SNB & CHF

Now look at the middle quintiles–the middle class: their income has gone nowhere in the past decade. These two charts of average incomes of U.S. households by quintile (bottom 20%, middle 60% (20%+20%+20%) and top 20%) have both good news and bad news. (Charts are from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office — CBO). These charts depict 1) household income before transfers (means-tested government benefits) and...

Like the other lagging European investment banks (Deutsche and SocGen immediately spring to mind), UBS is resorting to the last resort of the embattled megabank CEO when shareholders are demanding higher profits ‘or else’. After a decade where UBS cut thousands of jobs in its investment bank unit, Sergio Ermotti is turning to one of the few business lines where fat can feasibly be cut: UBS’s once legendary...

Scottsdale, Ariz, May 3, 2019—Monetary Metals® announces that it has leased silver to Money Metals Exchange® to support the growth of its business of selling gold and silver at retail and wholesale. Investors earn 2.2% on their silver, which is held in Money Metals’ vault in the form of silver products. Monetary Metals has a disruptive model, leasing gold and silver from investors who own it and providing it to...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.13% at 1.1374 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, May 03(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The US April jobs data stand before the weekend, and the greenback is holding on to most of yesterday’s gains as participants wait for the report. Equities in the Asia Pacific region were mixed without leadership from China and Japan, where...

European investment opportunities remain, despite financial repression in the region. The European Central Bank (ECB) surprised market watchers with its dovish turn in January, wiping out any prospect of an interest-rate rise this year and revising its growth projections for the euro area downward for 2019. With Europeans set to live with interest rates at zero (or negative) for longer, many are wondering if Europe now...

Ironically, their ample compensation allows them to avoid the poor-quality services they’ve designed for everyone below them. If we define middle class by the security of household income and what that income can buy rather than by an income level, what do we conclude? We have little choice but to conclude the middle class is decaying, both in the percentage of the workforce that qualifies as “middle class” according to...

Several IT companies and the Swiss government administration are involved in one of the biggest corruption cases in recent years. (© Keystone/Christian Beutler) Four suspects have been sentenced in a major corruption case involving a unit of the Swiss economics ministry. But the main defendant is still awaiting a formal indictment. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) announced on Wednesday that a trustee was given...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.07% at 1.1402 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, May 02(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The US dollar is consolidating yesterday’s post-Fed rally, and this is giving it a slightly heavier tone today. Equities are mostly lower and Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is off about 0.5% in late morning turnover, which if sustained would...

Claudia Aebersold-Szalay at a NZZ event. (Image: Evenito) Claudia Aebersold Szalay will assume the role of Head of Media Relations at the Swiss National Bank on 1 June, replacing Walter Meier who will be leaving the bank having reached retirement age. Ms Aebersold Szalay was previously an economics and business editor at the NZZ newspaper for eleven years. Her remit included covering European Central Bank and the...

02.05.2019 – Turnover in the retail sector fell by 0.5% in nominal terms in March 2019 compared with the previous year. Seasonally adjusted, nominal turnover fell by 0.1% compared with the previous month. These are provisional findings from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Real turnover in the retail sector also adjusted for sales days and holidays fell by 0.7% in March 2019 compared with the previous year. Real...