SNB & CHF

The effectiveness of the Federal Reserve's communication seems clear. The market has nearly 90 bp of tightening discounted here in Q2. This means that after a 25 bp hike to initiate the tightening cycle, the labor market's strength will allow the central bank to accelerate the pace. By the end of the week, the market will also have a better idea of the timing and pace of the balance sheet unwind. The March nonfarm payroll growth may have missed median estimates,...

Anyone using the internet is being watched, and possibly manipulated, via a trail of digital breadcrumbs known as metadata. Two Swiss companies, one backed by former United States military whistleblower Chelsea Manning, are setting up smokescreens to confuse prying eyes and protect web users from big tech companies and government surveillance. Nym Technologies and HOPR employ mix networks (mixnet) to churn together the metadata that people leave behind when they...

Within days of the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian regime applied for membership in the European Union. This is understandable from the perspective of Kyiv. If Ukraine is going to be denied membership in NATO—as increasingly looks to be the case—The Ukraine regime could nonetheless increase its geopolitical connections to the West by joining in the EU. Moreover, given the fact the EU is moving toward creating its own EU military...

Europe is not going to achieve a competitive energy transition with the current interventionist policies. Europe does not depend on Russian gas due to a coincidence, but because of a chain of mistaken policies: banning nuclear in Germany, prohibiting the development of domestic natural gas resources throughout the European Union, added to a massive and expensive renewable rollout without building a reliable backup. Solar and wind do not reduce dependency on Russian...

As for our central banks’ defaulting on their lines of credit with the Martian Central Bank–that’s another alien intervention we’ll live to regret. I hope this won’t shock the more sensitive readers too greatly, but I’ve discovered undeniable evidence that all our planet’s problems are the result of alien intervention. Yes, aliens exist and are actively intervening in humanity’s activities, to our great detriment. Wars, plagues, The Illuminati, the World Economic...

Schon im Mai will Indonesien einen Gesetzesentwurf umsetzen, der eine Mehrwertsteuer auf Transaktionen mit Cryptocoins im Land einführen wird. Damit reagierten Staatsvertreter auf den Boom des digitalen Asset-Tradings im Land. Crypto News: Indonesien plant Steuer auf Crypto-TransaktionenNachdem westliche Staaten vor allem versuchen den Cryptomarkt klein zu regulieren, versucht es Indonesien mit einem anderen Ansatz. Mit einer speziellen Steuer auf Transaktionen mit...

If there is one thing the whole world knows, U.S. officials will not permit anyone to maintain a friendly or even a neutral relationship with respect to Russia and Russian president Vladimir Putin. If some foreign regime doesn’t stand squarely with the United States with respect to the Ukrainian conflict, it is considered an enemy and will likely be hit with a strong case of economic sanctions. Just ask China. It’s no different, of course, with American citizens....

Switzerland has signed a declaration along with six other European states in favour of pooling gas storage facilities. Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands signed the declarationExternal link on Wednesday, pledging to work towards coordinating storage efforts on a regional level. The agreement, which is not legally binding, comes after the European Commission announced plans to mandate natural gas storage for EU members each...

As the Federal Reserve hikes its lending rate to a range of 0.25–0.50 percent, murmurs are heard around the world, with financial pundits predicting doom due to the increased pressures imposed on the cost structures of firms that are recovering from the pandemic lockdowns. The Federal Reserve is leader of the group of central banks around the world that are ostensibly directed by their respective countries to pursue stability and smooth functioning of their...

A new era of reference interest rates began at the start of this year. Libor, which had been the key reference rate for several decades and several currencies, including the Swiss franc, ceased to exist in many currencies at the end of 2021. SARON has now fully replaced Swiss franc Libor. This speech explains why reference rates play a central role in financial markets and discusses the circumstances under which some interest rates either achieve or lose reference...