SNB & CHF

The bond market is allegedly populated by the “smart” set, whereas those trading equities derided as the “dumb” money (not without some truth). I often wonder if it’s either/or. The fixed income system just went through this scarcely three years ago, yet all signs and evidence point to another repeat. So, how smart can Eurobond agents really be if they’ve gone and done it again? What is it? Let’s roll the clock back to the landmine of 2018. Collateral shortage,...

The origins of the federal student loan program are well documented and follow a similar trajectory to most government subsidy programs in American history. Each previous government subsidy program has had a history of mismanagement, inefficiency, backwards incentives, and inflationary pressure via creation and distribution of new dollars in exchange for goods and services at rates below their market value. The federal takeover of student loans is a subsidy because...

“We live in a time where few understand how things get made. It is fine to not know where stuff comes from, but it isn’t fine to not know where stuff comes from while dictating to the rest of us how the economy should be run.” —Doomberg Eighty-five percent of human energy usage comes from burning things. Either plants or trees grown in a geologically recent past or plants or trees (and decomposed animals) from ancient times. Solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, etc.—all...

[This foreword to Henry Hazlitt’s Failure of the New Economics (available at mises.org free in PDF, ebook, and audiobook) was first published in National Review, August 15, 1959.] For most people, economics has ever been the “dismal science,” to be passed over quickly for more amusing sport. And yet, a glance at the world today will show that we pass over economics at our peril. The influence of economic ideas on human history, especially political history, has been...

The most recent macroeconomic figures show that the Chinese slowdown is much more severe than expected and not only attributable to the covid-19 lockdowns. The lockdowns have an enormous impact. Twenty-six of 31 China mainland provinces have rising covid cases and the fear of a Shanghai-style lockdown is enormous. The information coming from Shanghai proves that these drastic lockdowns create an enormous damage to the population. Millions of citizens without food or...

Are the industrial commodities starting to get a whiff of demand side rejection? Short run trends suggest that this could be the case. From copper to iron and the highest (formerly) of the high flyers, aluminum, this particular group has been exhibiting a rather synchronized setback going back to the end of March, start of April. This despite supply bottlenecks and production shortfalls which continue to plague each. Copper has now fallen to its lowest since last...

Overview: Risk appetites are improving on the margin. Asia Pacific stocks still fell after the sharp losses on Wall Street on Monday. Still, China, Taiwan and Indian equities traded higher. Europe's Stoxx 600 is snapping a four-day 6.5%+ slide and is up around 1.2% in late European morning turnover. US equity futures are up over 1%. The 10-year Treasury yield that pushed to 3.20% yesterday is a little above 3% now. European benchmark yields are 5-7 bp lower and the...

Bereits zum Ende der letzten Woche gab es einen klaren Preisabsturz des BTC. Doch zu Beginn der Woche setzte sich der Trend fort und führte den Bitcoin sogar zwischenzeitlich wieder unter 30.000 US-Dollar. Der Support bröckelte, fand sich jedoch heute Morgen wieder bei knapp oberhalb von 30K. Bitcoin News: Bitcoin Preis stürzt abMit dem jüngsten Preisabsturz purzelte der Gesamtmarkt auf ungefähr 1,5 Billionen an Wert. Damit hat der Cryptomarkt insgesamt die Hälfte...

Two former players with Afghanistan’s national women’s team have started football training for women in Bern, both to improve their footballing skills and to defend the rights of women to play the game. It’s part of Armisa and Sahar’s (pseudonyms) continuing efforts to rebuild their lives after being forced to flee their country for fear of the Taliban, the Islamic fundamentalist group that was waging an insurgency in Afghanistan when they left. swissinfo.ch is...

Last week’s 50 bps Fed rate hike was not a surprise. Indeed, Fed chairman Jerome Powell’s assertion that a 75 bps hike had not been actively considered was enough to spark a stock rally. But it proved short-lived, with markets quickly returning to their fears about inflation. With the US labour market remaining tight and with inflation running well ahead of wage growth (the consumer price index rose an annual 8.5% in March, a four-decades high, compared with a 5.5%...