Tag Archives: Featured

The Battle Royale: Stocks vs. Bonds. The S&P 500 is at valuations higher than those in 1929 and rival those of 1999. Despite a recession, the index is 25% above where it was trading before the pandemic. The equity stampede is undoubtedly bullish about corporate earnings prospects and, by default, economic growth. As the stock bulls party, bond investors are glum about future economic prospects. Bond yields are below where they were before the pandemic started....

The Swiss National Bank is recalling its eighth-series banknotes as of 30 April 2021. From this date on, the banknotes from the eighth series lose their status as legal tender and can no longer be used for payment purposes. This does not apply to the public cash offices of the Confederation (SBB/CFF, Swiss Post), which will continue to accept eighth-series banknotes until 30 October 2021. Due to the revocation of the statutory exchange period on 1 January 2020, the...

27.04.2021 – There were 6316 detained persons in Switzerland on 31 January 2021, corresponding to an 8.4% decline in numbers compared with the same reference day in 2020. The majority of inmates (65%) were detained under a custodial sentence or measure (including the accelerated execution of a sentence), 1986 persons (31%) were in remand or preventive detention and 235 persons (4%) were imprisoned for other reasons. There were 73 detainees per 100 000 inhabitants,...

In in seven employees of Switzerland’s second-biggest telecoms company is set to lose his or her job. © Keystone/Christian Beutler Switzerland’s second biggest telecoms group, Sunrise UPC, says it will cut 600 jobs by the end of 2022, following UPC’s CHF6.8 billion ($7.4 billion) takeover of Sunrise Communications last year. About 450 redundancies are expected, representing 13.5% of the company’s 3,350 full-time posts, Sunrise UPC said in a statement on Monday. About...

The takeaway here is obvious: earn as little money as possible and invest your surplus labor in assets that can’t be expropriated. Expropriation: dispossessing the populace of property and property rights, via the legal and financial over-reach of monetary and political authorities. All expropriations are pernicious, but the most destructive is the expropriation of labor’s value while the excessive gains of unproductive speculation accrue to the elite that owns...

Banks and accounting trickery go together. Last year, as I remember back to my banking days, financial institutions followed the advice once proffered by one of our board members, “If we’re going to the dump, let’s take a full load.” When the pandemic struck, banks dumped plenty in their loan-loss provisions, $60 billion, expecting the worst. The cavalry arrived led by Jerome Powell’s Fed liquidity flood, Steven Mnuchin’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans,...

Swiss Franc The Euro is stable at 0.00% to 1.1041 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, April 27(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: Short-covering ahead of the FOMC’s outcome tomorrow appears to be lending the US dollar support today. It has extended yesterday’s gains against the euro, sterling, and yen. Among emerging market currencies, the Turkish lira, along with the South Korean won and Taiwanese dollar, lead...

There are 56 fintech billionaires around the world who combine a total net worth of US$327.7 billion, data curated by Finextra based on Forbes’ 2021 World’s Billionaires list show. These represent some of the world’s biggest and most successful fintech companies in the world including Ant Group, PayPal, Stripe and Klarna. They are also world renowned fintech investors and the founders of leading firms such as Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters. US leads in fintech...

Opponents argue that the anti-pesticide initiatives will harm Switzerland’s agriculture sector and undermine the country’s self-sufficiency. Anthony Anex/Keystone The director of the leading Swiss farmers’ organisation is deeply concerned about two initiatives to ban pesticide. Martin Rufer explains what voters’ approval would mean for Switzerland’s agriculture. The two proposals, to come to a nationwide ballot on June 13, are causing heated debates and have not only...

Switzerland may have to find alternative ways to welcome foreign companies to Switzerland. Keystone / Peter Klaunzer The looming shadow of a global minimum corporate tax rate could threaten Switzerland’s status as a hub for multinational company headquarters. The United States says that no country should tax companies less than 21%, a proposal that has added momentum to talks over a worldwide minimum corporate tax rate. The average corporate tax rate among Swiss...