Tag Archives: Featured

Some 27% percent of the population over the age of 15 smokes in Switzerland. © Keystone / Melanie Duchene The Swiss parliament is currently debating tightening restrictions on advertising of tobacco products. This comes after a people’s initiative calls for a radical advertising ban to protect children. Parliament is currently discussing whether to tighten Switzerland’s current tobacco laws, which are some of the most liberal in the world. The draft bill would...

Worried about gold sentiment? Don’t be. The mainstream view of gold right now is an open yawn, and sentiment indicators for this precious metal are now at 3-year lows despite the gold highs of last August. Is this cause for genuine concern? Not at all. In fact, quite the opposite. Most investors are totally wrong about gold, and below we show rather than argue why they are missing the forest for the trees. Unlike trend chasers, speculating gamblers and gold bears,...

Like nearly all US states, Georgia imposed a stay-at-home order in March 2020 in response to demands from public health officials claiming a stay-at-home order would lessen total deaths from covid-19. But unlike most states, Georgia ended its stay-at-home order after only five weeks, and proceeded to lower other restrictions quickly. The legacy media responded with furious opposition. For example, an article in The Atlantic declared the end of Georgia’s lockdown to...

18.03.2021 – The Producer and Import Price Index remained unchanged in February 2021 compared with the previous month. The index stood at 100.3 points (December 2020 = 100). Petroleum products as well as basic metals and semi-finished metal products in particular saw higher prices, while pharmaceutical products became cheaper. Compared with February 2020, the price level of the whole range of domestic and imported products fell by 1.1%. These are the results of the...

ETF gold demand from investors has soared over the past year. The unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimulus were rolled out to tackle the effects of Covid -19. However, consumer demand, particularly but not surprisingly, jewellery demand slumped. What’s in store for gold demand fundamentals for 2021? Increased consumer demand in China and India will help support the gold price in 2021. There is little doubt that investment demand – especially into Exchange Traded...

Credit Suisse is still reeling from the collapse of Greensill Capital, a firm which it championed by helping to sell its financial products (created by ensconcing trade invoices in a complex securities wrapper). 8 months after the first reports emerged about the bank’s potential involvement in a risky “circular financing scheme” involving SoftBank and Greensill (which the bank pledged to investigate at the time), CS and its clients have been left holding the bag...

How can a small rise in bond yields scare policymakers so much? Ned Davis Research estimates that a 2% yield in the US 10-year bond could lead the Nasdaq to fall 20%, and with it the entire stock market globally. A 2% yield can cause such disruption? How did we get to such a situation? Central banks have artificially depressed sovereign bond yields for years. Now, a small rise in yields can cause a massive market slump that evolves into a financial crisis....

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.17% to 1.1068 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, March 18(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: Asia Pacific equities mostly advanced after the US benchmarks recovered following the dovish FOMC. Australia, New Zealand, and India did not participate in today’s gains. European bourses edged higher, but US shares are struggling, and the NASDAQ futures are off nearly 1%, threatening...

When you want to save money on something, buying it second-hand may be a great way to pay less! Over the years, I have bought many things second-hand, and I could save a lot of money by doing so. But the question remains as to where to find second-hand items to buy. In this article, I will go over the best places to buy second-hand items in Switzerland. Some places are online, while other places are brick-and-mortar shops. Emmaüs Shops My favorite place to buy...

Japan’s central bank is keeping down the cost of national debt – but is their a hidden price? Keystone / Katsumi Kasahara The cost of paying off spiralling national debt in the United States and Switzerland is rising as interest rates increase. This makes the financing of pandemic expenditure more expensive. That’s not a problem in Japan where the central bank is holding interest rates in check. Would the Japanese recipe also be something for Switzerland? The US...