Tag Archives: Featured

Retail sales stumbled in December, contributing some to the explosion in inventory across the US supply chain – but not all. Inventories were going to spike even if sales had been better. In fact, retail inventories rose at such a record pace beyond anything seen before, had sales been far improved the monthly increase in inventories still would’ve unlike anything in the data series. And now those inventories have been revised upward. While so, the more...

As the Ukraine regime has imposed martial law in the wake of the Russia invasion, it has also apparently imposed a new near-universal conscription order. USA Today reports: The Ukraine State Border Guard Service has announced that men ages 18 to 60 are prohibited from leaving the country, according to reports. “In particular, it is forbidden for men aged 18–60, Ukraine citizens, to leave the borders of Ukraine,” a statement from the service said, according to CNN....

Russia's invasion of Ukraine overwhelmed other drivers of the foreign exchange market.  When everything was said and done last week, the odds of a 50 bp hike by the Federal Reserve in the middle of March was little changed slightly above 25%. The odds of a 50 bp hike by the Bank of England have been reduced from a little over 60% before the US government's warning that a Russian attack could happen at any time on February 10 to 36% on February 18.  It has halved...

Legal expert Mark Pieth is amazed that Switzerland is taking its own problematic approach to international sanctions against Russia. This content was published on February 26, 2022 - 11:00 February 26, 2022 - 11:00 Opinion by Mark Pieth Mark Pieth, Criminal Law Professor, University of Basel When Russia invaded Ukraine, the US and the EU announced economic sanctions, whereas Switzerland announced that it would first have to analyse the new situation. The...

The Geopolitics of Degrowth holds that real power flows not from waste, centralization and coercion but from decentralization, relocalization and the free flow of value. Conventional geopolitics is all about more: more military power, more sanctions, more coercion, more influence. The Geopolitics of Degrowth is all about the the power of less: wasting less, consuming less, needing less from other nations, reducing...

Die Situation in der Ukraine eskaliert weiter. Nachdem die russische Armee inzwischen Kiew erreicht hat, sprechen westliche Politiker vor allem von Sanktionen im Finanzmarkt. Die härteste Sanktion wird jedoch bisher noch von deutschen Politikern abgelehnt: Dabei handelt es sich um den SWIFT-Ausschluss für Russland. Bitcoin News: SWIFT-Ausschluss für Russland könnte Bitcoin helfenBeim SWIFT-System handelt es sich um das internationale Banken- und...

The Canadian government is now freezing the bank accounts and personal assets of those who donated to support the Freedom Convoy, which is an organized political protest of the vaccine mandates. The deputy prime minister announced that they will retain these so-called emergency powers permanently going forward and will also seek to implement additional measures to further restrict the ability of political protestors to raise funds or otherwise use the banking...

Inflation is skyrocketing in practically the entire world. Central banks are getting scared and beginning to announce the end of expansionary measures, also known as tapering. Why do central banks find themselves in a dilemma? Why has inflation risen so much? What is a bottleneck? What does tapering mean, and how could it affect us? The objective of this article is to answer these, and other, questions. Inflation Skyrocketing around the...

Dairy prices are rising globally. Higher global prices are expected to trigger price rises in Switzerland as local dairy farmers follow the global trend, reported 20 Minutes. © Erix2005 | Dreamstime.com Since the beginning of the year, the price of a tonne of dried milk has risen by around 16% to US$ 4,503, according to the website Global Dairy Trade. Contracts dated March 2022 are priced slightly higher at US$ 4,510. Between 4 January and 15 February 2022,...

Data published this week by Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office (FSO) show that the number of active workers in Switzerland rose to a record 5.239 million by the end of 2021. Photo by Lex Photography on Pexels.com The number of people employed at the end of 2021 was 1.9% higher than at the end of 2020. 5.239 million represents around 73% of those 15 or older. Sharp rise in hotel and restaurant jobs The number of people actively...