SNB & CHF

It was a miserable week that ended a miserable year, followed by an apparently bad first week in 2016. In fact it was the S&P 500’s worst since the start of the bull market in 2009, ending the year down 0.73% at 2043.94 points! Volume was seasonally very low. If you are frustrated with the stock market’s performance, I can well understand it, but if you look at the video (Ctrl + Click) below, “Ouch! 5 CEOs lost a combined $20 billion in 2015!”, you may be comforted to see that Warren...

Last year was the fourth consecutive year that the yen fell against the dollar.   However, what is obscured by this factoid is that over the past  six months, the yen has been the strongest of the major currencies, rising almost 3.2% against the US dollar. While some may be tempted to attribute the yen's strength to the dismal start of the year for equities, the fact of the matter is that the yen's strength began before this week.  Recall that 48 hours after the Fed hiked rates last...

Chinese shares and the yuan stabilized with the apparent help of the government's guiding hand, but global markets are still on the defensive.     The euro extended yesterday's decline through the $1.08 level.  The next immediate technical objective is near $1.0730.   The greenback is firmer against most major and emerging market currencies.  The chief exception is the Japanese yen.    Lower equity prices and the continued pullback in US yields are often associated with a stronger yen. ...

Many countries may look with envy upon Sweden.  Growth last year was probably around 3%, with household consumption rising a little more than 2%.   Its current account surplus is 7.5% of GDP.  Exports were up by 4.3%.  Its budget deficit is around 1% of GDP.    Earlier today Sweden reported its manufacturing PMI rose to 56.0 from 54.9 in November.  This the highest since March 2014.  The main angst of the Riksbank, Sweden's central bank, is the persistence of disinflationary conditions. ...

The knock-on effects of the meltdown in Chinese shares and the tension among major Middle East rivals are dominating the re-opening of the global capital markets after the New Year holiday.  The US dollar has recouped its earlier losses against the euro, sterling and the Swiss franc, and remains broadly higher against the Antipodean currencies.   The persistence of the yen's strength is the anomaly.  Since Christmas, the dollar has consistently traded below the trend line connect the...

(from my colleague Dr. Win Thin) Meet the new year - same as the old year.  EM starts 2016 on a weak footing, with negative sentiment carrying over from 2015.  The global backdrop remains poor, with the Fed likely to continue its tightening cycle with another hike in March.  Commodity prices remain near the lows, while China data suggests that the slowdown (albeit modest) continues. Idiosyncratic EM risk remains in play, but in some instances could take a bit of a breather.  Brazil’s...

The markets are in turmoil.   Global equity markets are sharply lower, dragging bond yields down.  The risk-off move has propelled the yen sharply higher.  Its 1.4% advance has seen the dollar slump to JPY118.70, its lowest level since-mid-October. The dollar is also weaker against the euro (~0.65%) and sterling (~0.25%).  However, the dollar-bloc has been dealt a blow.  The New Zealand dollar is off 1.6%, unwinding most of the gains seen in the second half of December.  The Australian...

Perhaps it may be lesser known than his other Laws, but Murphy wrote one for the basis analysis. It goes like this. If we observe that the fundamental price of a metal is far removed from the market price, the two won’t likely converge the next week. On the other hand, suppose we say this (as we did last week): “The Monetary Metals fundamental price is measuring just that, the fundamentals. As with stocks or any other asset, our centrally banked, government-distorted markets can experience...

The start of a new calendar year does not necessarily mean the rise of new market drivers.   In fact, the key issues investors face at the start of 2016 are the same that dominated Q4 2015.   These issues center around pace of Fed tightening, the outlook for the world's second largest economy and its markets, the impact from the drop in oil prices, and commodity prices more generally, Europe will deal with the centrifugal forces that threatening it, and whether Japanese economy can find...

The US dollar firmed against nearly all the major currencies in the last week of 2015.  The exceptions were the Antipodean currencies and the Japanese yen. The relatively high short-term yields offered Australia, and New Zealand may have attracted some hot flows looking park over the turn.  The yen's gains were all scored on New Year's Eve in thin turnover, as equity markets and US yields slipped lower. Since the ECB eased policy on December 2, the US Dollar Index has been mostly...