SNB’s Zurbruegg: It is not roll of monetary policy to cure risks to financial system

2022-03-30

This will be added to the SNB’s monetary policy repertoire moving forward but not before some test operations are conducted. For the time being, the central bank implements monetary policy by setting the SNB policy rate so this just adds to the tools they can play around with. However, I still see the key policy rate as being the main weapon in the armory.

2022-03-22

The current account surplus in 2021 was CHF 69 billion, up CHF 49 billion on the previous year, which was heavily influenced by the coronavirus pandemic. The increase in the current account surplus was almost entirely due to the higher receipts surplus in goods trade (up CHF 45 billion). Here a significantly higher receipts surplus was recorded in both traditional goods trade (foreign trade total 1) and merchanting than in the previous year. Furthermore, there was a reduction in the expenses surplus in non-monetary gold trading.

2022-03-21

Overview: Ukraine’s Mariupol refuses to surrender as the war is turning more brutal according to reports.  Iran-backed rebels in Yemen struck half of a dozen sites in Saudi Arabia, driving oil prices higher.  China’s prime lending rates were unchanged.  The MSCI Asia Pacific Index, which rallied more than 4% last week, traded heavily today though China and Taiwan’s markets managed to post small gains.  Tokyo was closed for the spring equinox.

2022-01-15

The latest trial could see the introduction of central bank digital currency move a step closer in Switzerland. The SNB says that they integrated the digital currencies into payment systems and used them in simulated transactions involving UBS, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup.

2021-12-04

At the risk of over-simplifying, there seem to be three sources of dynamism in the investment climate:  Covid, the Federal Reserve, and market positioning.  The last of these is often not given its due in narratives in the press and market commentary, so let’s begin there.  The anthropologist Clifford Gertz once posed the question about distinguishing between someone winking and someone with a twitch in their eye, and a person mimicking the wink or twitch.  Context matters.  All buying is not going long.  Sometimes it is short-covering.  Nor is all the buying and selling done as an active response to what preceded it.  Sometimes it is passive, as stop losses are triggered.  There still is a bias in the currency market of talking about the Japanese yen or Swiss franc as safe-havens.  There

2021-11-27

The new covid variant and quick imposition of travel restrictions on several countries in southern Africa have injected a new dynamic into the mix.