SNB & CHF

Living in Switzerland is expensive. There is no point denying that. However, it is not as expensive as many people think. There are many ways to save money each month on your budget in Switzerland. People pay too much each month for most of their bills in Switzerland. For many people, it is because they do not know they can pay less. Many people simply assume that they need to pay this amount and never try to optimize their budget. Some households are also content...

As of April 26, there were nearly 55,000 COVID-19 deaths reported in the United States. Of those, more than 22,000 (or about 40 percent) were in the state of New York alone. New Jersey was in second place, with nearly 5,900 COVID-19 deaths reported. If we combine these two states, we find that a majority of COVID-19 deaths in the United States have come from them alone. Combined, these two states accounted for more than 51 percent (28,213) of all deaths, while all...

In the increasingly polarized America, Black Swan moments like the COVID-19 pandemic have further confirmed growing divides in the country. Our textbooks would like us to believe that emergencies create fertile grounds for unity. But when you have a populace that is politically dividing itself even when it comes to the TV shows it watches, there comes a point when we have to start recognizing that the prospect of national unity is becoming more of a mirage as the...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.04% to 1.0563 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, April 28(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: Equities are building on yesterday’s gains. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 2% yesterday and edged higher today. Shanghai and Austalia stand out as exceptions. In Europe, the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is extending yesterday’s 1.8% gain to reach its best level since March 11. Today would be...

The death toll from the virus continues to trend lower in Europe and the US; the dollar remains under some pressure The Fed announced an expansion of its Municipal Liquidity Facility (MLF); regional Fed manufacturing surveys for April continue to roll out; other data will be reported Sweden kept rates and QE steady, as expected; Hungary is expected to stand pat too Oil prices are tumbling again Japan reported soft March jobs data; HKMA stepped up its intervention...

With effect from 1 May 2020, Fabian Schnell will assume the function of Swiss National Bank (SNB) delegate for regional economic relations for the Zurich region. He succeeds Rita Kobel Rohr, who is taking on a new position at the SNB’s General Secretariat on 1 July 2020. Fabian Schnell studied economics at the University of St. Gallen and completed his doctorate there. He is currently a Member of Management at Avenir Suisse and Head of Research in the Smart...

With effect from 1 May 2020, Fabian Schnell will assume the function of Swiss National Bank (SNB) delegate for regional economic relations for the Zurich region. He succeeds Rita Kobel Rohr, who is taking on a new position at the SNB’s General Secretariat on 1 July 2020. Fabian Schnell studied economics at the University of St. Gallen and completed his doctorate there. He is currently a Member of Management at Avenir Suisse and Head of Research in the Smart...

© Kukotaekaterina | Dreamstime.com A study done by researchers at Geneva’s HUG hospital suggests a Covid-19 infection rate of 5.5% across the canton of Geneva. Antibody blood tests, run on a randomly selected sample of the canton’s population, suggest around 27,000 might have been infected by the virus, a number 5.7 times the official count of 4,733 recorded on 24 April 2020. Geneva is Switzerland’s worst hit canton. By 24 April 2020, close to 1% (0.94%) of the...

Everything, including a rational, connected-to-reality, effective financial system, is on back-order and unlikely to ship any time soon. While the stock market euphorically front-runs the Fed and a V-shaped recovery, the reality is the crash has only just begun. To understand why, look at income and debt. Income–earned and unearned–is in free-fall, while debt–which must be serviced by income–is exploding higher. Bailouts are not a permanent substitute for income. In...

The response to the virus has added a new mechanism of capital consumption to the many we have documented over the years. Businesses are shut down, yet they continue to incur expenses. There is a popular misconception out there that this is merely a paper loss. One can almost picture a neutron bomb that somehow wipes out only paper, leaving all the physical assets and plant unscathed. It’s a pleasant fantasy. And it’s quite a popular one—not only amongst all the...