Tag Archives: Featured

Three years after Lloyds Banking Group Plc sold its private bank in Geneva, the only signs of life at the now-empty building are piles of cigarette butts and nutshells lying on its dirty window ledges. The riverside offices at Place de Bel-Air are a short walk away from the remaining private banks, hedge-fund managers and luxury-goods stores in the heart of the Swiss city. The locked entrance, where millionaire clients...

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, November 23(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ). Source: - Click to enlarge The GBPCHF rate has slipped a little in early morning trading today as investors await the UK budget due today. Amongst the usual leaks and rumours there appears likely to be a budget which will not be overly generous as some expect but will seek to keep the UK economy on a fairly stable course. UK...

The Trump Trade After 35 years of waiting… so many false signals… so often deceived… so often disappointed… bond bears gathered on rooftops as though awaiting the Second Coming. Many times, investors have said to themselves, “This is it! This is the end of the Great Bull Market in Bonds!” And then, at the appointed hour, expecting the rapture… they took the leap of faith only to come crashing down on the rocks below....

Today Credit Suisse released its latest annual global wealth report, which traditionally lays out what is perhaps the biggest reason for the recent “anti-establishment” revulsion: an unprecedented concentration of wealth among a handful of people, as shown in its infamous global wealth pyramid, an arrangement which as observed by the “shocking” political backlash of the past few months suggests that the lower ‘levels’...

Swiss watch exports plunged 16 percent in October, the biggest monthly drop in seven years, as demand weakened in almost every major market for Rolex and Omega timepiece. © Oleg Palchyk | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge Shipments fell to 1.68 billion francs ($1.7 billion), the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said in a statement Tuesday. The decline was much greater than expected and was made worse because...

Switzerland risks becoming dependent on electricity imports as its citizens prepare for a plebiscite on whether to hasten its exit from nuclear power. © Gregory Perkins | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge The nation faces losing a third of domestic supplies and becoming a net buyer of power if it opts to start closing its five nuclear plants as early as next year. The Swiss will vote on Sunday and the anti-nuclear...

Reshoring the entire supply chain so it can be trusted is the low-cost solution once you add up the total lifecycle cost of a hopelessly counterfeit global supply chain. There are two basic arguments against bringing manufacturing that was transferred overseas (offshored) back to America (reshoring): 1. It’s too costly 2. The supply chain is now in China/Asia and it’s not possible to source the parts needed to bring...

  A Strong First Half of the Year, Followed by Another Retreat In early 2016 gold had a big bull run. The precious metal rose close to 25% this year, pushed higher in a summer rally that peaked on July 10th. Gold experienced a bumpy ride over the remainder of the summer though, as investors became increasingly concerned about a potential rate hike by the Federal Reserve. Uncertainty returned to gold market and has...

We do not like Purchasing Power or Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) as measurement for currencies. For us, the trade balance decides if a currency is overvalued.  Only the trade balance can express productivity increases, while REER assumes constant productivity in comparison to trade partners. On the other side, a rising trade surplus may also be caused by a higher savings rate while the trade partners decided to...

Swiss Franc Switzerland Trade Balance, October 2016(see more posts on Switzerland Trade Balance, ). Source: Investing.com - Click to enlarge Sterling has seen huge gains vs the Swiss Franc during today’s trading session as Prime Minister Theresa May spoke out in an attempt to reassure the UK economy. It was one of the most positive speeches since her she took her position and she suggested that the UK would be...