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If you have ever wondered how much employees in Switzerland get paid you can check with the online tool Salarium, created by the Swiss government. © Shaunwilkinson – Dreamstime The information is compiled from a database of numbers from a salary survey done in 2014. After entering five required bits of information: region, business sector, occupation, professional position and working hours, the tool calculates the gross monthly median salary and range. It can be further fined tuned with...

On 24 July 2017, the Swiss franc was 1.101 to the euro. One week later on 31 July 2017 it was 1.145, according to Bloomberg. Over the month it dropped from 1.095 to 1.145, a drop Reuters described as the biggest monthly drop in six years. © Wirojsid | Dreamstime The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has been working hard to bring down the value of the Swiss franc. Speaking to the newspaper Le Temps last week, SNB president Thomas Jordan described the currency as “significantly overvalued”. But why...

On 24 July 2017, the Swiss franc was 1.101 to the euro. One week later on 31 July 2017 it was 1.145, according to Bloomberg. Over the month it dropped from 1.095 to 1.145, a drop Reuters described as the biggest monthly drop in six years. © Wirojsid | Dreamstime The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has been working hard to bring down the value of the Swiss franc. Speaking to the newspaper Le Temps last week, SNB president Thomas Jordan described the currency as “significantly overvalued”. But why...

Overnight, the Swiss National Bank disclosed the composition and breakdown of its FX reserves as of June 30. There were no notable changes, as the central bank kept most of its asset allocations unchanged from the previous quarter, with equities, government bonds and "other bonds", at 20%, 68% and 12% respectively. There were also no shifts in the currency composition as shown in the table below. There was one notable - and unexpected - development, and it had to do with the SNB's -0.75%...

Authored by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog, You know stuff’s going down when I write two posts in a row about Bitcoin, something which almost never happens anymore. In Friday’s piece, Is the Bitcoin Civil War Over? Here’s How I’m Thinking About Bitcoin Cash, I discussed a potential strategy that “big blockers” might attempt to execute should the 2x part of Segwit2x not happen later this year. Today, I want to discuss how the entire episode...

A recent report by the Reuters Institute shows a fall in trust in news media in Switzerland. They survey shows that only 46% trust news overall. This is down 4% compared to the year before. The report suggests this is an effect of the debate around ‘fake news’ resulting from the presidential election in the US, a subject that dominated Swiss media at the time. © Pressureua | Dreamstime Despite the recent fall, Swiss confidence in news media is above the average of the 36 countries covered –...

Commercial Property Market Is Inflated and May Burst Again by David McWilliams Dublin property investors had better hope that Brexit happens soon. They should also hope that it’s not just a ‘hard’ Brexit, but a granite Brexit — a Brexit that’s as hard as possible. They should be betting on the buffoonery of Boris Johnson, down on both knees praying for a massive barney between Davis and Barnier. A granite Brexit might prompt the migration of hundreds of corporate refugees from isolated...

Gold Hedges Against Currency Devaluation and Cost Of Fuel, Food, Beer and Housing  - Gold hedge against currency devaluation - cost of fuel, food, housing- True inflation figures reflect impact on household spending- Household items climbed by average 964%- Pint of beer sees biggest increase in basket of goods - rise of 2464%- Bread rises 836%, butter by 1023% and fuel (diesel) up by 1375%- Gold rises 2672% and hold's its value over 40 years- Savings eaten away by money creation and...

Millennials Can Punt On Bitcoin, Own Gold and Silver For Long Term  - Bitcoin volatility shows not currency or safe haven but speculation- Volatility still very high in bitcoin and crypto currencies (see charts)- Bitcoin fell 25% over weekend; Recent high of $3,000 fell to below $1,900- Bitcoin least volatile of cryptos, around 75% annualised volatility- Gold much more stable at just 10% annualised volatility- Bitcoin volatility against USD about 5-7 times vol of traditional...

20 Minuten. Switzerland’s Federal Council wants to introduce new measures to lower prices in Switzerland to curb cross-border shopping, something that it says hurts Swiss businesses. © Robert Kneschke | Dreamstime Minister for Economic Affairs, Johann Schneider-Ammann, said in an interview with the newspaper Schweiz am Wochenende that he’s working on a package of measures to tackle high retail prices in Switzerland. He thinks that if business costs are reduced prices will fall. In his view...