Tag Archives: Featured

Trade Deficit with China Widens on Trump’s Watch  Most things come easier said than done.  Take President Trump’s posture on trade with China. Trump doesn’t want a bigger trade deficit with China.  He wants a smaller trade deficit with China.  In fact, reducing the trade deficit with China is one of Trump’s promises to Make America Great Again. Photo credit: Jonathan Ernst / Reuters - Click to enlarge We are often...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.59% to 1.1656 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, January 25(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates With a backdrop of concern about US protectionism and a possible abandonment of the 23-year old strong dollar policy, and among the weakest sentiment toward the dollar in at least a decade, the ECB takes center stage. What a turn of events...

The economics minister said the relaunch of its own tax reform plans could help Switzerland stay competitive with the US. (Keystone) - Click to enlarge Swiss Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann says he does not think sweeping US tax reforms will drive American firms from Switzerland. In an interview with the Schweiz am Wochenende newspaper on Saturday, he said Switzerland also has competitive...

A poll run by the media group Tamedia shows a clear majority in favour of rejecting the initiative, dubbed “No Billag”, which aims to end Switzerland’s broadcasting fee. This poll follows one done in December 2017, which showed a majority in favour of the initiative. © Jakkapan Jabjainai | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge In December 57% were either fully or quite in favour of voting yes. This time the same percentage...

GoldNomics Podcast (Episode 2) Is This The Greatest Stock Market Bubble In History? In our second GoldNomics podcast, we take a look at one of the important financial questions of our day – is this the greatest stock market bubble in history? Listen on iTunes, SoundCloud and BlubrryWatch on YouTube below [embedded content] GoldCore CEO Stephen Flood and GoldCore’s Research Director and world renowned precious metals...

There is a fundamental assumption behind any purchasing manager index, or PMI. These are often but not always normalized to the number 50. That’s done simply for comparison purposes and the ease of understanding in the general public. That level at least in the literature and in theory is supposed to easily and clearly define the difference between growth and contraction. But is every 50 the same? That’s ultimately at...

The advent of open and transparent central banks is a relatively new one. For most of their history, these quasi-government institutions operated in secret and they liked it that way. As late as October 1993, for example, Alan Greenspan was testifying before Congress intentionally trying to cloud the issue as to whether verbatim transcripts of FOMC meetings actually existed. Representative Toby Roth (R-WI) quizzed the...

The flash composite Purchasing Managers’ index for the euro area increased to 58.6 in January from 58.1 in December, above consensus expectations (57.9).  The services sector index rose, offsetting the decline in the manufacturing index . Companies also expressed growing optimism about this year’s outlook, with business expectations up to an eight-month high. The only piece of less positive news was a modest drop in...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.62% to 1.1703 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, January 24(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge GBP/CHF in Detail Sterling has made consistent gains against the Swiss Franc over the last week and now sits at a yearly high of 1.34. These gains can be attributed predominantly due to an extremely optimistic UK growth forecast from Lord Jim...

The Australian dollar bottomed in early December $0.7500 after having tested $0.8100 a couple of times in September. Since early December, however, the Australian dollar appreciated by nearly 6.5%.  As it tested the $0.8000 area, the momentum faded. Yesterday it managed to close above that threshold and new buying lifted it above yesterday’s highs briefly in Asia earlier today. However, there is a growing sense that...