SNB & CHF

Sergio Ermotti leaves UBS in November after nine years at the helm of the bank. (Keystone / Christian Beutler) Sergio Ermotti arrived at UBS in 2011 during a dark chapter in the history of Switzerland’s largest bank. He will depart in November, nine years later, with a reputation for injecting greater stability but not for stamping out controversy. Ironically, UBS arguably faces some greater challenges than cross-town rival Credit Suisse, where earlier this month...

Almost exactly 10 years ago, we detailed the tragic death of Gerard Reilly in a skiing accident – the point man on Repo 105, the point person for E&Y’s “investigation” into the Matthew Lee whistleblower campaign, Lehman’s Level 2 and Level 3 asset valuation, the brain behind the idea to spin off Lehman’s commercial real estate business, Lehman’s Archstone investment, and likely so much more: [Reilly] was skiing alone on the John’s Bypass Trail, a connector...

If you think global demand will rebound as global debt and confidence implode, you better not be making consequential decisions based on Euphorestra-addled magical thinking. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, the global economy was slowing for two reasons: 1) everybody who can afford it already has it and 2) overcapacity. One word captures the end-of-the-cycle stagnation: saturation. Everyone who can afford a smartphone (or can borrow to buy one) already has...

Interview with Ronald Stöferle – Part II Claudio Grass (CG): Looking at the interest rate policy of the last years, it would seem that central banks are backed into a corner. They cannot hike borrowing costs without risking a domino effect, as both government and corporate debt have reached record highs, encouraged by the central banks’ own NIRP and ZIRP policies. In your view, is there a “safe” way out of this vicious circle? Ronald-Peter Stöferle (RPS): Well, for...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.02% to 1.061 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, February 21(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft..com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview:  The spread of Covid-19 outside of China and early signs of the economic consequences again emerged to weigh on investor sentiment. Poor Japanese and Australian preliminary February PMI reports and some trade indications from South Korea saw most Asia Pacific equities sell-off. ...

Ich nutze einen kleinen Rücksetzer, um die Position von Gladstone Commercial weiter auszubauen. Insgesamt verdopple ich meine Anteile von 250 auf 500 Stück. Hier geht’s übrigens zum letzten Aktien Kauf Alphabet. . Kauf von Gladstone Commercial Das Investment von 250 Gladstone Commercial Aktien hat mich 5‘463.99 USD gekostet. Die damaligen Käufe konnte ich deutlich günstiger erwerben, allerdings sehe ich da langfristig weniger ein Problem. Gladstone Commercial...

To simplify labelling, many international retailers put recommended retail prices (RRP) for multiple nations on the same label, like the one below. The Swiss retail price premium laid bare. Labels such as these show how much more Swiss customers are being charged compared to customers in other countries. The label above, from an item of clothing sold in Switzerland, shows how much more Swiss customers are charged. The RRP for Switzerland is the highest. The Swiss...

Developed equity markets remain near the highs despite mounting concerns about the impact of the coronavirus MSCI World made a new all-time high last week near 2435 and is up 2.5% YTD Our 1-rated grouping (outperformers) for Q1 2020 consists of Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Spain, and Switzerland Our 5-rated grouping (underperformers) for Q1 2020 consists of the Italy, Germany, Portugal, Japan, and Greece Since our last update on November 19, our proprietary DM...

Negative news on the coronavirus has kept risk appetite subdued across the board; the dollar rally continues During the North American session, we will get some more clues to the state of the US economy; FOMC minutes were largely as expected UK January retail sales came in firm; ECB releases the account of its January 23 meeting Australia reported firm January jobs data; China commercial banks cut lending rates; Indonesia cut rates 25 bp to 4.75%, as expected The...

Free market economics is often ignorantly dismissed for being “ideological” rather than scientific. It probably sounds smart to the economically illiterate, but it is decidedly not. It doesn’t mean nearly what most people assume it does. The word “free” in free market economics is not used as a normative value judgment but indicates an economy that is unaffected by exogenous (from the outside) factors. “Free” therefore means that it is the market economy in and by...