Tag Archives: Featured

Qatar and other Middle East nations have announced fintech strategies. (Keystone / Yoan Valat) Swiss fintech company Instimatch has launched into the Middle East, having won a licence to operate in Qatar, and signed up its first Kuwaiti bank. The mineral and cash-rich region is proving a magnet for financial innovation from Switzerland. Instimatchexternal link’s digital platform directly connects deep-pocketed corporate, financial and municipal lenders with global...

Will we wonder, what were we thinking? and marvel anew at the madness of crowds? When we look back on this moment from the vantage of history, what will we think? Will we think how obvious it was that the coronavirus deaths in China were in the tens of thousands rather than the hundreds claimed by authorities? Will we think how obvious it was that the virus would spread around the globe, wreaking havoc on the global economy and social order, even as the authorities...

by Randall W. Forsyth via Barron’s ◆ With no opportunity cost to holding a zero-yield asset such as gold, investors increasingly are adding it to their portfolios as a hedge. ◆ Gold retains its intrinsic value, something no paper currency has managed to do over history. ◆ Gold is insurance. Insurance isn’t supposed to make you rich; it’s supposed to keep you from being poor. The best thing to happen is your insurance never pays off because nothing bad happens. ◆...

China cut tariffs on $75 bln of US imports by half, while the US said it could reciprocate in some way The dollar continues to climb; during the North American session, only minor data will be reported; Brazil cut rates 25 bp Germany reported very weak December factory orders; all is not well in the German state of Thuringia Czech expected to keep rates steady; Philippines cut 25 bp; India remained on hold Australia reported December trade and retail sales The dollar...

Proponents of intellectual property rights often rely on one of two lines of reasoning. The first is based on the misunderstanding that the frequency or volume of innovations determine economic growth. The second is captured by the question, “So if I spend $1 billion on R&D (research and development) to bring a new drug to market, anyone should be able to copy my drug without compensation?” Both are based on the same fundamental error: assuming that innovation is...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.07% to 1.071 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, February 6(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The bullish enthusiasm that carried the S&P 500 to new closing highs yesterday is helping Asia Pacific and European shares today. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose for the third session with Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Korea jumping two percent. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 gapped to new...

Relations between Thiam and Rohner appear to have been deteriorating. (Keystone / Walter Bieri) Credit Suisse’s top shareholders have thrown their support behind chief executive Tidjane Thiam and called on chairman Urs Rohner to quit, in a high-stakes power struggle at the Swiss bank following a spy scandal last year. Relations between Mr Rohner and Mr Thiam have been increasingly strained since revelations that Credit Suisse hired a corporate espionage company to...

USD/CHF registers four-day winning streak, nears one-week high. A falling trend line since December 25, seven-week-old horizontal resistance limits the immediate upside. Overbought RSI conditions increase the odds of a pullback. USD/CHF remains mildly positive while gaining 0.07% to 0.9745 amid the pre-Europe session on Thursday. Overbought RSI conditions, coupled with multiple key resistance lines, question the pair’s further upside. As a result, sellers will look...

USD/CHF gains positive traction for the third consecutive session on Wednesday. Optimism over coronavirus treatment triggered a fresh wave of global risk-on trade. The USD benefitted from surging US bond yields and remained support ahead of data. The USD/CHF pair surged through the 0.9700 round-figure mark and climbed to near one-week tops in the last hour, albeit retreated few pips thereafter. The pair gained some follow-through traction for the third consecutive...

In Switzerland, 133,000 employed persons are affected by poverty, both in terms of income and deprivation. (© Keystone / Georgios Kefalas) About a third of the food produced for Swiss consumption went to waste last year, according to the food bank foundation Schweizer Tafe/Table Suisse. That is the equivalent of 2.6 million tonnes of food. Five percent of the losses occurred in the retail trade. The foundation collected 3,820 tonnes of food that was not for sale but...