Tag Archives: Featured

Swiss Franc Speculators were net short CHF in January 2015, shortly before the end of the peg, with 26.4K contracts. Then again in December 2015, when they expected a Fed rate hike, with 25.5K contracts. The biggest short CHF, however, happened in June 2007, when speculators were net short 80K contracts. Shortly after, the U.S. subprime crisis started. The carry trade against CHF collapsed. The...

Summary Home ownership varies throughout the EU but is overall near US levels. Germany has the lowest home ownership, and Spain has the most.  Italy has the least amount of mortgages. US include owner equivalent rents in CPI, the EU does not. This Great Graphic was in the Financial Times recently. It shows home ownership rates several EU countries.  The useful chart also shows those who own (red bar) and those...

The family of the murdered au pair hold up a picture of Lucie (picture from 2009) (Keystone) The parents of a 16-year-old au pair who was murdered in canton Aargau eight years ago have received compensation from the canton in an out-of-court settlement. The authorities have admitted that they made mistakes. It marks the end of a long legal battle by the parents of Lucie, who was murdered by a former convict who had been...

A number of people have forwarded this Bloomberg article – Wall Street Banks Warn Downturn Is Coming –  to me over the last couple of days. That fact alone is probably a good argument to ignore it but I can’t help but read articles like this if for no other reason than to know what the crowd is thinking.  The gist of the article is that a bunch of sell side analysts think we are nearing the end of the current business...

The Census Bureau reported today updated estimates for Durable Goods in July 2017. Quite frankly, nothing has changed so minimal commentary is all that is required. The aircraft anomaly from last month faded, leaving total new orders of $229.2 billion (seasonally-adjusted). That is less than in May before the Boeing surge, and less even than estimated order volume in March 2017. US Durable Goods Orders, Jul 1993 -...

USD/CHF The dollar had some gains versus the franc during the last month, but it lost all during the last days. EUR/CHF The euro is still around 1.14, this is up 2.5% against one month ago. The rising momentum for EUR/CHF, however, seems to be fading. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, August 26(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge Swiss Franc Currency Index (3...

The Russell 2000, which tracks the 2000 smallest companies in the Russell 3000, is threatening to turn positive for the year. It had turned negative in the second half of last week. Many pundits saw its decline and the penetration of the 200-day moving average for the first time in over a year as a sign of an impending down move in the broader equity market. Given valuation, and the number of big name asset managers and...

20 Minutes. In Switzerland, home owners have to add a theoretical rent to their taxable income. This means home ownership can increase your annual tax bill, sometimes substantially. © Ana Vasileva | Dreamstime For many home owners the tax effect of the theoretical or imputed rent is cancelled out by deductions for mortgage interest and home maintenance expenses, however those who have repaid their mortgage or never...

Bundesbank has completed a transfer of gold worth €24B from France and U.S. Germany has completed domestic gold storage plan 3 years ahead of schedule In the €7.7 million plan, 54,000 gold bars were shipped and audited In 2012 German court called for inspection of Germany’s foreign gold holdings Decision to repatriate from Paris and New York was ‘to build trust and confidence domestically’ 1,236t or 37% of German...

Swisscom denies it has been defrauding its customers (Keystone) - Click to enlarge The Swiss consumer protection agency says it will file criminal charges against Swisscom for an alleged roaming charge rip-off that is said to have netted the telecommunications giant millions of francs at customers’ expense. Swisscom has flatly rejected the allegation, saying it does not charge customers fictitious foreign...