Tag Archives: Featured

Re-shutdowns continue to spread across the US; the dollar has come under pressure again Jobs data is the highlight ahead of the long holiday weekend in the US; weekly jobless claims will be reported FOMC minutes were revelatory; the Fed for now will rely on “outcome-based” forward guidance and asset purchases to achieve its goals; US House passed the latest China sanctions bill The UK offered a home to nearly 3 mln Hong Kong citizens; Russia President Putin will...

Understandably enough, the current disfavor into which socialism has fallen has spurred what Raimondo Cubeddu (1997: 138) refers to as “the frenzy to proclaim oneself a liberal.” Many writers today have recourse to the stratagem of “inventing for oneself a ‘liberalism’ according to one’s own tastes” and passing it off as an “evolution” from past ideas. “The superabundance of liberalisms,” Cubeddu warns, “like that of money, ends up by debasing everything and emptying...

(Disclosure: Some of the links below may be affiliate links) It is time for another monthly update! June 2020 flew by us! Like last month, we had to pay a ton of taxes. I did not pay enough taxes last year, so this year is very high. Fortunately, we had less to pay this month than in May. So, we still managed to save a little amount of money. It is better than last month, where our savings rate was zero. Except for the taxes, this month was relatively uneventful....

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.03% to 1.0636 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, July 2(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: Market optimism over the possibility of a vaccine in early 2021 overshadowed the continued surge in US cases, where the 50k-a-day threshold of new cases has been breached. Following the NASDAQ close yesterday at record highs, global equities have advanced. Led by Hong Kong returning from...

© Andres Jacobi | Dreamstime.com On 1 July 2020, Switzerland’s federal government announced that it would become compulsory to wear masks on public transport from 6 July 2020. Due to the the growing number of people using public transport and a rise in the number of people testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 since mid-June, the Federal Council has decided to make it compulsory for those taking public transport to wear a mask. 137 new SARS-CoV-2 infections were reported...

Since April, over 190,000 companies have applied for short-time compensation for nearly two million employees – around 36% of the workforce in Switzerland. Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller The Federal Council is extending short-term unemployment benefits by another six months and plans to help cushion financial losses faced by public transport. On Wednesday, the government announced that it is extending the maximum period for receiving partial unemployment support from 12...

Just as the rewards of central-bank bubbles have not been evenly distributed, the pain created by the collapse of the bubbles won’t be evenly distributed, either. We’ve reached an interesting juncture in history, and I don’t mean the pandemic. I’m referring to the normalization of extremes in the economy, in social decay and in political dysfunction and polarization. Let’s ask a very simple question. The S&P 500 stock index went up five-fold from its 2009 low...

Many major and emerging central banks took action in June, but outside of possible technical adjustments will continue with the current supportive stance in July. The policy focus will shift back to fiscal initiatives. The highlights will be the EU Summit on July 12, which is considering the EC’s 750 bln euro package of grants and loans, and the US decision regarding the $600 a week extra unemployment insurance (expiring at the end of July) and another large budget...

◆ Gold is the top performing asset in the world in the first half of 2020, outperforming all stock markets including the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq and outperforming “safe haven” U.S. government bonds (see table above). Gold had an 18% gain in dollars in the first half of 2020 as risk assets, especially stock markets, fell sharply with the S&P down 4.5% and other stock markets down more than 10% (see table). Gold gained 18.6% in euros and by 25% in British...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.04% to 1.0641 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, July 1(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The resurgence of the contagion in the US has stopped or reversed an estimated 40% of the re-openings, but the appetite for risk has begun the second half on a firm note, helped by manufacturing PMIs that were above preliminary estimates or better than expected. Except for Tokyo and...