Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.15% at 1.13 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, December 06(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The global capital markets were fragile amid trade uncertainty and economic slowdown fears. News that Canada arrested the CFO of Huawei on behalf of the US, ostensibly for violating the embargo against Iran triggered an almost immediate...
Read More »Swiss Starbucks Customers Vulnerable due to Insecure WiFi
The investigation by SRF found that hackers could easily gain access to names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of customers at a Starbucks shop in Bern. (Keystone) An investigation by Swiss Public Television, SRF, has found that data isn’t sufficiently protected when customers use WiFi at cafes in Switzerland of the global coffee chain. Free WiFi access at Starbucks – one of the great perks offered by the company –...
Read More »House View, December 2018
Pictet Wealth Management’s latest positioning across asset classes and investment themes. Asset Allocation We remain neutral on global equities overall, seeing relatively limited potential for developed market stocks in particular as earnings growth declines. We favour companies with pricing power as well as measurable growth drivers and low leverage. We have moved from underweight to neutral in US Treasuries, as the...
Read More »FX Daily, December 05: US Market Closure may be a Firebreak
Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.06% at 1.132 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, December 05(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The 3%+ drop in the S&P 500 yesterday kept global equities under pressure today, though losses in Asia and Europe were milder. In Asia, only Hong Kong and Taiwan benchmarks lost more than 1%. In Europe, the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is...
Read More »How to become a Swiss Federal Councillor
Switzerland has two new members of the Federal Council! But how is a new Federal Councillor chosen? --- swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss perspective on international events. For more articles, interviews and videos visit swissinfo.ch or subscribe to our YouTube channel: Website: http://www.swissinfo.ch Channel: http://www.youtube.com/swissinfovideos Subscribe:...
Read More »The View from the Trenches of the Alternative Media
What’s scarce in a world awash in free content and nearly infinite entertainment content? After 3,701 posts (from May 2005 to the present), here are my observations of the Alternative Media from the muddy trenches. It’s increasingly difficult to make a living creating content outside the corporate matrix. The share of advert revenues paid to content creators / publishers has declined precipitously, shadow banning has...
Read More »No Relief for Swiss Renters as Mortgage Rates Barely Move
Every three months the rate of interest used to set Swiss rents is reviewed. If it goes down some renters have the right to request a decrease in rent. This time it remained at 1.50%. ©-Sergei-Razvodovskij-_-Dreamstime.com_ - Click to enlarge The last time it dropped was 2 June 2017 when it fell to 1.5%, its lowest level since 2008. The rate is based on the average Swiss mortgage rate over three months. This rate is...
Read More »The Dollar and Its Rivals
I was in graduate school, studying American foreign policy when I stumbled on Riccardo Parboni’s “The Dollar and Its Rivals.” This thin volume showed how the foreign exchange market was the arena in which capitalist rivalries were expressed. More than any single book, it set me on a more than 30-year path. The dramatic world of foreign exchange that Parboni depicted changed in a significant way in the mid-1990s. Led by...
Read More »Charles Hugh Smith: Preventing The Final Fall Of Our Democratic Republic
Full description and comments at: https://www.peakprosperity.com/podcast/114587/charles-hugh-smith-preventing-final-fall-our-democratic-republic There's mounting evidence that the Age of American Exceptionalism is grinding to an end. Demographically, in the U.S. (as well as many other developed nations), the prospects of the younger generations are substantially less than those of the Baby Boomers. The same is true socioeconomically as well; the wealth gap between the 1% and everyone else...
Read More »FX Daily, December 04: Stock Rally Arrested, but Bond and Oil Advance Continues, leaving Dollar in a Lurch
Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.12% at 1.1339 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, December 04(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: Equity markets are unable to build on yesterday’s advance, but bonds and oil are extending gains. The dollar remains on the defensive and is off again all the major currencies. The lack of a joint statement over the weekend by the US...
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