Tag Archives: Featured

On a new website, Aleksander Berentsen rejects the Swiss Vollgeld initiative. As an alternative, he suggests the Swiss National Bank should offer transaction accounts for everybody, in line with proposals I have made earlier (see here (2016), here (2015), here (2015)). In the Handelszeitung (here and here), Simon Schmid reports....

Summary: Dollar weakness does not line up with increased perceived risk of Fed hiking rates. Frequently the rate differentials lead spot movement. Some now turning divergence on its head, claiming too expensive to hedge dollar-investments so liquidation. TIC data, though, shows central banks not private investors, were the featured sellers in June, the most recent month that data exists. The US dollar has...

See the introduction and the video for the terms gold basis, co-basis, backwardation and contango. The Lighthouse Problem Measured in gold, the price of the dollar hardly budged this week. It fell less than one tenth of a milligram, from 23.29 to 23.20mg. However, in silver terms, it’s a different story. The dollar became more valuable, rising from 1.58 to 1.61 grams. Most people would say that gold went up $6 and...

  No CPI Change Several ill-defined economic data points were unveiled this week.  Namely, the Labor Department’s July consumer price index report.  According to the government data, on whole, consumer prices for the month didn’t change one iota. Reportedly, energy prices went down, food prices were unchanged, and all other items slightly increased.  So when the official number crunchers tallied them all up, the...

Alarmed Experts A fall in the US velocity of money M2 to 1.44 in June from 1.51 in June last year and 2.2 in May 1997 has alarmed many experts. Note that the June figure is the lowest since January 1959. Some commentators are of the view that this points to a severe liquidity crunch, which could culminate in a massive stock market collapse and an economic disaster in the months ahead. Money velocity is widely...

  AEP Speaks for Himself “We are all Keynesians now, so let’s get fiscal.” This is one view according to Ambrose Evans-Pritchard from The Telegraph who believes the time is right for the UK government to loosen its fiscal stance. He suggests that the “Bank of England has done everything possible under the constraints of monetary orthodoxy to cushion the Brexit shock. It is now up to the British government to save the...

  Lies and Distortions Despite trillions of paper currency units poured into the world economies since the start of the financial crisis, there has been no recovery, in fact, all legitimate indicators have shown worsening conditions except, of course, for the pocketbooks of the politically – connected financial elites. Economy is “Recovering” at its Slowest Pace Since WW2 A comparison of average annual GDP growth in...

Swiss Franc As usual, when discussions about rate hikes go on, then both the dollar and the euro gain against the Swiss Franc. Click to enlarge. Federal Reserve Last week, some market participants were giving more credence to what seemed like dovish FOMC minutes than to NY Fed President Dudley’s remarks that accused investors of complacency over the outlook for rates. Yesterday, Vice-Chairman of the Federal Reserve...

Lastly, a brief word about next week.  I will not post my usual piece on macro considerations on Sunday.  Here, though, is a brief thumbnail sketch of the top five things I will be watching:   1.  Yellen at Jackson Hole at the end of next week:  To the extent that she shares her assessment of the economy, I would expect to largely echo the broad sentiment expressed by NY Fed President Dudley. Click to enlarge. 2....

18.08.2016 09:15  – FSO, Labour Force (0353-1607-60) Swiss Labour Force Survey in 2nd quarter 2016: labour supply 1.6% increase in number of employed persons; unemployment rate based on ILO definition rises slightly to 4.3% Neuchâtel, 18.08.2016 (FSO) – The number of employed persons in Switzerland rose by 1.6% between the 2nd quarter 2015 and the 2nd quarter 2016. During the same period, the unemployment rate as...