SNB & CHF

Seems like ancient history given all that’s happened since, but on October 13 Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced a planned deluge of cash management bills in the wake of the debt ceiling resolution (the first one). The next day, China’s currency, CNY, broke free from its previous and suspiciously narrow range. Speculating a connection a few days thereafter, I wrote: …it had been on the 13th when Treasury announced its intention to unleash a CMB (cash...

Jeff Snider joins me for a multi-episode conversation exploring the evolution of money and central banking throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Be sure to check out NYDIG, one of the most important companies in Bitcoin: https://nydig.com/ GUEST Jeff's twitter: https://twitter.com/JeffSnider_AIP Jeff's writing: https://alhambrapartners.com/author/jsnider/ PODCAST Podcast Website: https://whatismoneypodcast.com/ Apple Podcast:...

In the third quarter of 2021, the current account surplus amounted to CHF 24 billion, CHF 10 billion more than in the same quarter of 2020. The increase was mainly attributable to the significantly higher receipts surplus in goods trade. This surplus was due to traditional goods trade (foreign trade total 1), non-monetary gold trading, as well as to merchanting. Primary income counteracted the rise in the current account balance. While a receipts surplus was...

Have oil producers shot themselves in the foot, while at the same time stabbing the global economy in the back? It’d be quite a feat if it turns out to be the case, one of those historical oddities that when anyone might honestly look back on it from the future still hung in disbelief. Let’s start by reviewing just the facts. First up, yesterday the Federal Reserve published the November 2021 estimates for Industrial Production in the United States. As has been the...

Elektra gehört zu den größten Supermarktketten Mexikos. Auf Twitter gab der Besitzer dieser Kette nun bekannt, dass man in den Filialen für alle Produkte mit Bitcoin bezahlen könne, wodurch Elektra zur ersten Kette seiner Art in Mexiko wird. Bitcoin News: Mexikanische Supermarktkette akzeptiert Bitcoin als Zahlungsmittel Elektra ist nicht nur eine Supermarkt-, sondern auch eine Bankenkette. Elektras Besitzer gehört zu den reichsten Menschen des Landes und hat nach...

Jeff Snider joins Harley Bassman and Michael Green for a VERY detailed conversation on money supply and what the bond market is telling us about inflation. This conversation was very wonky, in the weeds, and will be shocking to those wondering how passionate three grown men can be about this stuff....and yes, there will be yelling. For more information, visit simplify.us. Investing involves risk including potential loss of principal. The Simplify ETFs are distributed by Foreside Financial...

The World Economic Forum has been forced to roll up its plans once again. Keystone / Jean-christophe Bott The Covid-19 pandemic has severely disrupted plans to hold the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) main annual meeting in Davos for a second year in a row. On Monday, WEF said it would defer the gathering of influential global business and political heads from the planned date in January to an undefined time in early summer. WEF organisers said the spread of the Omicron...

As someone who teaches public finance (better termed the economics of government), I can’t count how many times I have heard politicians promise “comprehensive” reforms to some major problem. But what such efforts actually produce is always different from what is promised, because such achievements are beyond government’s competence. The more comprehensive the “reforms” (say, measured by the number of pages in a bill), the more adverse incentives undermining social...

The James Webb Space Telescope, the biggest, most powerful space telescope in history, is set to launch into space this Christmas. It has been developed by NASA together with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Swiss scientists have been closely involved in the project and some Swiss technology is on board. The orbiting infrared observatory is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. With a much bigger primary mirror, the Webb, as it is known, is 100...

Listen to the audio version of this article here! In the last Supply and Demand update, we discussed some different theories which attempt to explain what causes the gold and silver prices to move. We mentioned the: “…attempt to hold up a famous buyer of metal, while ignoring the thousands of not-famous sellers who sold the metal to said famous buyer.” Since then, Ireland has bought gold for the first time in over a decade. And predictably, most voices in the gold...