Tag Archives: Featured

French bus company owners regard the payments from Switzerland to CarPostal as illegal government subsidies by the Swiss Post. (SRF-SWI) - Click to enlarge The Post has been operating its French subsidiary, CarPostal France at a huge financial loss, reported Swiss public television, SRF, on Monday. The company is also accused of having used a price dumping policy to unfairly increase its market share in...

– Bitcoin has ‘pretty much failed’ as a currency says Bank of England Carney– Bitcoin is neither a store of value nor a useful way to buy things – BOE’s Carney– Project fear against crypto-currencies or an out of control investing bubble?– Bitcoin will likely recover in value but is speculative and not for widows and orphans– British pound has been a terrible store of value – unlike gold– Pound collapsed 30% in 2016...

The central banks’/states’ power to maintain a permanent bull market in stocks and bonds is eroding. There is nothing natural about the stability of the past 9 years. The bullish trends in risk assets are artificial constructs of central bank/state policies. As these policies are reduced or lose their effectiveness, the era of artificial stability is coming to a close. The 9-year run of Bull-trend stability is ending as...

Fibonacci Retracements   Following the recent market swoon, we were interested to see how far the rebound would go. Fibonacci retracement levels are a tried and true technical tool for estimating likely targets – and they can actually provide information beyond that as well. Here is the S&P 500 Index with the most important Fibonacci retracement levels of the recent decline shown: So far, the SPX has made it back...

The IHS Markit flash composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the euro area eased to 57.5 in February from 58.8 in January, below consensus expectations (58.4). The index marked its the largest monthly decrease since August 2014. Activity in both services PMI (-1.3 points to 56.7) and manufacturing (-1.1 points to 58.5) cooled in February. But while the breakdown by sub-indices showed that the pace of growth in...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.13% to 1.1515 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, February 22(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The dramatic reversal of US shares yesterday in the last hour of trading has once again pulled the proverbial rug beneath the feet of investors. The turn down, moreover, occurred near important technical levels, seemingly adding to the...

Demonstrators turned out in support of the Swiss News Agency strike earlier this month, saying cuts mean "information is threatened" (Keystone) - Click to enlarge After three weeks of talks, management and staff at the Swiss News Agency (SDA-ATS) have not managed to reach an agreement on job cuts, and are now calling for the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) to mediate. Both sides agreed to the call....

According to Swiss broadcaster RTS, Swiss retailer Coop, along with five other members of AgeCore SA, a Geneva-based purchasing alliance, have decided to boycott a large number of Nestlé products in the hope of striking a better deal on price. Coop Haupsitz, Hochhaus, Aussenansicht © Coop - Click to enlarge Sales to AgeCore SA members, which include Coop in Switzerland, Intermarché in France, Edeka in Germany, Conad in...

Bank Bail-In Risk In Europe Seen In 5 Charts – Nearly €1 trillion in non-performing loans poses risks to European banks’– Greece has highest non-performing loans as a share of total credit – Italy has the biggest pile of bad debt in absolute terms– Bad debt in Italy is still “a major problem” which has to be addressed – ECB– Level of bad loans in Italy remains above that seen before the financial crisis – Deposits in...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.02% to 1.1544 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, February 21(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The economic data stream is picking up, but there is an uneasy calm in the markets. It is almost as if the dramatic drop in stocks has left many with a sense of incompleteness, like waiting for another shoe to drop. The price action has...