Is the U.S. housing recovery still on firm footing? Your view on that will depend on which indicators you choose to believe. For the optimists: New home sales spiked 16.6 percent to 619,000 in April, the highest level recorded since early 2008, while the latest data from the Case-Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index shows that prices are 5.4 percent higher in the country’s major cities than they were a year ago. And for the pessimists: April housing starts, though up 6.6 percent...
Read More »Industrial Production Recovers in March: Strong Franc Digested?
The sector that got hit most by the sudden appreciation of the Swiss franc, was industrial production. They must compete with Germany, that benefits of the weak euro. The newest data from March show that this sector recovered. This opens the question again, if the Swiss franc is really overvalued. Certainly not against the dollar, other sectors like pharmaceuticals and chemicals export at lot to the United States. Further explanations on this press release: The secondary sector...
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