Tag Archives: Featured

After the Swiss mountain village of Albinen hatched a plan to pay parents (CHF 25,000 each) and children (CHF 10,000 each) to move there, it has been inundated with applicants. Articles about the offer have been published by Time, The Sunday Times, The Sun, El Pais, and many other publications. Rather than celebrating, the picturesque town’s administration is unhappy. It published a statement on its website accusing...

Update: Cryptocurrencies are widely bid tonight with Bitcoin over $10,150, Ether holding $475, and LiteCoin topping $100 for the first time… LiteCoin Price in USD, Mar - Nov 2017(see more posts on Litecoin, ) - Click to enlarge Bitcoin has now soared over 20% since Black Friday’s close, topping $10,000 for the first time in history (rising from $9,000 in just 2 days)… now up over 950% year-to-date. image courtesy...

– We own gold bullion to “support national security” – Russian Central Bank– Russia warns Washington: Confiscating fx reserves would be “declaration of financial war” – Russia has quadrupled its gold bullion reserves in decade – BRICs discussing ‘the possibility of establishing a single (system of) gold trade’ – Russia, China & maybe Saudi Arabia form alliances to unseat petrodollar – Putin warns state-owned and...

Check the context before uncritically accepting sensationalist conclusions. Let’s start with a primer on how to write a sensationalist story that can be passed off as “journalism:” 1. Locate credible-sounding data that can be de-contextualized, i.e. sensationalized. 2. Present the data as “fact” rather than data that requires verification by disinterested researchers. 3. Exaggerate the data as much as possible and set...

- Click to enlarge I stopped by Bloomberg near midday to talk with Vonnie Quinn and Shery Ahn. We talked about many macro issues, but this clip that Bloomberg provided covers is the one topic that has overshadowed the big rally in US equities, tax reform and Matt Lauer: Bitcoins. In this two minute clip, I mention that despite Bitcoins capturing the headlines, most Americans are not and cannot be involved....

– Bitcoin tops $10,000, soaring more than 850% since beginning of 2017 – Irrational exuberance arguably main driver of price performance – Google Trends shows search for ‘Bitcoin Bubble’ hit highest level this morning – Buyers need to be aware of hacking and security risks – Other primary risks to widespread adoption is volatility and liquidity risk – World’s largest online trading platform IG Markets suspends BTC...

There is no change to the risk budget this month. For the moderate risk investor the allocation to bonds is 50%, risk assets 45% and cash 5%. The extreme overbought condition of the US stock market did not correct since the last update and so I will continue to hold a modest amount of cash. Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future… Niels Bohr Every time I see that quote I think to myself, “but that...

Prior to the grounding, the regional carrier offered flights from Lugano to Geneva and Rome (Keystone) Switzerland’s Darwin Airline, the Lugano-based regional carrier, was forced to halt all its flights on Tuesday after its licence was revoked by the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) over financial problems. “The FOCA has announced the immediate withdrawal of the operating licence of the Darwin company (Adria...

Summary Bank of Korea hiked rates by 25 bp to 1.50%, the first hike in six years. Egypt central bank lifted the last remaining currency controls. S&P cut South Africa’s foreign currency rating one notch to BB with stable outlook. Turkey President Erdogan was implicated in an alleged plot to help Iran evade US sanctions. Moody’s upgraded Argentina one notch to B2 with stable outlook. The IMF approved a new $88 bln...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.37% to 1.1705 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, December 01(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The release of the manufacturing PMIs confirm that the synchronized global expansion remains intact. The focus today is on three unresolved political challenges: US tax reform, the UK-Irish border and the talks that may produce another...