SNB & CHF

Real wages are falling, inflation is at a 40-year high, and the Atlanta Fed predicts we’ll find GDP growth at zero for the second quarter. Meanwhile, both the yield curve and money-supply growth point to recession.  But when it comes to the latest data on home prices, there’s still no sign of any deflation or even moderation. For example, the latest Case-Shiller home price data shows home prices surged above 20 percent year-over-year in April, marking yet another...

Cars in Zurich. From the point of view of the environment and climate alone, transport caused an estimated CHF6 billion of damage in 2019 © Keystone / Gaetan Bally Negative costs on third parties caused by transport in Switzerland amounted to CHF14 billion ($14.7 billion) in 2019. The damage mainly affects the environment and climate, but also health. The Federal Office for Spatial Development said in a reportExternal link on Tuesday that traffic in Switzerland...

The average card-carrying Austrian would say that the Federal Reserve is creating money by the bale, with evidence being Consumer Price Index prints of 8.6 percent per the Bureau of Labor Statistics or over 15 percent per John Williams’s shadowstats.com computation based on the way the government calculated CPI back in 1980. Surely, at best, the US dollar is only the cleanest dirty shirt in the currency laundry basket. But Uncle Sam’s dollar continues to strengthen...

Overview: The sharp sell-off in US equities yesterday, led by tech, is weighing on today’s activity. Most of the large Asia Pacific markets excluding Japan and India lost more than 1% today. The three-day rally in Europe’s Stoxx 600 is being snapped today. US futures are posting small losses. The US 10-year yield is little changed around 3.17%, while European benchmarks are narrowly mixed, with the periphery doing better than the core. The dollar is enjoying a firmer...

A comprehensive report by the Federal Reserve - the Financial Accounts of the US - reveals that there has been no material change in rate of money creation. Not in the US (on par with an incrementally increasing but still PATHETIC 2007-21 trend), not in the rest of the world (equal to 2007-21 garbage rates). ----EP. 256 REFERENCES---- The Everything Data’s (Z1) Verdict: Not Inflation, Only More Of The Same: https://bit.ly/3QOKllW Alhambra Investments Blog: https://bit.ly/3wh01G2...

Health Savings Accounts (HSA) for retired folks. Isn’t that a novel idea? But it’s being considered in Congress—The Health Savings for Seniors Act, H.R. 3796. As it stands right now, the only people eligible for an HSA are those aged 65 years and younger who have a high-deductible health insurance plan meaning you have to pay $1,400 out-of-pocket for an individual or $2,800 for a family before the insurance plan pays anything. You get to deduct your contributions to...

Japanese and German trade data suggest the world is suffering through a price illusion: trade value is up because prices are up but actual trade by volume / trade by weight is falling (at least in Germany and Japan). Also, commodity prices suggest global slowdown/recession is approaching. ----EP. 255 REFERENCES---- Everything Hitting The Global (eurodollar) Wall: https://bit.ly/3QPvlE3 Alhambra Investments Blog: https://bit.ly/3wh01G2 RealClear Markets Essays: https://bit.ly/38tL5a7 Epoch...

In Switzerland, all able-bodied men complete compulsory military service, while others opt for a civilian service. But how useful is a conscript army in light of what Russia did to Ukraine? This is one of many questions SWI readers sent to us. Daniel Reist, head of media relations for the Swiss armed forces, takes a shot at answering them. Our second question is how would Switzerland defend itself, faced with a large-scale attack? --- swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the...

The latest purchasing manager surveys (services, manufacturing, composite) and manufacturing index (Kansas City Fed) suggest the United States is heading towards a recession, soon (maybe already?). ----EP. 254 REFERENCES---- Alhambra Investments Blog: https://bit.ly/3wh01G2 RealClear Markets Essays: https://bit.ly/38tL5a7 Epoch Times Columns: https://bit.ly/39ESkRf -------THE EPISODES------- YouTube: https://bit.ly/310yisL Vurbl: https://bit.ly/3rq4dPn Apple: https://apple.co/3czMcWN...

Seit Jahrzehnten senken die Notenbanken ihre Leitzinsen bei jedem Anzeichen einer wirtschaftlichen Korrektur. Sie versuchen damit, das Problem der sich von den Konsumentenbedürfnissen entfernenden Produktionsstruktur («Zombifizierung») mit billigem Geld zuzudecken. Dabei wären laufende Anpassungen der Angebotsseite an die sich wandelnden Bedürfnisse der Nachfrager eine zentrale Voraussetzung für eine sich langfristig gesund entwickelnde Wirtschaft. Aufgrund der immer...