SNB & CHF

There are several trends in the capital markets at a high-level. The euro and yen’s decline has coincided with sustained rallies in European and Japanese equity benchmarks.  Emerging market equities and currencies have been trending lower. There are two other trends that arguably are reinforcing if not causing the other trends. Both oil prices and U0S interest rates have been trending higher. It is unusual but not...

Summary Bank Indonesia started a tightening cycle with a 25 bp hike to 4.5%. Jailed Malaysia opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was released by new Prime Minister Mahathir. Malaysia scrapped the controversial 6% goods and services tax (GST). Violent protests shook Israel as the relocated US embassy opened in Jerusalem. Argentina committed to fiscal tightening as part of a comprehensive IMF program. Brazil central bank...

May.21 -- Marc Chandler, senior vice president at Brown Brothers Harriman, discusses currencies, Federal Reserve monetary policy and the outlook for markets. He speaks with Tom Keene and Francine Lacqua on "Bloomberg Surveillance."

US 10-Year Surges, Emerging Markets Implode…Where Next for Gold? US 10-Year Yields Top 3%, US Dollar Pushes Higher Brent Hits $80, Highest in 4 years Emerging Market Chaos, the Lira and Peso in Freefall Italy’s New Coalition Signal Their Plans, Yields Jump Japanese Economy Contracts, GDP Worst Since 2015 And Where Next for Gold? Gold and silver ended the week down (USD -2.2%, GBP -1.4%, and EUR -0.5%) as rising US...

May.21 -- Marc Chandler, senior vice president at Brown Brothers Harriman, discusses currencies, Federal Reserve monetary policy and the outlook for markets. He speaks with Tom Keene and Francine Lacqua on "Bloomberg Surveillance."

Click here for full transcript: http://financialrepressionauthority.com/2018/05/20/the-roundtable-insight-charles-hugh-smith-on-the-intensifying-pension-crisis

Swiss Rail has dropped plans to install Wi-Fi in its trains, according to the newspaper Le Matin. © Katie Nesling | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge After a survey revealed that customers would only use on-board Wi-Fi it was free, the company decided there was no justifiable way to cover the cost, according the the newspaper. Swiss Rail is not prepared to bear the costs the mobile operators would charge them for the...

Back in February, Japan’s Cabinet Office reported that Real GDP in Japan had grown in Q4 2017 for the eighth consecutive quarter. It was the longest streak of non-negative GDP since the 1980’s. Predictably, this was hailed as some significant achievement, a true masterstroke of courage and perseverance. It was taken as a sign that Abenomics and QQE was finally working (never mind the four years). Those making that...

© Andrea De Martin | Dreamstime.com By January 2018, the number receiving disability welfare in Switzerland had dropped to 217,200, 40,300 fewer than in 2006 when the number reached a record 257,500. Switzerland’s Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO) attributes the reduction to an occupational rehabilitation programme started in 2008, and disability welfare fraud investigations. In 2017, 40,800 disability...

After being rumored and talked about for over a year, at the end of last year the tax cuts were finally delivered. The idea had captured much market attention during that often anxious period of political flirtation. Prices would rise or fall by turn based on whether or not it seemed a realistic possibility. Public Law #115-97 or An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent...