Tag Archives: Featured

A Lengthy Non-Confirmation As we have frequently pointed out in recent months, since beginning to rise from the lows of the sharp but brief downturn after the late January blow-off high, the US stock market is bereft of uniformity. Instead, an uncommonly lengthy non-confirmation between the the strongest indexes and the broad market has been established. The chart below illustrates the situation – it compares the...

Recent government figures show a 13% rise in the number of vacant homes over the 12 months to June 2018. The number has more than doubled since 2009 when there were close to 35,000 vacant dwellings. By 1 June 2018, there were more than 72,000, a vacancy rate of 1.62%1 This might sound like good news for home buyers and renters, however it depends on where you hope to live. The municipality of Horw_© Laurentiu Iordache _...

When the herd thunders off the cliff, most participants are trapped in the stampede.. One of the most perverse consequences of the central banks “saving the world” (i.e. saving banks and the super-wealthy) is the destruction of low-risk investments: we’re all speculators now, whether we know it or acknowledge it. The problem is very few of us have the expertise and experience to be successful speculators, i.e....

The US dollar is beginning the new week on a soft note, as China threatens not to accept the invitation for trade talks in Washington if the US imposes new tariffs on $200 bln of its goods, which the Wall Street Journal reports could come as early as today. Meanwhile, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index is giving back half of the 2.5% rally seen in the second half of last week. The Turkish lira is leading the emerging...

Les forcenés de la printing press: le plus forcené ce n’est pas celui que l’on croit, non c’est la Banque Nationale Suisse! Le financement du bilan de la BNS se fait en grande partie par les liquidités des banques cantonales et les Raiffeisen. Va-t-elle nous rendre un jour nos économies? LHK - Click to enlarge Total du bilan par rapport à la taille du GDP. Total Balance Sheet in Relation to the Size of the GDPLes...

Aerial view of a farm near Appenzell in eastern Switzerland (Keystone) The federal authorities last year cut direct subsidies paid to 16% of all Swiss farms due to irregularities often due to animal protection and welfare issues. In all, 7,145 farms, or 16% of the total, received lower payments, the SonntagsZeitung wrote on Sunday. The report was based on figures that have yet to be published by the Federal Office for...

America’s problem isn’t a lack of deficit spending/consumption. America’s problems are profoundly structural. The nice thing about free to me money from any source is the recipients don’t have to change anything. Free money is the ultimate free-pass from consequence and adaptation: instead of having to make difficult trade-offs or suffer the consequences of profligacy, the recipients of free money are saved: they can...

For about ten bucks a month, Netflix will give you all the movies you can watch, plus tons of TV show series and other programs, such as one-off science documentaries. They don’t offer all movies, merely more than you can watch. Oh, and there are no commercials. They don’t just give you old BBC reruns, which you know they can get for a pittance. Netflix is spending money (well Federal Reserve Notes) producing its own...

Das latente Aufwertungsrisiko des Frankens beschränkt ihren Handlungsspielraum: SNB in Bern. (Foto: Keystone/Gaetan Bally) - Click to enlarge EZB-Präsident Mario Draghi konstatierte letzte Woche zufrieden, dass die aktuellen Turbulenzen in einzelnen Staaten auch dort bleiben und nicht andere Länder anstecken. Seine Kollegen in der Nationalbank, die diese Woche ihren geldpolitischen Entscheid fällen, dürften das etwas...

Not up to scratch, says FINMA of CS’s efforts to run a clean operation (© KEYSTONE / WALTER BIERI) Swiss bank Credit Suisse has failed to meet its obligations to prevent money laundering, says Switzerland’s financial supervisory authority. According to FINMA, the Financial Market Supervisory Authorityexternal link, the misconduct is related to the alleged corruption cases around FIFA, world football’s governing body,...