SNB & CHF

Swiss National Bank maintains expansionary monetary policy The coronavirus pandemic and the measures implemented to contain it have led to a severe downturn in economic activity and a decline in inflation both in Switzerland and abroad. The SNB’s expansionary monetary policy remains necessary to ensure appropriate monetary conditions in Switzerland. The SNB is keeping the SNB policy rate and interest on sight deposits at the SNB at −0.75%, and in light of the highly...

[embedded content] The short-term pull-back in stock prices last week on the back of persistent virus concerns in the US and elsewhere shows the market remains jittery despite the massive run-up in prices since late March. May data from China showed a relatively fast rebound on the supply side of the economy, but a much slower take-off in consumption, suggesting a ‘reverse square root’ kind of recovery for economies rather than the ‘v’-shaped one markets have been...

© Michael Müller | Dreamstime.com Switzerland’s federal government is against imposing nationwide restrictions to slow the spread of a second wave on infections, according to the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper. The federal government plan, which is under development, is more regional than the response to the first wave of infections and focuses decision making power at the cantonal level, reported the newspaper. Cantons would have the power to independently confine and...

The stock market has recovered most of its losses from the March COVID-19 induced sell-off and the enthusiasm with which stocks are being bought – and sold but mostly bought – could lead one to believe that the crisis is over, that the economy has completely or nearly completely recovered. Unfortunately, other markets do not support that notion nor does the available economic data. Of course, markets look forward and there is the possibility that stock market...

The Fed has backed itself not into a corner but to the edge of a precipice. Though the Federal Reserve never stated its Grand Bargain explicitly, their actions have spoken louder than their predictably self-serving, obfuscatory public pronouncements. Here’s the Grand Bargain they offered institutional investors and speculators alike: We’re taking away your low-risk, high-yield investments by slashing interest rates to near-zero, but we’re giving you endless asset...

[Editor’s Note: this article is adapted from a 2003 essay in the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics entitled “New Keynesian Monetary Views: A Comment.” As economists abandon theory in favor of makeshift plans to flood the economy with stimulus, Hülsmann here provides some helpful reminders of the fundamental problems behind the current economic consensus on money.] The essential fallacy of John Maynard Keynes and his early disciples was to cultivate the monetary...

Mr. Chandler of Bannockburn explains the economic recovery and consumer spending, as well as the Fed's effort to call on Congress to act sooner rather than later. Jackie expresses her own view on Chinese ADR's future on listing in the US.( Chinese)

Mr. Chandler of Bannockburn explains the economic recovery and consumer spending, as well as the Fed's effort to call on Congress to act sooner rather than later. Jackie expresses her own view on Chinese ADR's future on listing in the US.( Chinese)

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