Tag Archives: Featured

Overview: Although the US January CPI was in line with expectations, the year-over-year rate was a little firmer than expected. Still, the measure that Fed Chair Powell has underscored, core services, excluding shelter, moderated with a 0.3% month-over-month gain. US rates shot up and this lent the dollar support, while weighing on equities and risk sentiment. The US two-year note yield rose to almost 4.64% yesterday, the highest in three months. The greenback is...

The government wants to boost relations with ASEAN countries (Archive photo from 2017 with Swiss foreign minister and representatives from ASEAN countries). © Keystone / Peter Klaunzer The Swiss government has for the first time adopted a regional strategy for the Asia-Pacific region for the period 2023-2026. The move takes into account the growing importance of the southeast Asia region and complements the government’s China strategy, according to a government...

Under pressure: Credit Suisse headquarters in Zurich. © Keystone / Michael Buholzer Disappointing results leave no more room for accidents as the bank carries out restructuring. It has been a year since Axel Lehmann took over as chair of accident-prone Credit Suisse and about half that since Ulrich Körner became chief executive. But they have yet to stem the problems at Switzerland’s second-biggest bank, caused by a succession of historic scandals and mismanaged...

The Biden administration and its acolytes in the U.S. mainstream press are celebrating the fact that Nicaraguan socialist dictator Daniel Ortega just released 222 political prisoners and sent them packing to the United States. In the process, however, they are only demonstrating the arbitrary, capricious, and hypocritical nature of America’s socialist system of immigration controls.  Ortega’s political prisoners were being held in brutal conditions in Nicaraguan...

Ralf P. Thomas Siemens is one of the first companies in Germany to issue a digital bond, in accordance with Germany’s Electronic Securities Act. Worth 60 million, it has a maturity of one year and is underpinned by a public blockchain. Issuing the bond on a blockchain offers a number of benefits compared to previous processes. For instance, it makes paper-based global certificates and central clearing unnecessary. What’s more, the bond can be sold directly to...

Overview: The focus is on the US CPI report today, but the price action is anything but intuitive. Although the revisions of the basket and methodological changes reinforce expectations for the largest rise in three months, the US dollar continues to trade heavily after rallying last week. The dollar-bloc currencies are underperforming today. And US rates are softer. The US 2- and 10-year yields are 1-2 bp lower. Most of the large bourses in the Asia Pacific rallied....

Cybersecurity technology company OneSpan has inked a deal to acquire Australia-based blockchain technology provider ProvenDB for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is anticipated to close during the first quarter of 2023 and is subject to customary closing conditions. Through this acquisition, OneSpan said that it plans to combine ProvenDB’s technology with its Transaction Cloud Platform. This will provide an integrated end-to-end assurance model which includes a...

Nicolas Gisin in his lab at the University of Geneva in 2013. The president of the new Swiss Quantum Commission is also co-founder of ID Quantique, which markets quantum systems for encrypting computer messages. Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi Quantum physics is moving out of the lab and into the marketplace. Switzerland, a strong researcher in this field, doesn’t want to miss out and is launching its own quantum initiative. For now, though, it will have to make do...

14.02.2023 – The Producer and Import Price Index rose in January 2023 by 0.7% compared with the previous month, reaching 109.2 points (December 2020 = 100). In particular, petroleum and natural gas as well as electricity saw higher prices. Petroleum products, in contrast, became cheaper. Compared with January 2022, the price level of the whole range of domestic and imported products rose by 3.3%. These are the results from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). In...

The consumer price index (CPI) increased by 0.6% in January 2023 compared with the previous month, reaching 105.0 points (December 2020 = 100). Inflation was +3.3% compared with the same month of the previous year. These are the results of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).The 0.6% increase compared with the previous month is due to several factors including rising prices for electricity and gas. Hotel accommodation also recorded a price increase, as did bread and...