Tag Archives: Featured

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, November 28(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ). - Click to enlarge FX Rates As soon as markets opened in Asia, the greenback was sold, and corrective forces that had been nipping below the surface took hold. The euro, which had finished last week below $1.0590, rallied nearly a cent. Before the weekend, the greenback had pushed to almost JPY114, an eight-month high,  before...

Swiss banks focused on property lending are taking more risks to compensate for the impact of record-low interest rates, increasing the threat of a real-estate bubble, Swiss National Bank Vice President Fritz Zurbruegg said. © Vladek | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge “Exceptionally low interest rates are putting pressure on interest rate margins and this is weighing on the profitability of Swiss banks,” Zurbruegg...

Submitted by Koos Jansen from BullionStar.com Withdrawals from the vaults of the Shanghai Gold Exchange, which can be used as a proxy for Chinese wholesale gold demand, reached 1,406 tonnes in the first three quarters of 2016. Supply that went through the central bourse consisted of at least 905 tonnes imported gold, roughly 335 tonnes of domestic mine output, and 166 tonnes in scrap supply and other flows recycled...

Stock Markets EM ended last week on a somewhat firmer note, though we note divergences remain in place.  For the week, ZAR and KRW performed the best while TRY and BRL were the worst.  US jobs data Friday will draw some attention, though a December Fed rate hike is pretty much fully priced in.   China reports November PMI readings this week, and should show continued stabilization of the world’s second largest...

Summary: Forces emanating from the US and Europe are driving the capital markets. The moves may be stretched technically, but the market adjustment has further to run as not even two Fed hikes are discounted for next year. European political concerns and an ECB expected to continue its asset purchases have driven German 2-year yields to new record lows. There are powerful moves underway in the capital...

Swiss Franc Currency Index At least against the Swiss Franc index, the dollar index could further advance last week. We had observed SNB interventions in the previous week that kept the euro mostly above 1.07. Investors were hedging against the Trump reflation trade and potential inflation that comes with it. Trade-weighted index Swiss Franc, November 25(see more posts on Swiss Franc Index, ). Source: FT.com -...

Myths and Legends “Myths and legends die hard in America,” remarked Hunter S. Thompson in The Great Shark Hunt, nearly 40-years ago. Uncompromising independence, rugged individualism, and unbounded personal freedom were once ideals essential to the American character. According to popular American folklore, they still are. We have some reservations. In practice, the principles that gave rise to the great myths and...

When Money Dies In part-I of the dispatch we talked about what happened during the first two days after Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi banned Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes, comprising of 88% of the monetary value of cash in circulation. In part-II, we talked about the scenes, chaos, desperation, and massive loss of productive capacity that this ban had led to over the next few days. Indian prime minister...

Taking Off Like a Rocket There are actually two problems with corporate debt. One is that there is too much of it… the other is that a lot of it appears to be going sour. As a brief report at Marketwatch last week (widely ignored as far as we are aware) informs us: “Businesses racked up debt in the January-to-March period at the fastest pace in three quarters, according to data released Thursday. Business debt grew at...

So where will mobile capital flow in an environment of rising socio-political risk, a multi-year USD uptrend and a dearth of safe, liquid markets? On October 3rd I asked Is the U.S. Dollar Set to Soar? It seems the answer was yes. Here’s the weekly chart of the USD I posted on October 3rd: US Dollar Index - Cash SettleUS Dollar Index - Cash Settle - Click to enlarge And here’s the current weekly chart of the...