SNB & CHF

© Eugenesergeev | Dreamstime.com On 16 November 2022, Switzerland’s federal government announced the sums that will be transferred between the nation’s statelets or cantons in 2023, a mechanism aimed at ensuring wealthy cantons support those with weaker economies. In 2023, CHF 5.6 billion will be transferred, a sum CHF 290 million greater than in 2022 (+5%). The total sum is equivalent to less than 1% of Swiss GDP. Under the national financial equalisation mechanism,...

Ladies and gentlemen It is with great pleasure that my colleague Thomas Moser and I welcome you to this year’s Swiss National Bank (SNB) Money Market Event in Geneva. We are very glad that so many of you have joined us this evening, be it on site or remotely. Since we last met in this setting a year ago, fighting inflation has become the most important task for central banks worldwide. Many countries have experienced a surge in inflation, the scale and pace of which...

Overview: The capital markets are heading into the weekend mostly quietly in a consolidative fashion.  Ambiguous signals from yesterday’s US equities saw a narrowly mixed performance among the large Asia Pacific bourses, but of note, Hong and China markets saw this week’s gains trimmed. Europe’s Stoxx 600 is up around 1% near midday and is slightly above last week’s close.  US equity futures are trading with a firmer bias ahead of a large expiration of equity...

In the 3rd quarter of 2022, the number of employed persons in Switzerland increased by 0.8% compared with the same quarter of 2021 and the number of actual hours worked per week, per employed person, increased by 2.0%. During the same period, the unemployment rate as defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO) fell from 5.1% to 4.3% in Switzerland and from 6.7% to 6.0% in the EU. These are some of the results of the Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS)...

We do not like Purchasing Power or Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) as measurement for currencies. For us, the trade balance decides if a currency is overvalued. Only the trade balance can express productivity gains, while the REER assumes constant productivity in comparison to trade partners. Who has read Michael Pettis, knows that a rising trade surplus may also be caused by a higher savings rate while the trade partners decided to spend more. This is partially...

SGS was founded in 1878 to help standardise the trade of goods around the world. Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi The world’s largest goods inspection and testing group SGS will shed 1,500 jobs worldwide in a cost saving drive. The Geneva-based company said on Wednesday that inflation and the Ukraine war are having a negative effect on its business. “The consequences of the war in Ukraine have had a broader effect on our business mix and volumes in certain European...

Scottsdale, AZ–Nov 15, 2022  Monetary Metals is pleased to announce it has closed a Gold Bond for Akobo Minerals AB (AKOBO.OL), a publicly traded company, headquartered in Oslo, Norway. The term of the bond is two years, and investors are earning an annual interest rate of 19% on gold, paid in gold. The proceeds will be used to develop the mine entrance to Akobo’s Segele gold deposit, in addition to building and installing a processing plant on site. The bond was...

When I was a child, my mother and I would take the Long Island Railroad to Brooklyn to see relatives a few times a year. My grandfather was always outside in front of the apartment house in Park Slope, where he and my aunts and uncles lived. Upon seeing him, I would run down the sidewalk to greet him, but before I could say “Hi, Grandpa!,” he would without fail press a shiny silver dollar into my hand. He was a quiet, dignified man with a big white mustache. Since he...

Die erste Leizins-Erhöhung seit 15 Jahren im Juni bezeichnet SNB-Direktoriumsmitglied Andréa Maechler als historischen Moment. Die Schweizerische Nationalbank (SNB) hat mit der Rückkehr der Inflation auch den Leitzins wieder in den positiven Bereich angehoben. Mit dem Übergang ins Positivzinsumfeld hat die Notenbank allerdings auch einen neuen Ansatz zur Umsetzung ihrer Geldpolitik am Geldmarkt wählen müssen, erklärten SNB-Direktoriumsmitglied Andréa Maechler...

Overview: Animal spirits are retreating today. Asia Pacific and European equities are lower, and US futures are narrowly mixed. US 2- and 10-year yields are edging higher, while European benchmark 10-year yields are mostly softer.  Italy and the UK are notable exceptions. Gilt yields are firming ahead of the budget statement. The dollar is trading higher against the G10 currencies. It still appears to be in a consolidative mode, but we continue to see risk of a more...