Tag Archives: Featured

The United States consumption figure seems robust. An 0.9 percent rise in personal spending in April looks good on paper, especially considering the challenges that the economy faces. This apparently strong figure is supporting an average consensus estimate for the second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) of 3 percent, according to Blue Chip Financial Forecasts. However, the Atlanta Fed GDP nowcast for the second quarter stands at a very low 1.9 percent. If this...

Report for the attention of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank for its quarterly assessment of June 2022. The report describes economic and monetary developments in Switzerland and explains the inflation forecast. It shows how the SNB views the economic situation and the implications for monetary policy it draws from this assessment. The first section (‘Monetary policy decision of 16 June 2022’) is an excerpt from the press release published following...

Overview: Equities are higher and bonds lower as the week's activity winds down. Asia Pacific markets rallied, paced by more than 2% gains in Hong Kong and South Korea. Japan's Nikkei rallied more than 1%, as did China's CSI 300. Most of the large markets but South Korea and Taiwan advanced this week, though only China and Hong Kong are up for the month. Europe's Stoxx 600 is up 1.3% through the European morning, its biggest advance of the week and what looks like...

Together with the Federal Department of Finance (FDF) and Swiss commercial banks, the SNB has developed a solution to enable individuals with protection status S to exchange Ukrainian banknotes for Swiss francs up to a limited amount. As of 27 June 2022, adults with protection status S will be able to make a one-off exchange of up to UAH 10,000 at selected UBS and Credit Suisse branches. This currently corresponds to a value of approximately CHF 300. The exchange...

We’re pleased to republish this guest post by Paul Belanger. Paul is the author and owner of the website, Evidence Based Wealth, and the YouTube channel belangp, where he’s published over 10 years of research and analysis of gold. He’s also the author of Evidence Based Wealth: How to Engineer Your Early Retirement, available for purchase at Amazon.com. This post does not necessarily reflect the views of Monetary Metals. In light of the recent rise in interest rates,...

24.06.2022 – The construction output price index recorded a rise of 4.9% between October 2021 and April 2022, reaching 109.2 points (October 2020 = 100). This result reflects an increase in building and civil engineering prices. Year on year, construction prices increased by 7.7%. These are some of the findings of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Development of the construction price index in Switzerland - Click to enlarge Download press release:...

Note: This update is longer than usual but I felt a comprehensive review was necessary. The Federal Reserve panicked last week and spooked investors into the worst week for stocks since the onset of COVID in March 2020. The S&P 500 is now firmly in bear market territory but that is a fraction of the pain in stocks and other risky assets. Stocks are now down 10 of the last 11 weeks but the pain was concentrated in the last two weeks. 5 of the last 8 trading days...

Republicans are licking their chops over the Federal Reserve’s ostensible plans to raise interest rates aggressively in the months ahead to combat soaring prices. They view a coming big recession as a grand opportunity to win control over Congress in the upcoming November elections.  Of course, we have gone through this political musical-chairs nonsense for decades. If the Fed is filling the balloon with newly printed money, the economy appears prosperous. Whoever is...

The first tube of the Lötschberg base railway tunnel was built between 1999 and 2007. Keystone/ Martin Ruetschi The government has presented plans for an upgrade of the country’s railway network, including an additional Alpine tunnel in western Switzerland. About CHF720 million ($745 million) have been set aside to upgrade the Lötschberg base tunnel and other regional projects near Zürich and Geneva in the next decade. The Lötschberg tunnel, linking the Bernese...

Tether hat bekanntgegeben, dass man schon im Juli einen neuen Stablecoin launchen wird. Dieser wird mit Britischen Pfund gedeckt sein. Damit folgt man der Strategie, die Tether bereits zuvor dazu veranlasste, einen Cryptocoin namens MXNT herauszubringen – dieser wird durch Mexikanische Pesos gedeckt. Crypto News: Tether wird neuen Stablecoin rausbringenEine Innovation wird es jedoch bei diesem Projekt geben. Der GBPT, so der aktuelle Name des neuen Stablecoins, wird...