Tag Archives: Featured

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19.04.2016 09:15  – FSO, Labour Force (0353-1603-90) Swiss Labour Force Survey 2015 Large increase in labour market participation of 55 to 64 year-olds Neuchâtel, 19.04.2016 (FSO) – In 2015 the average age of the economically active population was 41.6 years (+0.7 years compared with 2010). The ageing of the economically active population is associated with an increased labour participation of 55 to 64 year-olds: between 2010 and 2015 the economic activity rate of this age group rose by...

Over the better part of the past year, we’ve documented the curious case of 1MDB, Malaysia’s government investment fund founded in 2009. It’s a long and exceptionally convoluted story that doesn’t exactly lend itself to a concise summary but suffice to say that the development bank was something of a black box right from the beginning and in 2013, some $680 million allegedly tied to 1MDB ended up in Malaysian PM Najib Razak’s personal bank account just prior to an election. There are any...

  Business under Pressure A recent post by Mish points to the fact that many of the business-related data that have been released in recent months continue to point to growing weakness in many parts of the business sector. We show a few charts illustrating the situation below: A long term chart of total business sales. The recent decline seems congruent with a recession, but many other indicators are not yet confirming a recession – click to enlarge. Wholesale inventories to sales...

I am very pleased to report that the Free Portfolio in its deadline week exceeded my target of 15%, having reached a return of 16.84%, helped by a gain of 2.7%! The purpose of the portfolio was to give readers irrefutable evidence of the unique power of the Grail Equity Management System (GEMS) to generate high returns with no more risk than the S&P 500. High Return: This graph shows that the mother portfolio has a margin of safety vis-à-vis the index of 23.1%,   Low Risk: The...

There has been much confusion, at time quite angry, how in the aftermath of the Soros-funded Panama Papers revelations few, if any, prominent U.S. name emerged as a result of the biggest offshore tax leak in history. Now, thanks to McClatchy more U.S. names are finally being revealed and it will probably come as little surprise that many of the newly revealed names have connection to both Bill and Hillary Clinton. Connections to Bill and Hillary Clinton As McClatchy writes, donors to...

EM ended last week on a firm note.  Given the absence of any Fed-specific risks or any major US data releases, that firmness could carry over into this week.  The failure to reach an agreement in Doha by oil producers is weighing on some countries through lower oil prices, but the global liquidity story ultimately remains risk-supportive for the time being.  China data last week was also helpful for market sentiment. Specific country risk remains in play.  The Brazil impeachment process...

What the Establishment Wants, the Establishment Gets If a person has no philosophical thoughts, certain questions will never cross his mind. As a young man, there were many issues and ideas that never concerned me as they do today. There is one question, however, which has intrigued me for the longest time, and it still fascinates me as intensely as it did back then: Does spirit precede matter or is it the other way around? In other words, does human consciousness create what we perceive...

Wicked Don Giovanni GUALFIN, Argentina – Tuesday evening, we went to the main opera house in Buenos Aires, the Teatro Colón, to see Mozart’s Don Giovanni. On our way over, our taxi driver told us that Luciano Pavarotti rated it as the second best opera house in the world (after La Scala in Milan). The Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Sorry, chaps, only second best. Still, that makes it the best this side of the great pond. Photo credit: Arnaldo Colombaroli Your editor’s wife has a tendency...

What Differentiates Gold from Silver? Well that was an interesting week. Gold went down over thirty bucks and silver went up over thirty cents. How much longer can this silver rally continue in the face of gold’s non-participation? Will speculators really be comfortable bidding silver up to $20 while gold sits at $1200? Do the fundamentals support a higher silver price? Gold, active June futures contract over the past week – click to enlarge. How is silver different from gold? Aside...