SNB & CHF

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.05% to 1.0737 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, January 20(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The new week is off to a quiet start as the US celebrates Martin Luther King’s birthday, and investors look for a fresh focus. Hong Kong and Indian markets were suffered modest declines while most of the other large Asia Pacific markets edged higher. European stocks are trading a...

Analysts at MUFG Bank, point out that the Swiss franc has strengthened alongside the price of gold, perhaps reflecting debasement fears. They argue market participants are also questioning Swiss National Bank’s appetite for maintaining negative rates and intervening to dampen CHF strength. Key Quotes: “Market participants are also questioning whether the SNB will still has the same appetite to continue intervening in the FX market to dampen CHF strength. It follows...

Die Schweizer Fahne weht vor dem Sitz der Schweizerischen Nationalbank (SNB) in Bern (26.4.2019). Bild: Bloomberg Fünf Jahre nach der turbulenten Abkehr der Schweiz von der Euro-Anbindung regt sich zunehmend Widerstand gegen die von den Währungshütern stattdessen ausgerufene ultra-lockere Geldpolitik. Seit die Schweizerische Nationalbank (SNB) am 15. Januar 2015 die zuvor mehrere Jahre durchgesetzte Euro-Kursuntergrenze von 1,20 Franken abrupt kippte, setzt die...

The US dominated the news stream at the start of 2020. The spasm in the US-Iran confrontation has quickly subsided. The much-heralded US-China Phase 1 trade deal has been signed. The US has completed the ratification process of the US Mexico Canada Free-Trade Agreement. The early signs from the economic entrails suggest the world’s largest economy continue to enjoy a record-long, even if not robust, expansion. The focus shifts elsewhere in the week ahead,...

Air Force One carrying US President Donald Trump, landing at Zurich airport in 2018, the last time he came to WEF (Keystone / Walter Bieri) American secret service agents have been granted access to Zurich Airport’s control tower as they prepare for US President Donald Trump’s visit to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, the NZZ am Sonntag reports. WEFexternal link, which starts in the Swiss mountain resort on Monday, attracts wealthy, high-profile business and...

“Luck egalitarianism” is a philosophical fad, and in the past I have had some characteristically unkind things to say about it. I’d like today to discuss a new argument that concerns luck and government. The economist Robert H. Frank says in Under the Influence, Because successful people often fail to appreciate the importance of seemingly minor random events in life, they tend to develop an exaggerated sense of entitlement to the enormous material rewards they...

In 1971, Isaac Asimov wrote an extraordinary novel, The Gods Themselves, about a machine that generates unlimited energy for free, defying the fundamental economic principle known as scarcity. It is later learned that the Electron Pump is originating from a hole in space that connects parallel universes. Doomsday is nigh as it is discovered that galaxies will soon be destroyed and that the sun will metastasize into a supernova. The crux of the story is comparable to...

Market sentiment on EM remains positive after the Phase One trade deal was signed. Data out of China is also supportive for EM. Key forward-looking data this week are Taiwan export orders and Korea trade data for the first 20 days of January. The global liquidity story also remains beneficial for risk, with the ECB, Norges Bank, BOC, and BOJ all set to maintain steady rates this week. AMERICAS Mexico reports mid-January CPI Thursday, which is expected to rise 3.16%...

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) retains the ability to wage currency market interventions if necessary,  Martin Schlegel, one of the SNB’s alternate governing board members, said on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg. Key quotes The balance sheet is the result of our monetary policy. That means that if we need to loosen monetary policy we still have the room to expand the balance sheet. There is no alternative to the SNB’s negative interest rate, currently at minus...

Interview with Christian Zulliger I have long been fascinated by the far-reaching consequences and the great potential of the wave of new technologies and ideas that emerged with the crypto revolution. While most of us first came into contact with these concepts in 2017, this tectonic shift that is only just beginning has been in the making for nearly a decade. Now, we begin to see the basic ideas and tools take shape and give rise to endless exciting possibilities...