Tag Archives: Featured

Insect meatballs – Source: Coop Last year, Switzerland’s federal government announced plans to authorise the commercialisation of insects and worms as domestic food products, and the new law came into effect this week on 1 May 2017. According to 24 Heures, supermarket Coop will launch a new range of insect-based products this month. High in protein, insects come with a low carbon footprint and resource requirement. Coop...

 Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, May 04(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ) - Click to enlarge  FX Rates The US dollar is struggling to maintain even modest upticks against the euro and sterling despite the recognition of the increased likelihood of a June Fed hike.    Bloomberg sees current pricing in the Fed funds as making a hike in June a near certainty (97.5%), while the CME and our own calculation...

An article in February on BullionStar’s website titled “A Chink of Light into London’s Gold Vaults?” discussed an upcoming development in the London Gold Market, namely that both the Bank of England (BoE) and the commercial gold vault providers in London planned to begin publishing regular data on the quantity of physical gold actually stored in their gold vaults. Critically, this physical gold stored at both the Bank...

Summary: Policy is on hold. There is several areas which the BOJ can adjust its forecast or forward guidance. BOJ is more likely to err on the side of caution. The Bank of Japan is unlikely to change policy. Its current policy of targeting 10-year bond yields and expanding the balance sheet by JPY80 trillion is aimed at boosting core inflation to 2%. However, the risk is that BOJ Governor Kuroda surprises the...

Bern, 04.05.2017 – With an index value of -8 points, Swiss consumer sentiment in April 2017 is virtually at its long-term average, having been slightly more optimistic in January (-3 points). While expectations for overall economic developments are above average in April, they are less positive than they were in January. Expectations concerning the financial situation and savings possibilities of domestic households...

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, May 03(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ) - Click to enlarge FX Rates The global capital markets are relatively calm.  Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong markets are closed for national holidays.  Investors await the FOMC statement, though expectations could not be much lower. The disappointing US auto sales, and poor Apple sales figures reported yesterday have had little impact...

See the introduction and the video for the terms gold basis, co-basis, backwardation and contango. Election Effect Debate Last week, we talked about the effect of the French election on the gold and silver markets, and noted:   Of course, traders want to know how this will affect gold and silver. As we write this, we see that silver went down 30 cents before rallying back up to where it closed on Friday. Gold went down...

Summary: Correlation between the change in the US-German two-year differential and euro remains robust. The German two-year yield has jumped in recent weeks but looks poised to slip back lower. US two-year yield has eased but is knocking on 1.30%, an important level. There is one variable that explains the euro movement better than any other single variable we have found. The US-Germany two-year interest...

If you are a stock investor, you should be terrified. The most disconcerting words have been uttered by the one person capable of changing the whole dynamic. After spending so many years trying to recreate the magic of the “maestro”, Ben Bernanke in retirement is still at it. In an interview with Charles Schwab, the former Fed Chairman says not to worry: Dr. Bernanke noted that corporate earnings have risen at the same...

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, May 02(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ) - Click to enlarge FX Rates The US dollar is sporting a softer profile against most of the major and emerging market currencies.  The Japanese yen is the main exception.  The greenback is rising against the yen for the fourth session and the sixth of the past seven.  The dollar’s gains against the yen coincide with the 10-12 bp recovery...