According to orthodox theory, if interest rates are falling because of term premiums then that equates to stimulus. Term premiums are what economists have invented so as to undertake Fisherian decomposition of interest rates (so that they can try to understand the bond market; as you might guess it doesn’t work any better). It is, they claim, the additional premium a bond investor demands so as to hold a security that...
Read More »Swiss Retail Sales, July 2017: -0.8 percent Nominal and -1.1 percent Real
The Used Goods Question Retail sales in several countries like Germany, Japan and Switzerland continue to fall or they remain steady for years. In the United States they have strongly risen recently. We should remind readers, that used goods sold via Ebay or similar, are not contained in this statistics. Still they create economic value for the purchases. By mentality, Swiss, Germans or Japanese pay more attention so...
Read More »“Schlechteste Wirtschaftsanalyse 2017” geht an Werner Grundlehner von der NZZ
Von Lucien Looser – Seit 2015 zeichnet die Zürcherin schlechte, eigentlich komplett falsche Aussagen in der Wirtschafswelt aus. Da Analysten und Journalisten kaum mehr auseinandergehalten werden können, geht der Preis zum ersten Mal an einen Schreiberling, nämlich an Werner Grundlehner von der...
Read More »“Schlechteste Wirtschaftsanalyse 2017” geht an Werner Grundlehner von der NZZ
Von Lucien Looser – Seit 2015 zeichnet die Zürcherin schlechte, eigentlich komplett falsche Aussagen in der Wirtschafswelt aus. Da Analysten und Journalisten kaum mehr auseinandergehalten werden können, geht der Preis zum ersten Mal an einen Schreiberling, nämlich an Werner Grundlehner von der...
Read More »FX Daily, August 31: US Core PCE Deflator may Challenge the Greenback’s Firmer Tone
Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.05% to 1.1441 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, August 31(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The US dollar recovery was marginally extendedin Asia, and while it remains firm, it is lost some of its momentum. The Fed’s target inflation measure, the core PCE deflator, may decline from 1.5% to 1.4%, according to the median forecast in...
Read More »Swiss Agency Reports Major Breach of Online Credentials
The number of cyber-attacks in Switzerland is reportedly on the rise (Keystone) Around 21,000 passwords and personal details used to access online services have been stolen and could be used illegally, Switzerland’s cybercrime monitoring centre has reported. The Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance (MELANI) said on Tuesday that a confidential source had sent copies of the stolen data to the cybercrime...
Read More »Hidden Forces of Economics
Waiting for the Flood We have noticed a proliferation of pundits, newsletter hawkers, and even mainstream market analysts focusing on one aspect of the bitcoin market. Big money, institutional money, public markets money, is soon to flood into bitcoin. Or so they say. We will not offer our guess as to whether this is true. Instead, we want to point out something that should be self-evident. If big money is soon to come...
Read More »Diversify Into Gold On U.S. “Political Instability” Advise Blackrock
Gold set to shine as Washington stumbles “Bet on gold’s diversifying properties rather than political stability” World’s largest asset manager believes Trump and political drama in the U.S. means gold likely to rise Real rates flattening out and rising political instability – Blackrock’s Koesterich “For now my bias would be to stick with gold” – Blackrock U.S. debt ceiling issue to be fractious as bankrupt U.S....
Read More »Currency Risk That Isn’t About Exchange Values (Eurodollar University)
This week the Bureau of Economic Analysis will release updated estimates for Q2 GDP as well as Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) and Personal Incomes for July. Accompanying those latter two accounts is the currently preferred inflation standard for the US economy. The PCE Deflator finally hit 2% and in two consecutive months, after revisions, earlier this year. - Click to enlarge The inability of consumer...
Read More »Petition calls for faster, stricter diesel standards in Switzerland
The growth of diesel-powered cars is stagnating in Switzerland (Keystone) - Click to enlarge Swiss citizens are calling on their government to more quickly require stricter anti-pollution tests for diesel cars. Some 7,200 people submitted a petition to the Federal Chancellery on Tuesday. The petition, also supported by various environmental and consumer lobby groups, asks Swiss Transport Minister Doris Leuthard to...
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