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With effect from 1 May 2020, Fabian Schnell will assume the function of Swiss National Bank (SNB) delegate for regional economic relations for the Zurich region. He succeeds Rita Kobel Rohr, who is taking on a new position at the SNB’s General Secretariat on 1 July 2020. Fabian Schnell studied economics at the University of St. Gallen and completed his doctorate there. He is currently a Member of Management at Avenir Suisse and Head of Research in the Smart...

© Kukotaekaterina | Dreamstime.com A study done by researchers at Geneva’s HUG hospital suggests a Covid-19 infection rate of 5.5% across the canton of Geneva. Antibody blood tests, run on a randomly selected sample of the canton’s population, suggest around 27,000 might have been infected by the virus, a number 5.7 times the official count of 4,733 recorded on 24 April 2020. Geneva is Switzerland’s worst hit canton. By 24 April 2020, close to 1% (0.94%) of the...

Everything, including a rational, connected-to-reality, effective financial system, is on back-order and unlikely to ship any time soon. While the stock market euphorically front-runs the Fed and a V-shaped recovery, the reality is the crash has only just begun. To understand why, look at income and debt. Income–earned and unearned–is in free-fall, while debt–which must be serviced by income–is exploding higher. Bailouts are not a permanent substitute for income. In...

The response to the virus has added a new mechanism of capital consumption to the many we have documented over the years. Businesses are shut down, yet they continue to incur expenses. There is a popular misconception out there that this is merely a paper loss. One can almost picture a neutron bomb that somehow wipes out only paper, leaving all the physical assets and plant unscathed. It’s a pleasant fantasy. And it’s quite a popular one—not only amongst all the...

We have been locked down for weeks. Classes have been canceled. Only essential activities are allowed. Although there is much to cover and analyze, I want to focus on the economics of the situation. To understate it, the situation today is simply not good. The COVID-19 crisis has caused the world to lock down the population, which essentially ceased most commerce. While all businesses are affected in some way, a report by the US Chamber of Commerce shows that 24...

Sommaruga (left) met representatives of more than ten tourist associations on Sunday. (Keystone/Anthony Anex) Hopes have been raised of a re-opening of tourist facilities, including restaurants, in Switzerland in June as part of the government’s exit strategy from the coronavirus restrictions. President Simonetta Sommaruga said the government would examine options, coordinated with the tourist industry, by mid-May. “There are a number of options. I think it is...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.42% to 1.0572 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: Global equities are beginning the new week on an upbeat note.  All the markets in the Asia Pacific region rallied, led by more than 2% gains in the Nikkei and Taiwan.  European bourses are higher.  All the industry groups are participating and financials and consumer discretionary...

Marcel Ospel (1950-2020). (Keystone/eddy Risch) Ospel, who was ousted from his job as chairman of UBS in 2008 after fallout from the US subprime mortgage crisis, passed away on Sunday due to cancer. Born in Basel in 1950, Ospel began his career in 1977 with the Swiss Bank Corporation, an investment bank, before later engineering its merger with UBS in 1998. Having become chairman in 2001, the beginning of his tenure was marked by the controversial grounding of the...

The FOMC meets Wednesday; first look at Q1 US GDP comes out Wednesday; weekly jobless claims Thursday are expected at 3.5 mln vs. 4.427 mln last week Italy dodged a bullet last Friday; ECB meets Thursday; eurozone reports Q1 GDP and April CPI data ahead of the ECB decision; Sweden’s Riksbank meets Tuesday BOJ meets Monday; Japan has a busy data week after the BOJ meeting The dollar continues to edge higher. On Friday, DXY traded at the highest level since April 6...

(© Keystone / Gaetan Bally) The number of reports of suspected money laundering jumped by about 25% in Switzerland last year. According to the Federal Money Laundering Reporting Officeexternal link, 7,705 reports were filed in 2019, compared to 6,126 the previous year. The office was able to process 4,074 of these reports last year, and forwarded about half (2,024) to the law enforcement agencies, as it stated in its annual reportexternal link published on Thursday....