Tag Archives: Featured

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.06% at 1.132 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, December 05(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The 3%+ drop in the S&P 500 yesterday kept global equities under pressure today, though losses in Asia and Europe were milder. In Asia, only Hong Kong and Taiwan benchmarks lost more than 1%. In Europe, the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is...

What’s scarce in a world awash in free content and nearly infinite entertainment content? After 3,701 posts (from May 2005 to the present), here are my observations of the Alternative Media from the muddy trenches. It’s increasingly difficult to make a living creating content outside the corporate matrix. The share of advert revenues paid to content creators / publishers has declined precipitously, shadow banning has...

Every three months the rate of interest used to set Swiss rents is reviewed. If it goes down some renters have the right to request a decrease in rent. This time it remained at 1.50%. ©-Sergei-Razvodovskij-_-Dreamstime.com_ - Click to enlarge The last time it dropped was 2 June 2017 when it fell to 1.5%, its lowest level since 2008. The rate is based on the average Swiss mortgage rate over three months. This rate is...

I was in graduate school, studying American foreign policy when I stumbled on Riccardo Parboni’s “The Dollar and Its Rivals.” This thin volume showed how the foreign exchange market was the arena in which capitalist rivalries were expressed. More than any single book, it set me on a more than 30-year path. The dramatic world of foreign exchange that Parboni depicted changed in a significant way in the mid-1990s. Led by...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.12% at 1.1339 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, December 04(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: Equity markets are unable to build on yesterday’s advance, but bonds and oil are extending gains. The dollar remains on the defensive and is off again all the major currencies. The lack of a joint statement over the weekend by the US...

Swiss Franc Coins - Click to enlarge In today’s GBP/CHF forecast we look at why the Pound has been coming under a huge amount of pressure recently against the Swiss Franc. Those that have been following the currency markets will be aware that the pressure on GBP is largely owing to the uncertainty caused by the ongoing Brexit talks. We are now just over a week away from arguably one of the biggest events in British...

04.12.2018 – The consumer price index (CPI) fell by 0.3% in November 2018 compared with the previous month, reaching 101.8 points (December 2015 = 100). Inflation was 0.9% compared with the same month of the previous year. These are the results of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). The 0.3% drop compared with the previous month can be explained by several factors including falling prices for international package...

The downward revision to 3Q GDP will make the Italian government’s targets more difficult to achieve and complicate the budget debate with Europe. The Italian statistical office’s (ISTAT) final reading showed that the economy shrank 0.1% q-o-q (-0.5% q-o-q annualised) in Q3, whereas a preliminary reading on October 30 showed that growth was flat. The details were quite negative and confirmed the idiosyncrasy of the...

© Convisum | Dreamstime.com The latest figures show that Swiss salaries have not kept up with inflation. An average Swiss salary rose 0.4% in 2017, compared to inflation of 0.5%. This left the average salary earner 0.1% worse off in real terms over the year. The figures were the same for both the secondary and tertiary sectors. The rise in 2017 (+0.4%) was the same as 2016 (+0.4%) but less than 2015 (+0.5%) and 2014...

To be sure, the Dollar Index is not the dollar. It is not even a trade-weighted measure of the dollar. Two of America’s largest trading partners, China and Mexico, are not represented. It is heavily weighted to the euro and currencies that move in its orbit, like the Swiss franc Swedish krona, and arguably the British pound. It is primarily a speculative vehicle. Very few investors or businesses have exposure that...