Tag Archives: Featured

…but it could start tightening at the end of this year. At its latest quarterly monetary policy assessment unveiled today, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) maintained its accommodative monetary policy. The target range for the 3-month Libor was kept between -1.25% and -0.25%, the interest rate on sight deposits with the SNB was maintained at a record low of -0.75%, and the central bank reiterated its willingness to...

Swiss pensioners who wish to rent or buy property in Portugal are exempt from income tax for a decade (Keystone) - Click to enlarge A proposal to tax at source the old-age pensions of Swiss retirees living abroad has been made in parliament. The aim is to prevent differential treatment of pensioners based on where they live. On Wednesday, Christian Democrat senator Peter Hegglin tabled an...

Hungary’s Gold Repatriation Adds To Growing Protest Against US Dollar Hegemony – Hungarian National Bank (MNB) to repatriate 100,000 ounces gold from Bank of England– Follows trend of Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Belgium each looking to bring gold back to home soil– Hungary one of the smallest gold owners amongst central banks, with just 5 tonnes– Central bank gold purchases continue to be major drivers of gold...

Rising income and wealth inequality is causally linked to globalization and the expansion of Darwinian trade and capital flows. Stripped of lofty-sounding abstractions such as comparative advantage, trade boils down to four Darwinian goals: 1. Find foreign markets to absorb excess production, i.e. where excess production can be dumped. 2. Extract foreign resources at low prices. 3. Deny geopolitical rivals access to...

The Producer Price Index (PPI) or officially named “Producer and Import Price Index” describes the changes in prices for producers and importers. For us it is interesting because it is used in the formula for the Real Effective Exchange Rate. When producers and importers profit on lower price changes when compared to other countries, then the Swiss Franc reduces its overvaluation. The Swiss PPI values of -6% in 2015...

The euro appears to be potentially carving out a topping pattern. Recall that after correcting lower last September and October, the euro rallied for three months through January before weakening 1.75% in February. That was its biggest decline since February 2017. The euro’s high print was actually on February 16 near $1.2555, when it posted a key reversal, which is when it makes a new high for the move and then closes...

Gold Protects As Cashless Society Threatens Vulnerable – Swedish authorities concerned cashless society is happening ‘too quickly’ and heading into ‘negative spiral’– Only 25% of Swedes paid in cash at least once a week in 2017, 36% never use cash– Cash usage in Sweden falling both as share of GDP and in nominal terms– Sweden may be world’s first economy to introduce a cryptocurrency, the e-krona– Cashless is not a...

A recent survey calculates 60.1% of Switzerland’s population was middle class in 2015, a figure that has remained broadly stable since 1998, reaching its highest in 2009 (61.3%) and lowest in 2013 (56.8%). © Iakov Filimonov | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge But what is middle class in Switzerland? According to Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office, it is anyone living in a household with a gross income between 70%...

(Keystone) - Click to enlarge Johannes Rüegg-Stürm, the chairman of the board of directors of Switzerland’s third-largest bank has resigned from his position with immediate effect. The bank hopes turn a new page following the arrest and criminal proceedings against former CEO Pierin Vincenz. A statementexternal link released by the bank on Thursday, said the move was intended to “preserve the long-term credibility of...

There has been a lot of talk about the economic impact of the recent tax reform. All of it, including the analyses that include lots of fancy math, amounts to nothing more than speculation, usually informed by little more than the political bias of the analyst. I am guilty of that too to some degree but I don’t let my personal political views dictate how I view the economy for purposes of investing. I am, to put it...