SNB & CHF

Overview: Asia Pacific equities were mostly lower.  China and India bucked the trend.  Europe’s Stoxx 600 is steady with no follow through selling after yesterday reversal. US index futures are posting modest gains and are trying to snap a two-day drop.  The US 10-year yield is firm at 2.91%, while European benchmark rates are 2-3 bp higher.  Asia Pacific bonds were dragged lower by the sell-off in the US yesterday.  The dollar is broadly lower.  The Swedish krona...

The Swiss authorities have vetoed Denmark’s request to send Swiss-made armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine. The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) recently rejected Denmark’s bid to provide about  20 Piranha III infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine, Swiss public television, SRF, said on Wednesday. SECO said the ban was in line with Switzerland’s policy of neutrality of not supplying arms to conflict zones, according to SRF. Neutral Switzerland...

Just the other day, President Biden took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal to reassure Americans the government is doing something about the greatest economic challenge they face. Biden says this is inflation when that’s neither the actual affliction nor our greatest threat. On the contrary, recession probabilities have sharply risen as the real economy slows down given the emerging downside to last year’s supply shock. One thing we might agree on, the...

02.06.2022 – The consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.7% in May 2022 compared with the previous month, reaching 104.0 points (December 2020 = 100). Inflation was +2.9% compared with the same month of the previous year. These are the results of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).The 0.7% increase compared with the previous month is due to several factors including rising prices for housing rentals. Heating oil also recorded a price increase, as did many food...

The combination of covid lockdowns, money pumping, and attempts to force a new green economy are taking their toll. This is not going away any time soon. Original Article: “It’s Not Just the USA: The Economic Instability Is Global” The actions of the authorities in developed countries, essentially an extension of the Keynesian economic policy discourse, have brought the economies into disrepute. These actions consist of immense stimulus and virtually unfunded...

The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos is perhaps the world’s most unpopular conference, and the WEF’s founder and chairman, Klaus Schwab, one of the world’s most despised figures. Often compared to “Dr. Evil,” the character Mike Meyers played in the Austin Powers series, and routinely likened to a James Bond supervillain on the internet, Schwab is seen as a messianic megalomaniac leading a nefarious cabal of world leaders and corporate heads...

Overview: The recent equity rally is stalling. Asia Pacific equities were mixed, with Japan, South Korea, and Australia, among the major bourses posting gains. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 500 is slipping lower for the second consecutive session, ending a four-day bounce. US equity futures are little changed. The US 10-year yield is edging higher at 2.86%, while European yields are slightly lower. The greenback is firm against most of the major currencies. The Australian...

Another economic discussion lost to the eventual coronavirus pandemic mania was the 2019 globally synchronized downturn. Not just downturn, outright recession in key parts from around the world, maybe including the US. We’ll simply never know for sure because just when it was happening COVID struck and then governments overrode everything including unfolding history. What anyone can say for sure is that 2019 hit a rough patch where there was only supposed to have...

Only those societies which still have a functional public interest / common good will survive; those ruled by the tyranny of self-interest will fall. I’ve discussed the moral rot consuming the American Project in blog posts and my books. This moral rot–perhaps better described as civic decay–is so pervasive and ubiquitous that we are forgiven for assuming “this is the way it’s always been.” This inability to discern the rot is the result of the gradualness of the...

A Selection from The Historical Setting of the Austrian School of Economics. 1. The Beginnings What is known as the Austrian School of Economics started in 1871 when Carl Menger published a slender volume under the title Grundsätze der Volkswirtschaftslehre. It is customary to trace the influence that the milieu exerted upon the achievements of genius. People like to ascribe the exploits of a man of genius, at least to some extent, to the operation of his environment...