SNB & CHF

(© Keystone / Gaetan Bally) With 10,329 registrations so far this year, Switzerland and Liechtenstein have more new electric passenger cars than ever before. This is the first time the total hit the five-figure mark. The numbers reflect a 136.6% increase over last year’s fleet of new, completely electric passenger cars. What’s more, now e-cars represent 3.7% of all new cars in Switzerland and the principality next door, reported importer association Auto-Schweiz on...

You can see the pattern, a weathervane of sorts in its own right. Not for how the economy is actually going, mind you, more along the lines of how it is being perceived from the high-level perspective. The green light for “trade wars” in the first place was what Janet Yellen and Jay Powell had said about the economy. Because it was strong and accelerating, they said, the Trump administration gambled that such robust growth would insulate the US system from any...

Back in April, while she was quietly jockeying to make sure her name was placed at the top of the list to succeed Mario Draghi at the ECB, Christine Lagarde detoured into the topic of central bank independence. At a joint press conference held with the Governor of the Reserve Bank of South Africa, Lesetja Kganyago, as the Managing Director of the IMF Lagarde was asked specifically about President Trump’s habit of tweeting disdain in the direction of the Federal...

Negative interest rates are now entrenched reality in Europe, and not just for buyers of sovereign or corporate debt – even retail savings accounts are affected. What does this mean for real people trying to save for retirement? And more broadly, what does it mean for Europe culturally? Not to mention America, since Alan Greenspan tells us negative rates are coming here soon? Our guest Rahim Taghizadegan from the independent Viennese...

Economists, conservative investors and market observers have been issuing stern warnings for years regarding the severe impact of the current monetary policy direction. The problems In a recent statement, ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos warned of potential side effects and risks to the economy resulting directly from the central bank’s policies. He outlined how a decade of extremely aggressive monetary interventions have resulted in an erosion of financial...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.19% to 1.0957 . FX Rates Overview: The prospect of not just the failure of the US and China to resolve its trade dispute but a new escalation has sapped the confidence that had lifted equity benchmarks and the greenback. Led by more than a 1% decline in Tokyo (Nikkei), Hong Kong, and Australia, all the major markets in the Asia Pacific region fell. European shares, perhaps encouraged by an upward revision to the flash composite...

USD/CHF recovers from four weeks’ low. 50% Fibonacci retracement level, October bottom restrict further downside. 200-DMA breakout will again highlight 1.0000 psychological magnet. USD/CHF seesaws around 0.9873 while heading into the European session on Wednesday. The quote dropped to the lowest since early November on Tuesday but pulls back off-late. The pair’s refrain to drop further below the latest bottom seems to prepare for a confrontation to 38.2% Fibonacci...

Not only will events outrun Plan B, they’ll also outrun Plans C and D. We all know what Plan B is: our pre-planned response to the emergence of risk. Plan B is for risks that can be anticipated, regular but unpredictable events such tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. In the human sphere, risks that can be anticipated include temporary loss of a job, stock market down turns, recession, disruption of energy supplies, etc. Hidden in most Plan B’s are a host of...

Zwei Faktoren prägten 2018 die finanziellen Forderungen der privaten Haushalte: Einerseits führten sinkende Aktienkurse zu hohen Kapitalverlusten, andererseits erhöhten die privaten Haushalte ihr Finanzvermögen durch Transaktionen. Sie bauten ihre Ansprüche gegenüber Versicherungen und Pensionskassen aus, sie stockten ihre Einlagen bei Banken auf, und sie investierten in Wertschriften. Insgesamt gingen die finanziellen Forderungen der privaten Haushalte geringfügig...

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk, China was once very dependent on US chips for its phones. The latest Chinese phones have no US parts. The Wall Street Journal reports Huawei Manages to Make Smartphones Without American Chips. American tech companies are getting the go-ahead to resume business with Chinese smartphone giant Huawei Technologies Co., but it may be too late: It is now building smartphones without U.S. chips. Huawei’s latest phone, which it...