SNB & CHF

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...

Three years after Lloyds Banking Group Plc sold its private bank in Geneva, the only signs of life at the now-empty building are piles of cigarette butts and nutshells lying on its dirty window ledges. The riverside offices at Place de Bel-Air are a short walk away from the remaining private banks, hedge-fund managers and luxury-goods stores in the heart of the Swiss city. The locked entrance, where millionaire clients...

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, November 23(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ). Source: - Click to enlarge The GBPCHF rate has slipped a little in early morning trading today as investors await the UK budget due today. Amongst the usual leaks and rumours there appears likely to be a budget which will not be overly generous as some expect but will seek to keep the UK economy on a fairly stable course. UK...

The Trump Trade After 35 years of waiting… so many false signals… so often deceived… so often disappointed… bond bears gathered on rooftops as though awaiting the Second Coming. Many times, investors have said to themselves, “This is it! This is the end of the Great Bull Market in Bonds!” And then, at the appointed hour, expecting the rapture… they took the leap of faith only to come crashing down on the rocks below....