SNB & CHF

Ben Bernanke once admitted how the job of the post-truth “central banker” is to try to convince the market to do your work for you. What he didn’t say was that this was the only prayer officials had for any success. Because if the market ever decided that talk wasn’t enough, only real money in hand would do, everyone’d be screwed. Yes, 2008. Also everything after. The Chinese have followed closely this style having realized what took Bernanke too long. That is, the...

Putting this all together, it’s clear that the source of the current housing bubble is the explosion of financial speculation fueled by central bank policies. Those benefiting from speculative bubbles have powerful incentives to deny the bubble can bust.Rationalizations abound as bubbles inflate, and the continued ascent of speculative bets seems to “prove” the rationalizations are correct. But bubbles arise from speculative excesses, and once these reach extremes...

Consumer confidence in Germany never really picked up all that much last year. Conflating CPIs with economic condition, this divergence proved too big of a mystery. When the German GfK, for example, perked up only a tiny bit around September and October 2021, the color of consumer prices clouded judgement and interpretation of what had always been a damning situation. From GfK back then: The growing consumer optimism signals that consumers here consider the German...

When “whatever it takes” means confiscation of wealth One of the reasons people decide to buy gold bullion or add silver coins to their portfolio is because they cannot be devalued. No one can suddenly decide to print more gold or silver! Sadly, this is exactly what happens with currencies around the world. And the last two decades have been prime examples of this. As governments rush to patch up past mistakes, missed warnings and election cycles they resort to...

The threat of rampant inflation is forcing Swiss central bank to revise currency stance. © Keystone / Ti-press / Alessandro Crinari Switzerland’s central bank is buying lower volumes of foreign currencies to support the franc as it balances the needs of exporters with the rising cost of goods. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) shelled out CHF5.7 billion ($5.9 billion) in the foreign exchange markets in the first three months of the year. This amount is down from the...

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is forecasting the median result of its model predicts negative output growth in 2022 and 2023. ----EP. 257 REFERENCES---- Sorry Chairman Powell, Even FRBNY Now Has To Forecast Serious and Seriously Rising Recession Risk: https://bit.ly/39Syy5p The New York Fed DSGE Model Forecast—June 2022: https://nyfed.org/3OmvQUP Alhambra Investments Blog: https://bit.ly/3wh01G2 RealClear Markets Essays: https://bit.ly/38tL5a7 Epoch Times Columns:...

Overview: Central banks are committed to combatting inflation even as the economies weaken. This is taking a toll on investor sentiment and is dragging down equities. Outside of China, where the PMI confirms a recovery, and India, where most large bourses in the region were off 1-2%. Europe’s Stoxx 600 snapped a three-day rally yesterday with a 0.65% decline. Near midday, its loss today is approaching 2%. US futures are 1.5%-2.0% lower. Bond yields are falling. The...

Aufgrund der westlichen Sanktionen verändert sich die weltweite Finanzwelt. Neben der Ukraine ist davon vor allem Russland selbst betroffen. Nun hat die russische Regierung angekündigt, die Mehrwertsteuer für Crypto-Unternehmen in vielen Bereichen auszusetzen. Crypto News: Russland setzt Mehrwertsteuer für Crypto-Firmen ausAktuell liegt die Steuer auf digitale Assets im Land bei 20 Prozent. Doch durch die Sanktionen des Westens gegen Russland wurde man nun im Kreml...

The COVID-19 crisis continued to have a major impact on the tourism sector in 2021. After the shock of 2020, there was still no return to the pre-pandemic situation. The number of people travelling remained well below 2019 levels. Revenue (foreign visitors to Switzerland) in the tourism balance increased to CHF 10.1 billion, standing at 43.9% below its 2019 level. At the same time, expenditure (Swiss residents travelling abroad) rose by 13.4% but remained 43% below...

It’s not just the flood of never-ending inventory. That’s a huge and growing problem, sure, as the chickens of last year’s short-termism overordering finally come home to their retailer roost. Being stuck with too many goods isn’t necessarily fatal to the global and domestic manufacturing sectors. The scale of the burden is one key worry, though equally so is demand. When the orders were placed during last year, companies appear to have fully bought into (literally)...