SNB & CHF

The Bank of Canada on Wednesday increased its policy interest rate (known as the overnight target rate) from 1.0 percent to 1.5 percent. This was the second fifty–basis point increase since April and is the third target rate increase since March of this year. Canada’s target rate had been flat at 0.25 percent for twenty-three months following the bank’s slashing of the target rate beginning in March 2020. As in the United States and in Europe, price inflation rates...

It’s a broken a record, the macro stylus stuck unable to move on, just skipping and repeating the same spot on the vinyl. Since Xi Jinping’s lockdowns broke it, as it’s said, when Xi is satisfied there’s zero COVID he’ll release the restrictions and that will fix everything. The economy will go right back to good, like flipping a switch. Where have we heard that before? Everywhere, actually, but especially in China. Whether early last year, last August, and now again...

Swiss industrial firm Oerlikon has announced that it will hand over ownership of its business in Russia to local management. In a brief statementExternal link released on Thursday, the Oerlikon Group said it had entered into an agreement with the local management team to sell all its operations in Russia. “The business will continue to operate independently under the new owners,” said the company. On March 4, the Swiss firm ceased all international cross-border...

Der NFT-Markt bleibt unberechenbar. Inwieweit der Preis eines Non-Fungible Token wirklich durch seinen Wert definiert wird, bleibt hingegen ein Geheimnis. In dieser Woche zeigte der Gerichtsprozess zwischen Johnny Depp und Amber Heard wieder einmal, wie NTF-Preise unberechenbar steigen und fallen können. Crypto News: Johnny Depp NFTs erleben Rallye nach GerichtsprozessIn den letzten Wochen ging der Prozess zwischen Johnny Depp und seiner Ex-Ehefrau um die Welt. Zu...

It’s easier to make lofty pledges about saving the world when the world isn’t battling multiple crises. The World Economic Forum’s programme last week included the word “crisis” 42 times. Throughout the four-day event, “crisis” was uttered on panels on climate change, in interviews on the war in Ukraine, and in conversations on food shortages held around lavish buffet tables. There’s no denying that the world is gripped by multiple crises. There’s also no denying...

It’s gotten to the point that pretty much everyone is now aware of the risks. Public surveys, market behavior, on and on, hardly anyone outside politics thinks the economy is in a good place. Gasoline, sentiment, whatever, Euro$ #5 in total is much more than what’s shaping up inside the American boundary. Globally synchronized of which the US is proving to be a close part. The destination, or depth, really, is what’s left to argue. As noted yesterday, even President...

According to John Maynard Keynes: The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler...

When nobody cares that systems have broken down and there is no will or interest in fixing essential systems, there is no happy ending. Who fixes systems when they break down? The answer appears to be: nobody. Here are three everyday examples from my own life, breakdowns which may be random and rare but which the odds suggest are systemic. Let’s assume I’m not an unlucky one in a million but just another recipient of systemic breakdown. 1. U.S. Mail forwarding six...

After months of consumer price increases and after countless working households found themselves in dire financial straits struggling to make ends meet, in the late May, President Biden finally revealed his grand plan to fight inflation in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal. The much-anticipated response to the cost of living crisis that has been ravaging the nation sadly did not contain the silver bullet that so many Americans were hoping for. Instead, it...

Overview: For the large rally in US stocks yesterday and the sell-off in the dollar, US rates were surprisingly little changed. This set the tone for today’s action, ahead of the US employment data. Asia Pacific equities moved higher and Europe’s Stoxx 600 has edged up to extend yesterday’s rise. The 10-year US Treasury yield is little changed, hovering around 2.91%. European benchmark yields are 1-3 bp higher. The greenback has stabilized after yesterday’s fall. The...