SNB & CHF

Medicare for All is listed as the top priority of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. He describes it as a single-payer system that is “free at the point of service” as there will be no premiums, deductibles, copays, or surprise bills. It will cover more services (dental, hearing, vision, long-term care, substance abuse treatment, etc.) than what the present Medicare system covers. It will also stop the “pharmaceutical industry from ripping off the...

Many people think that investing in the United States Exchanged Traded Funds (ETFs) is dangerous. They believe that because of the U.S. Estate Tax. This tax will heavily tax the assets of a decedent. This tax means that your beneficiary will only get a portion of your estate when you decease. Because of that, many people recommend not to invest in American ETFs (or even stocks). But is that even true? Many people forget about the U.S. Switzerland double taxation...

This is the upside of hyper-litigiousness: prevention is prioritized as the most effective means of limiting future liability. Never mind prevention or vaccines; the big question is “who can we sue after this blows over to rake in millions of dollars?” Yes, this is pathetic, tragic, perverse and evil, but that’s reality in a hyper-litigious society like the U.S. Many people are struck by the apparent over-reaction of Corporate America to the Covid-19 threat, but this...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.06% to 1.057 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, March 12(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: After the Bank of England and the UK Treasury announced both monetary and fiscal support, the focus turns to the ECB, but the proximity of the US Congressional recess (next week) without strong fiscal measures being in place sucked the oxygen away from other issues. President Trump’s...

So soll EZB-Präsidentin Christine Lagarde die EU-Regierungschefs wegen der Coronavirus-Krise vor einem extremen Schock für die Wirtschaft gewarnt haben. Ohne koordiniertes Vorgehen werde Europa ein Szenario erleben, das viele an die grosse Finanzkrise 2008 erinnern werde, sagte Lagarde am Dienstagabend laut einem Bericht der Nachrichtenagentur Bloomberg während einer Telefonkonferenz des EU-Rats. Schritte der EZB hätten wohl Folgen auf den Frankenkurs, und die...

Fears over coronavirus could boost online shopping this year. (© Keystone / Gaetan Bally) Swiss shoppers spent more than CHF10 billion ($11 billion) online last year, an increase of 8.4% from 2018, according to a study of retail habits. Electronics and fashion goods dominated orders. Food accounted for just 2.8% of the total goods consumed (up from 1.8% in 2018), but the report’s authors expect orders to increase this year with people reluctant to go to supermarkets...

The eurodollar curve’s latest twist exposes what’s behind the long end. To recap: big down day in stocks which, for the first time in a while, wasn’t accompanied by massive buying in longer maturity UST’s. Instead, these were sold, too. Rumors of parity funds liquidating were all over the place, which is consistent with this curve behavior. Let’s start with eurodollar futures; the curve had absolutely collapsed up to Monday. It was remarkable even though not...

The dollar is stabilizing but remains vulnerable to disappointment as markets await details of US fiscal measures US reports February CPI; Joe Biden moved closer to clinching the Democratic nomination BOE delivered a surprise 50 bp rate cut to 0.25% and initiated a new lending scheme; UK government releases its budget today; UK reported weak data RBA Deputy Governor Debelle laid out the likely path for unconventional policy; China reported disappointing money and...

◆ Gold prices rose by 0.6% today as the Bank of England slashed rates in an emergency move to 0.25% and the ECB looks set to follow as it warned of a 2008 style crisis overnight. ◆ The Bank of England slashed its main interest rate to 0.25 percent this morning in a emergency move to combat the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak on the UK economy. Gold only saw a marginal gain of 0.45% in sterling to £1,285/oz but remains near all time record highs of...

[This article is part of the Understanding Money Mechanics series, by Robert P. Murphy. The series will be published as a book in late 2020.] In addition to the Keynesian perspective (covered in chapter 14), a relatively new challenge to the Austrian framework comes from the “market monetarists” and their endorsement of a central bank policy of “level targeting” of nominal gross domestic product (sometimes abbreviated as NGDPLT1). Although not as widespread as the...