SNB & CHF

An electricity agreement between Switzerland and the European Union has been on hold since 2018. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally The Swiss government has shared its vision for coping with major power outages in a brochure shared with thousands of companies, the weekly NZZ am Sonntag reported on Sunday. In the absence of an electricity agreement with the European Union, such a scenario is likely if large power plants fail in Switzerland or abroad. Swiss companies could be...

After September’s negative performance, last week proved one of the strongest in a while for equity markets. This rebound followed news that the Biden administration will start to tackle the supply-chain and logistics issues that have been preventing deliveries. The ports of Los Angeles, the busiest in the US, will begin operating around the clock seven days per week to ease cargo bottlenecks that have led to shortages and higher costs for consumers. Showing some...

As for all those automated systems we have to navigate–do any of them work so well that those profiting from them actually use them? Of course not. In Marc Andreessen’s memorable phrase, “software is eating the world.” Unfortunately, it now has indigestion. Software is running into limits that (non-engineer) promoters either deny or downplay. Meanwhile, back in the real world, software has a limited role in filling structural scarcities of physical goods and many...

The United Kingdom and the European Union are grappling with truck diver shortages that complicate economic recovery amid the coronavirus pandemic. Keystone / Joe Giddens Unlike other Western European nations, Switzerland is not at risk of a supply chain crisis due to a lack of truck drivers, according to the president of a major logistics and transport company. “The situation in Switzerland is significantly better than in the rest of Europe,” Rolf Galliker,...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities Some see the cup as half empty. Some see the cup as half full. I see the cup as too large. George Carlin The quote from Dickens above is one that just about everyone knows even if they don’t know where it comes from or haven’t read the book. But, as the ellipsis at the end indicates, there is quite a bit more to the line than the part everyone remembers. It was the best of...

Der BTC konnte in den letzten 24 Stunden die Marke von 60.000 US-Dollar nehmen. Zwischenzeitlich sah es sogar so aus, als könnte Bitcoin auf ein neues Allzeithoch steigen, ehe der Kurs 2K abgab. Doch der allgemeine Trend deutet mehr denn je auf einen neuen Höchstand noch in diesem Jahr hin. Bitcoin News: Bitcoin nimmt Marke von 60K spielend Gestern Abend schaffte es Bitcoin bis auf 62.600 US-Dollar, so dass nur noch wenig zum neuen Allzeithoch fehlte. Doch kurz bevor...

The Antipodeans and the Scandis led last week's move against the dollar, registering more than 1% gains.  The yen was the weakest of the major currencies, falling almost 1.75%, its worst week since March 2020.  The JP Morgan Emerging Market Currency Index initially declined to a new low for the year before recovering to snap a five-week slide and gain nearly 0.45%. Despite the six basis point gain ahead of the weekend, perhaps helped by a stronger-than-expected...

The Cultural Revolution of the 1960s was a comprehensive effort by Mao Zedong to regulate how people think and behave. Citizens were forced to read the “Red Bible” and honor the Communist Party with quasi-religious rituals. Mutual supervision was encouraged throughout all of society. People were told that the way of thinking and behavior advocated by Mao Zedong was the only correct one. Sixty years later, China is undergoing another Cultural Revolution, the goal...

Swiss private banks increased their assets under management to almost CHF3 trillion last year © Keystone / Gaetan Bally Swiss private banks managed to increase their assets under management to CHF2.9 trillion ($3.15 trillion) last year, an increase of 2.8% on 2019. “The year 2020 was dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, yet the Swiss private banking sector still got off relatively lightly compared to other industries,” consultancy firm PwC said in its Private Banking...

Why do individuals desire to have money, which cannot be consumed and produces nothing? To provide an answer to this one must go back in time to establish how money emerged. Original Article: “Why Does Money Have Value? Not Because the Government Says It Does.“. Why does the dollar bill in our pockets have value? According to some commentators, money has value because the government in power says so. For other commentators the value of money is on account of...