SNB & CHF

The Swiss Freiberg breed is trying to shake off its work horse image. The pedigree that used to be popular with the army and famers was recently on show at the Marché-Concours horse show in Saignelégier, canton Jura. (SRF/swisisnfio.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 swissinfo.ch or...

Stock Markets Despite the weaker than expected US jobs report, the dollar remains firm and EM is ending the week on a soft note.  The main culprit was higher US rates, with the 2-year yield moving up to 0.85% and is the highest since early June.  Concerns about Brexit impact and as well the health of European banks remain ongoing and could weigh on risk sentiment this coming week.  Lastly, oil may come under more...

High frequency economic reports will be not be among the key drivers of the capital markets in the week ahead. The light schedule, consisting mostly of industrial production in Europe, inflation for Scandinavia, and US retail sales, will have minimal impact on rate expectations. A November rate Fed move was never very likely. The September employment report needed to be amazingly strong to boost the chances, and it was...

Summary: The US premium over Germany is at its widest since 2006. This is despite a small reduction in odds of a hike in December. There are many forces are work, but over time, the widening differential will likely give the dollar better traction. This Great Graphic from Bloomberg shows two time series. The white line is the spread between the German two-year interest rate and the US two-year yield. The...

Central banks are currently creating the mother of all bubbles. To my view it was caused by masses of cheap labor in China that entered the global economy in the early 1990s.This reduced inflation and interest rates, while Chinese productivity continously improved, in particular when rural workers came into the cities.The mother of all bubbles will pop at the latest, when Chinese wages approach Western levels....

Following the seemingly endless procession of short-squeeze-fueling trial balloons last week – from settlement rumors to German blue-chip bailouts to Qatari investors – Germany’s Bild newspaper confirms the rumors that sparked weakness on Friday: Deutsche bank CEO John Cryan has failed to reach an agreement with the US Justice Department. John Cryan - Click to enlarge Having soared over 25% off the briefly...

Swiss Franc Last week SNB Q3 window cleaning that led to a big CHF net short position. This week this changed again. Both longs and shorts on CHF increased, but the net short position fell. During the CFTC’s Commitment of Traders week ending October 4, speculators took on risk.  Of the sixteen gross currency positions we track, speculators added to their exposure in all but five.  Bulls and bears saw...

Summary China reported lower than expected September reserve figures. Polish central bank Governor Glapinski adjusted the forward guidance. Brazil will open up development of its so-called pre-salt oil fields to foreign companies. Colombia’s referendum on the FARC peace agreement failed by a razor-thin 50.2% to 49.8% margin. In the EM equity space as measured by MSCI, Brazil (+5.3%), Czech Republic (+4.4%), and...

Flash-Crashed Earlier this morning the British Pound suddenly found itself on the receiving end of a 6% flash crash during Asian trading hours. Some of the losses have been recouped since then, but that will be of little consolation to anyone who may have been long the GBP overnight. Oops. Photo credit: Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images - Click to enlarge Now before you strike this up to some ‘fat...

Privathaftpflichtversicherungen in der Schweiz sind sehr intransparent. Oft steckt der Teufel im Detail, irgendwo in den AGB. Zum Abschluss einer neuen Versicherung sende ich diesen Fragebogen zu verschiedenen Anbietern. Bei den meisten Fragen bitte Ja oder Nein einfüllen, wenn die “generelle Deckungssumme” erstattet wird.Sollte eine reduzierte Deckungssumme anwendbar sein, dann bitte einfüllen. Die mit *...