SNB & CHF

  Too Smart to Think These days everything must be smart.  There are smart cities, smart grids, smart policies, smart TVs, smart cars, smart phones, smart watches, smart shoes, and smart glasses.  There’s even something called smart underwear. Before long everything around us will be so smart we’ll no longer have to do one critically important thing.  We’ll no longer have to think; smart algorithms will think for us. ...

In a democracy, trust must be earned. It cannot be imposed. In its panicky rush to demonize the independent media via baseless accusations of “fake news,” the mainstream press has sunk to spewing “fake news” of its own. Here’s The Washington Post’s criminally false “fake news” article in case you missed it: Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say. So-called “fake news” was...

In a democracy, trust must be earned. It cannot be imposed. In its panicky rush to demonize the independent media via baseless accusations of “fake news,” the mainstream press has sunk to spewing “fake news” of its own. Here’s The Washington Post’s criminally false “fake news” article in case you missed it: Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say. So-called “fake news” was...

Headlines Week December 09, 2016 Who has read Milton Friedman knows that the Trump reflation trade is now showing its positive side. US wages are rising by 2.5%, while inflation is still relatively low. According to Friedman, inflation will increase only later. This implies that speculators are long the dollar and short the Swiss franc and the euro. Last week’s ECB meeting showed that the ECB might be dovish for a...

Headlines Week December 09, 2016 Who has read Milton Friedman knows that the Trump reflation trade is now showing its positive side. US wages are rising by 2.5%, while inflation is still relatively low. According to Friedman, inflation will increase only later. This implies that speculators are long the dollar and short the Swiss franc and the euro. Last week’s ECB meeting showed that the ECB might be dovish for a...

Speculators appeared mostly interested in reducing exposure in the run-up to the US jobs data and the Italian referendum. They liquidated gross longs in the currency futures market and covered shorts. Of the eight currencies we track there were two exceptions, the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc. Swiss Franc Speculators were net short CHF in January 2015, shortly before the end of the peg, with 26.4K...

Speculators appeared mostly interested in reducing exposure in the run-up to the US jobs data and the Italian referendum. They liquidated gross longs in the currency futures market and covered shorts. Of the eight currencies we track there were two exceptions, the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc. Swiss Franc Speculators were net short CHF in January 2015, shortly before the end of the peg, with 26.4K...

Headlines Week December 09, 2016 Who has read Milton Friedman knows that the Trump reflation trade is now showing  its positive side. US wages are rising by 2.5%, while inflation is still relatively low. According to Friedman, inflation will increase only later. This implies that speculators are long the dollar and short the Swiss franc and the euro. Last week’s ECB meeting showed that the ECB might be dovish for a...

Summary: FOMC meeting is the last highlight of the year. OPEC and non-OPEC producers strike a deal: optics good and that can lift prices further in near term. Italy will have a new Prime Minister, the fourth unelected PM. Provided that the Federal Reserve delivers the widely tipped and expected 25 bp hike in the Fed funds target range, the key to investors’ reaction will be a function of the FOMC statement and...

Summary: FOMC meeting is the last highlight of the year. OPEC and non-OPEC producers strike a deal: optics good and that can lift prices further in near term. Italy will have a new Prime Minister, the fourth unelected PM. Provided that the Federal Reserve delivers the widely tipped and expected 25 bp hike in the Fed funds target range, the key to investors’ reaction will be a function of the FOMC statement and...