SNB & CHF

The Swiss financial regulator took a closer look at cryptocurrency activities last year. (© Keystone / Gaetan Bally) Switzerland’s financial regulator brought charges against eight “initial coin offering” (ICO) blockchain projects for breaching anti-money laundering rules last year. ICOs raise money from the public by selling digital tokens that promise to hold future value for the consumer. The fundraising activity is designed to make it easier for start-ups to...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.17% to 1.0551 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, April 03(see more posts on EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: Global equities are finishing the week on a soggy tone despite the 2%+ gains seen in the US yesterday. The extension of shutdowns, rising contagion and fatality rate, and imploding economies weigh on prices.  In Asia, Korea and Indonesia bucked the trend to most minor gains. Europe...

The pound continued to strengthen against the Swiss franc yesterday following the news that the UK’s current lockdown situation appears to be slowing the spread of COVID-19, causing a 0.85% movement in GBPCHF exchange rates throughout the day. Scientists at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine questioned 1,300 people in the UK in an online study, which found that the average number of daily contacts was down 70% now compared to before the country...

© Erfphotog | Dreamstime.com Tourism is one of the sectors hardest hit by the coronavirus and the response to it. Figures from a study by HES-SO Valais published by the newspaper Blick suggest the industry will see revenues in Switzerland drop 18%, or CHF 6.4 billion, in 2020. The hotel sector alone, which generates around CHF 10 billion annually, could lose CHF 2 billion if the shutdown lasts until the end of May, according to the forecast. The cancelation of events...

[embedded content] While most businesses have temporarily shut down, others are starting up or finding new ways to reach the public in their homes. Some Swiss farm shops, like Thierry Miauton’sexternal link in Oleyres, canton Fribourg, are delivering local produce to people’s doorsteps, so the clients don’t have to risk possible contact with virus-contaminated shoppers in supermarkets. The well-stocked farm shop can hardly keep up with demand and has taken on...

In March,  the G10 and many emerging market countries, governments, and central banks unveiled large emergency measures.  The motivation is to blunt the economic impact of the novel coronavirus that has seen more than two billion people around the world have their movement restricted. Large swathes of the world’s economy have shut down.  The nature of the shock means that the first countries to push its companies to re-start, and especially export-oriented...

It used to be that at each quarter’s end the repo rate would rise often quite far. You may recall the end of 2018, following a wave of global liquidations and curve collapsing when the GC rate (UST) skyrocketed to 5.149%, nearly 300 bps above the RRP “floor.” Chalked up to nothing more than 2a7 or “too many” Treasuries, it was to be ignored as the Fed at that point was still forecasting inflation and rate hikes. Total financial resilience otherwise. Yesterday was,...

The virus news stream out of Europe has improved a bit The US is already taking about the next relief bill; the Fed continues to roll out measures to address dollar funding issues ADP and ISM manufacturing PMI are the US data highlights Regulators across Europe are asking banks to stop paying dividends; eurozone and UK reported final manufacturing PMIs Japan Q1 Tankan report was released; BOJ tweaked its bond buying program for April RBA minutes were released; Korea...

As we watch in real-time how governments respond to the novel coronavirus pandemic, some of the most predictable forms of state overreach—from restrictions on the freedom of assembly to the suppression of regular commerce—have been rolled out. Thankfully, there is no unified world government, so there exist various examples of how certain countries are dealing with the crisis that we can closely examine and learn from. Pessimism and cynicism are generally warranted...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.34% to 1.0547 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, April 2(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: After US stocks dropped more than 4% yesterday, investor sentiment has improved, apparently sparked by ideas that the pain will force oil producers to find a way to reduce supply. Oil prices have surged, with the May WTI contract rallying around 7%. Asia Pacific equities were mostly...