Tag Archives: Featured

“Households are feeling the strain as prices continue to rise,” SECO said on Monday. © Keystone / Gaetan Bally Consumers in Switzerland are much more pessimistic about the general economic situation, with households feeling the strain as prices continue to rise, a new survey shows. April data published by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) on Monday shows that overall consumer sentiment has deteriorated “significantly” in recent months. The consumer...

Stagflation. It’s a word that strikes fear in the hearts of investors, one that evokes memories – for some of us – of bell bottoms, disco, and Jimmy Carter’s American malaise. The combination of weak growth and high inflation is the worst of all worlds, one that required a transformational leader and a cigar-chomping central banker to defeat the last time it came around. Or at least that’s how it’s remembered. Whether the cigar-chomping central banker was really...

Overview: The US dollar begins the new week on a firm note ahead of the mid-week conclusion of the FOMC meeting.  Many centers are closed for the May Day holiday, making for thinner market conditions.  Equities are mostly lower in the markets that traded today.  This includes Japan, South Korea, Australia, and India in the Asia Pacific.  In Europe, the Stoxx 600, led by a decline in information technology,  industrials, and consumer discretionary sectors,  is...

The US government today likes to pretend that it is the perennial champion of political independence for countries that were once behind the Iron Curtain. What is often forgotten, however, is that in the days following the fall of the Berlin Wall, Washington opposed independence for Soviet republics like Ukraine and the Baltic states. In fact, the Bush administration openly supported Mikhail Gorbachev’s efforts to hold the Soviet Union together rather than allow the...

As the prices of fossil fuels skyrocket and further supply and price uncertainty looms, many are seeking ways to cut the amount they spend on home energy. A publication by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) shows where savings can be made. Photo by Eva Penner Martens on Pexels.comRecent rises in the prices of fossil fuels highlight the paradox at the heart of efforts to reduce climate change. As environmentalists we want the world to burn less wood, coal, gas...

Noch vor ein paar Tagen hieß es, Russland könnte die Daten seiner Nutzer mit der russischen Regierung teilen – Datenschützer und die westlichen Medien waren besorgt. Doch in dieser Woche zeigte Binance, dass die Börse nicht mit Russland zusammenarbeitet. Zahlreiche Konten russischer Nutzer, die in Verbindung mit der Regierung stehen, wurden gesperrt. Crypto News: Binance suspendiert Konten russischer NutzerBinance folgt damit offenbar Aufforderungen, sich den...

According to today’s advance estimate for first quarter 2022 US real GDP, the third highest (inflation-adjusted) inventory build on record subtracted nearly a point off the quarter-over-quarter annual rate. Yes, you read that right; deducted from growth, as in lowered it. This might seem counterintuitive since by GDP accounting inventory adds to output. It only does so, however, via its own rate of change; the second derivative for specifically the difference....

The Western sanctions against Russia seem to shock very few Westerns. Yet, for several reasons, these sanctions should at least be the subject of lively debate in Western societies. Firstly, these sanctions are illegal from the standpoint of international law (only the Security Council can approve economic sanctions, according to article 41 of the Charter of the United Nations). They legitimately can be considered an act of war by Russia, with all the terrifying...

Elon Musk’s bid to take over Twitter and turn it into a private company has apparently been successful. Now the real action begins. Musk’s buyout exposes the Big Digital media complex to unwanted and unwonted competition, while threatening to loosen its near-total control of information and opinion. Twitter has represented a vital component in an information configuration that has barred competitors and participants from the digital sphere by means of progressive...

Statistics published on 26 April 2022 show health expenditure in Switzerland rose to CHF 9,648 (US$ 10,8001) per person in 2020, making Switzerland (probably) the second biggest per-capita healthcare spender in the world – the OECD has not yet published 2020 expenditure for the US, which is typically the world’s highest spender. Photo by Anna Shvets on Pexels.comHealthcare spending rose 1% in 2020 compared to 2019, according to Switzerland’s Federal Statistical...