Train connections to Switzerland were completely cancelled on Tuesday and several flights between Zurich and Paris were also affected. (Keystone) - Click to enlarge Nationwide strikes in France against railway reforms have resulted in all rail connections to Switzerland being cancelled on Tuesday. The so-called Black Tuesday marked the first day of a series of strikes expected to last until the end of June....
Read More »Has Switzerland blown its crypto-opportunity?
The 'Crypto Valley' of Zug established itself as a leading global hub for ICOs last year (Keystone) - Click to enlarge Legendary United States crypto investor Tim Draper believes Switzerland has missed the boat in establishing itself as an attractive global hub for blockchain start-ups. Draper has invested in Tezos, which ran into a damaging governance row in Switzerland shortly after its initial coin...
Read More »The Best ‘Reflation’ Indicator May Be Japanese
Japanese industrial production dropped sharply in January 2018, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry reported last month. Seasonally-adjusted, the IP index fell 6.8% month-over-month from December 2017. Since the country has very little mining sector to speak of, and Japan’s IP doesn’t include utility output, this was entirely manufacturing in nature (99.79% of the IP index is derived from the manufacturing...
Read More »Weekly Technical Analysis: 02/04/2018 – Gold, WTI Oil Futures, GER30 Index, USD/JPY
USD/CHF The USDCHF pair attempted to breach 0.9581 level yesterday but it returns to move below it now, which keeps the bearish trend scenario valid until now, supported by stochastic move within the overbought areas, waiting to head towards 0.9488 as a first target. We reminding you that confirming breaching 0.9581 will push the price to visit 61.8% Fibonacci correction level at 0.9675 before any new attempt to...
Read More »Swiss Retail Sales, February: Stable Nominal and +0.6 Percent Real
The Used Goods Question Retail sales in several countries like Germany, Japan and Switzerland continue to fall or they remain steady for years. In the United States they have strongly risen recently. We should remind readers, that used goods sold via Ebay or similar, are not contained in this statistics. Still they create economic value for the purchases. By mentality, Swiss, Germans or Japanese pay more attention so...
Read More »FX Daily, April 03: Markets in Search of Footing
Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.04% to 1.1754 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, April 03(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The sell-off in US tech shares dragged the market lower. The S&P 500 fell for the sixth session of the past eight and closed below the 200-day moving average for the first time in a couple of years. The sell-off in Asia and Europe is...
Read More »Cool Video: Bloomberg Double Feature
Many are still celebrating the Easter holiday today, but not Tom Keene and Lisa Abramowicz and the Bloomberg team. They hosted me on Bloomberg TV today. As is often the case, the discussion was broad, covering the pressing economic and financial issues. In the first clip, which runs about 2.5 minutes, I sketch out the argument for the US economy being in a late-stage expansion. I cite the 12-month moving average of...
Read More »Food consumes far less of Swiss budgets than it did 25 years ago
Comparing the most recent statistics on Swiss consumer inflation to those in 1993 reveals a steep drop in the percentage of spending allocated to food. © Tero Vesalainen | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge When statisticians calculate consumer price rises they look at the prices of a standard basket of goods. In 1993, food and non-alcoholic beverages made up 14.3% of the value of this standard basket. By 2018, the...
Read More »Gold Outperforms Stocks In Q1, 2018
Gold Outperforms Stocks In Q1, 2018 – Gold signs off Q1 2018 with best run since 2011 – Gold price supported by safe haven demand, interest-rate concerns and inflation – Trade wars and concerns over equity market have sent investors towards gold – ETF holdings highest in nearly a decade – Goldman Sachs: ‘The dislocation between the gold prices and U.S. rates is here to stay’ Gold ended March with it’s best performance...
Read More »The Problem with a State-Cartel Economy: Prices Rise, Wages Don’t
The vise will tighten until something breaks. It could be the currency, it could be the political status quo, it could be the credit/debt system–or all three. The problem with an economy dominated by state-enforced cartels and quasi-monopolies is that prices rise (since cartels can push higher costs onto the consumer) but wages don’t (since cartels can either dominate local labor markets or engage in global wage...
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