SNB & CHF

07.01.2021 – Turnover adjusted for sales days and holidays rose in the retail sector by 1.0% in nominal terms in November 2020 compared with the previous year. Seasonally adjusted, nominal turnover fell by 2.4% compared with the previous month. These are the provisional findings from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Real turnover adjusted for sales days and holidays rose in the retail sector by 1.7% in November 2020 compared with the previous year. Real growth...

8. Januar 2021 – von Andreas Tögel Politik: Das ist – ein wenig überspitzt formuliert – die Installation falscher Systeme und die strategische Nutzung der sich hieraus ergebenden Irritationen sowie die taktische Beherrschung des hieraus resultierenden endlosen Reparaturbetriebs. Roland Baader (1940 – 2012) Andreas Tögel Im 15. Jahrhundert hatte sich die Führung des damals dem Rest der Welt technologisch weit überlegenen Reichs der Mitte dazu entschlossen, seine...

© Bogdan Lazar | Dreamstime.com The pandemic had a significant impact on Swiss real estate prices in 2020, according to industry experts. Contrary to initial fears that property prices would fall, prices have risen over the period. Over the year, the offer prices of stand alone houses rose by 5.6% while apartment prices jumped by 5.5% across Switzerland as a whole, according to the Swiss Real Estate Offer Index compiled by ImmoScout24. 2020 has shown once more that...

Mobilization and separation, not persuasion, is the way forward. Original Article: Welcome to 2021 in post-persuasion America! I first heard this term used by Steve Bannon, architect of the surprising 2016 Trump campaign, in a PBS Frontline documentary titled America's Great Divide. Speaking way back in the precovid days of early 2020, Bannon asserted the information age makes us less curious and willing to consider worldviews...

All the tricks to hide our unaffordable cost structure have reached marginal returns. Reality is about to intrude. There is much talk of tyranny in the political realm, but little is said about the tyrannies in the economic realm, a primary one being the tyranny of high costs: high costs crush the economy from within and enslave those attempting to start enterprises or keep their businesses afloat. Traditionally, costs are broken down into fixed costs such as rent...

Scottsdale, Ariz, January 6, 2021—Monetary Metals® is pleased to announce the issuance of a bond paying principal and interest in gold. The term is one year, and the interest rate on invested gold is 13%.  According to company CEO Keith Weiner, Ph.D., it is the first proper gold bond in 87 years. The proceeds fund a loan to Western Australia gold-mining company Shine Resources, enabling the firm to put its Chameleon project into production. Monetary Metals has...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.11% to 1.0837 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, January 7(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: After the National Guard were called to put down an insurrection in Washington, DC, the dollar is having its best day in around a week. The euro’s three-day rally has been halted even though German factory orders surprised on the upside. The greenback is firmer against all the major...

The water on which the power plant floats helps cool the solar panels thus improving their efficiency. Keystone / Valentin Flauraud A floating solar power plant and a transport project using renewable hydrogen are among the winners of the 2021 Watt d’Or prize. Awarded annually by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy since 2007, the goal of the Watt d’Or is to “showcase outstanding products or services in the energy sector”. The 2021 winners, selected from 64 projects,...

Switzerland was named a currency manipulator by the US Treasury in December 2020. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally For many foreign exchange traders, the US Treasury’s decision to designate Switzerland as a currency manipulator last month comes nearly six years too late and with a good dose of irony. The Swiss National Bank threw currency markets into full-blown chaos in January 2015 when it unexpectedly abandoned its cap on the franc’s value, within days of a senior...

Hundreds of small alpine businesses rely on the fund for support. © Keystone / Christian Beutler A Swiss fund that supports small businesses in alpine regions bailed out 100 firms last year that were affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Schweizer Berghilfe (Swiss Mountain Aid) doled out an extra CHF2 million ($2.26 million) to support Covid-hit enterprises. Volunteers put in 15% more hours evaluating and processing the extra demand for financial support, the...