SNB & CHF

An international conference on reconstructing post-war Ukraine is being held in the Swiss city of Lugano. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the conference by video link. He said, “Russia’s war is not just an attempt to take our country, but a challenge to the European system. The reconstruction of Ukraine is therefore not just a local matter, but the task of the entire democratic world.” The two-day event had already been scheduled before the Russian...

In Switzerland, all able-bodied men complete compulsory military service, while others opt for a civilian service. But how useful is a conscript army in light of what Russia did to Ukraine? This is one of many questions SWI readers sent to us. Daniel Reist, head of media relations for the Swiss armed forces, takes a shot at answering them. Our third question is: why does Switzerland need an army? More questions and answers are to follow in the coming weeks. --- swissinfo.ch is the...

04.07.2022 – The consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.5% in June 2022 compared with the previous month, reaching 104.5 points (December 2020 = 100). Inflation was +3.4% compared with the same month of the previous year. These are the results of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). The 0.5% increase compared with the previous month is due to several factors including rising prices for fuel. Heating oil also recorded a price increase, as did fruiting vegetables....

The price of household goods for Swiss consumers rose 3.4% in June compared to the same month last year, led by the surging cost of fuel and heating oil. “Inflation, which has de facto been absent for more than a decade, is back with a vengeance,” said economic forecast group BAK Economics. “However, this is no reason for inflation or stagflation [rising prices combined with slower economic output] panic.” BAK Economics is confident that a number of factors will...

Perspective: per·​spec·​tive |  pər-ˈspek-tiv b: the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance Merriam-Webster Perspective is something that comes with age I think. Certainly, as I’ve gotten older, my perspective on things has changed considerably. As we age, we tend to see things from a longer-term view. Things that seemed so important at the time, years ago, turned out to be nothing more than bumps along the road of life. That is as...

Physicists are hoping for new discoveries by ramping up the energy for the Large Hadron Collider. © Keystone / Laurent Gillieron Ten years after it discovered the Higgs boson, the world’s biggest particle accelerator is poised to smash together protons at record energy levels at the CERN particle physics laboratory near Geneva, as scientists resume their search for clues to the origins of the universe. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will get back to work on July 5,...

The most important thing to appreciate is that the market has moved to price not one but two cuts next year.  The first is priced into the September Fed funds futures and the second is in the Dec Fed funds futures.  This I in response to weaker than expected data that have elevated recession fears.  The Atlanta Fed GDPNow puts Q2 growth at -2.1%.  Banks have revised down their forecasts, but none of the 59 economists in the Bloomberg survey have forecast a negative...

Welcome to the American corporate-debt market of 2022. Often the only risky bonds that are being issued are the legacy debts of a now ancient-seeming time—when interest rates were low and a recession was unthinkable. Elsewhere, the high-yield market has almost ground to a halt. A paltry $83bn of risky debt has been issued so far in 2022, 75% less than in the same period last year. A sharp rise in interest rates in the first half of this year has cooled credit...

What is “money”? “Money” is a claim on the essentials of life. Ration cards are claims on essentials. Many people expect “money” will soon be tied to commodities. Agreed. It’s called a ration cardthat grants the holder the right to buy a specific quantity of essential goods at a specified price. This right is a form of “money” directly tied to the value of commodities. Ration cards are the only fair way to distribute essentials in times of chronic scarcity. Markets...

Sommaruga (left) during the opening of a water power plant at Nant de Drance in the Swiss mountains last month. © Keystone/Laurent Gillieron Energy Minister Simonetta Sommaruga has warned of possible shortages of natural gas in Switzerland during the winter months. She said the government prepared made plans to prevent energy blackouts due to a drop in Russian gas imports in the context of war in Ukraine. But it was impossible to guarantee sufficient supplies for the...