SNB & CHF

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.08% to 1.0617 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, February 19(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: After shunning risk yesterday, investors re-entered the fray today, and the animal spirits returned. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index snapped a four-day slide, and China’s markets were among the few losers in the region today. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 recovered yesterday’s losses in...

USD/CHF registers three-week winning streak, breaks above 38.2% Fibonacci retracement for the first time in a year. 61.8% Fibonacci retracement, September 2018 low act as the key supports. USD/CHF takes the bids to 0.9835 amid the pre-European session on Wednesday. In doing so, the pair crosses 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of its broad run-up between February 2018 and April 2019. Also supporting the pair’s upside is a first in nine weeks bullish MACD signal. Based on...

. Euro-area growth has hit a slow patch. Following promising signs of having turned a corner, economic data released last week revealed that Q4 growth in the euro area reached its slowest pace since the European debt crisis. German growth was flat for Q4, in line with expectations. As far as Germany’s outlook goes, dark clouds have taken the form of an uncertain political environment and China’s recent weakness. We expect German politics to be even more...

Car sales are still rising in Switzerland.  (Keystone) New cars imported into Switzerland have not been respecting the prescribed norms on CO2 emissions, with emission levels actually rising in 2017 and 2018, says a report published on Tuesday. Nearly half of importers failed to meet compulsory targets in 2018, according to the Federal Office of the Environment’s report for parliament. Total sanctions ordered against them came to CHF31.7 million ($32.3 million) in...

This collapse of price will manifest in all sorts of markets that are based on debt-funded purchases of desires rather than a warily prudent priority on needs. Since markets are supposed to discover the price of excesses and scarcities, it’s a mystery why everything that is in oversupply is still grossly overpriced as global demand slides off a cliff: oil, semiconductors, Uber rides, AirBNB listings and many other risk-on / global growth stories are still priced as...

Interview with Ronald Stöferle – Part I As we embark on this new decade, there are plenty of good reasons to be optimistic about gold’s prospects. The global economy and the financial system are already stretched to a breaking point and demand for precious metals is heating up. This, of course, is plain for all to see, even as mainstream investors and analysts still refuse to face facts and prefer to focus on naïve hopes of an eternal expansion. These facts, however,...

According to the US Labor Department, worker productivity in the non-farm sector increased at an annual rate of 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 after declining by 0.2 percent in the previous quarter. For the year, productivity increased 1.7 percent, up from 1.3 percent in both 2017 and 2018. It was the best annual showing since the 3.4 percent increase in 2010. For most commentators, an increase in productivity is considered an indication that the US...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.11% to 1.0613 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, February 18(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: Apple’s warning that it will miss Q1 revenue due to the knock-on effects of the coronavirus seemed to be a modest wake-up call to investors, who, judging from the equity market, were looking beyond. Equities have fallen, and bonds have rallied. Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korean...

The SNB’s Karl Brunner Distinguished Lecture Series:Carmen Reinhart to hold fifth lecture The Swiss National Bank is honouring Carmen Reinhart with this year’s Karl Brunner Distinguished Lecture Series. Carmen Reinhart is an influential economist who has made outstanding contributions to macroeconomics. She has been Professor of the International Financial System at Harvard Kennedy School since 2012, and also currently serves on the Economic Advisory Panel of the...

[caption id="attachment_414651" align="alignleft" width="400"] © Tomas1111 | Dreamstime.com[/caption] Recently, the government of Portugal said it was looking at introducing a tax on foreigners residing in the country on special tax holidays, according to the magazine Bilan. Currently, foreigners moving to Portugal who spend at least 180 days a year in the country pay no income tax for a period of 10 years under a scheme that was launched 11...