SNB & CHF

Previously, we discussed Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and its one limitation of inflation. However, as is always the case when “theories” collide with “reality,” the tenants of the theory are quickly discarded. There is no doubt that since 2020 both Republicans and Democrats alike have shunned fiscal responsibility for the short-term gratification of MMT. Ms. Kelton tweeted such earlier this year. The writing is hilariously on the wall here, but people want to...

© Swisshippo | Dreamstime.com During July 2021, around 5% to 10% of long-haul passengers, many in transit, were unable to depart from Zurich airport because their Covid-19 documents did not comply with destination country regulations, reported the newspaper Le Temps. In June 2021, around 700 passengers, most of which were in transit, found themselves stuck at Zurich airport. According to a spokesperson at Swissport, a company providing ground services for the...

In our July 29 post titled How Gold Stacks Up Against Stocks, Property, Commodities and Big Macs! we showed readers charts of gold as a ratio to other assets and products. We discussed that gold competes with crypto and stocks for the investment dollars. It was clear that gold as a ratio of the S&P 500 Index and of the broader MCSI World Equity Index show that gold is ‘relatively cheap’ compared to these measures. But then we showed that this wasn’t the...

The "Nixon Shock" 50 years ago closed the 'Gold Window' on "international speculators" and killed the Bretton Woods gold exchange era. That's what we are told. Actually Bretton Woods was killed a decade (or more!) earlier; it's just we only noticed in 1971. ---------SPONSOR---------- If this show had a sponsor, I could say that today's episode is brought to you by Blockworks which will be hosting a conference in Bretton Woods from August 11 to 13 centered on the...

Overview: Record high closes yesterday for the S&P 500 and NASDAQ have done little to help global equities today.  Most of the Asia Pacific region markets, but Japan and Australia slipped ahead of the weekend while still holding on to gains for the week.  Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is threatening to snap a four-day advance, and US futures are trading a little lower. The US 10-year yield reached 1.125% in the middle of the week and is extending yesterday's...

© Sergei Babenko | Dreamstime.com In 2016, the social security office in Zurich discovered a concealed bank account containing CHF 1 million belonging to a deceased man who had received welfare payments for 13 years, reported RTS. Over the 13 years, the man had received financial hardship payments, known as supplemental benefits, and health insurance subsidies amounting to CHF 140,000. When applying for hardship payments in Switzerland, all wealth must be declared....

Bob unveils a new recurring series, in which he gives the context of infamous quotations. In this episode, he covers two allegedly shocking quotes from John Lennon, John Maynard Keynes’ “in the long run we’re all dead,” Trump on Nazis being very fine people, Dan Quayle misspelling potato, Obama’s “you didn’t build that,” and Bohm-Bawerk on Karl Marx. Mentioned in the Episode and Other Links of Interest: Wikipedia entry on John Lennon’s “more popular than Jesus”...

If you don’t mind, I am going to do what men of my age do from time to time, and that is tell you war stories—usually insufferably boring for younger people, but occasionally enlightening if you find that perhaps you are going through a similar trial. I want to talk about my own situation in 1961, ’62, ’63, when I was an undergraduate. It was a difficult time for those of us who were conservatives or libertarians, because we did not have lots of publications. We...

Overview: US interest rates and the dollar turned higher following comments by the Fed's Vice Chairman Clarida, who appeared to throw his lot with the more hawkish members. The dollar recovered from weakness that had seen it fall to almost JPY108.70, its lowest level since late May, and lifted the euro to $1.19.  Still, there has been little follow-through dollar or Treasury buying today.  The euro and yen are marginally softer, but most other major currencies post...

Auch zum der Franken kann sich der Dollar erholen und wird aktuell zu 0,9066 Franken gehandelt, nachdem er im frühen Geschäft bis 0,9036 gesunken war. Entsprechend ist der Euro zum Franken nicht weiter gefallen und kostet kaum verändert 1,0737 Franken. Am Dienstag war die Gemeinschaftswährung auf den tiefsten Stand seit Jahresbeginn gefallen. Damit dürfte auch der Druck auf die Schweizer Nationalbank (SNB), am Markt zu intervenieren, wieder nachlassen,...