way, the solar...

After one and a half years turnover positive once again Neuchâtel, 24.11.2016 (FSO) – Industrial production in the secondary sector rose by 1.1% in 3rd quarter 2016 in comparison with the same quarter a year earlier. Turnover also rose by 1.1%. Orders received increased by 6.6% and orders on hand grew by 2.8%. This is shown by provisional results from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). In comparison with the...