Tag Archives: Featured

The ECB appears to be moving closer to activating Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT). Despite being part of Draghi’s “whatever it takes” moment, OMT has never been used. If the Fed’s open-ended QE is seen as dollar-negative, then OMT should be seen as euro-negative. ECB Balance Sheet Total Assets, 2010-2019 - Click to enlarge RECENT DEVELOPMENTS At the regularly scheduled March 12 meeting, the ECB delivered a package of easing measures that were in hindsight...

Corona fears have shifted the world’s central banks into hyperdrive. Talk more, do more, lend more—and buy everything that moves. One after the other, the major central banks took to the barricades, manned the canons, fired their bazookas, and every other military metaphor you can think of. Nobody stopped to think whether the policies that they quickly and loudly announced would work. Nobody investigated whether they could be prevented from reaching their...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.03% to 1.0623 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, March 26(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: Speculation that the US Senate would pass the large stimulus bill worth around 10% of US GDP is thought to have fueled a bounce in equities in recent days. The bill was approved and will now go to the House, where a vote is expected tomorrow. If the rumor was bought, the fact has been...

Diese Frage stelle ich mir tatsächlich sehr selten, aber Bekannte und Freunde fragen gerne mal. Was machst du wenn du die 1‘000‘000 CHF Nettovermögen erreichst? Kaufst du dir dann zur Feier etwas? Meine Antwort ist immer etwas ernüchternd, es geht normal weiter wie bisher, es ist nur eine Zahl. Die Million ist nur eine Zahl Ich glaube das ist etwas, das man wirklich erst erleben muss, um zu begreifen, dass es nur eine Zahl ist. Vor Jahren dachte ich mir, wenn ich...

Die Eidgenössische Finanzmarktaufsicht FINMA begrüsst ausdrücklich das heute vom Bundesrat verabschiedete Massnahmenpaket des Bundes. Dieses sieht eine rasche und unbürokratische Versorgung der Realwirtschaft mit Liquidität via die Banken vor. Um die bestehende Robustheit der Schweizer Finanzinstitute beizubehalten, ruft die FINMA diese zu einer umsichtigen Ausschüttungspolitik auf. Schliesslich gewährt die FINMA den Banken eine temporäre Ausnahme bei der Berechnung...

Die SNB greift den Banken mit einer NB-COVID-19-Refinanzierungsfazilität unter die Arme. (Bild: Shutterstock.com/Marekusz) Der Bund, die Nationalbank (SNB und die Eidgenössische Finanzmarktaufsicht (FINMA) haben infolge der schweren Belastung der Schweizer Wirtschaft durch die Corona-Pandemie gemeinsam mit den Banken ein Massnahmenpaket geschnürt. In diesem Rahmen führt die SNB die neue SNB-COVID-19-Refinanzierungsfazilität (CRF) ein. Wie es in einer Medienmitteilung...

Medical ventilators constructed at the OES medical supply company in Britain, 23 March 2020. The British government has also asked top engineering companies to retool their production to make ventilators. (Keystone / Neil Hall) Around 50 countries have introduced curbs on exports of medical supplies, including ventilators. This poses a major risk for poor countries, a Swiss study has revealed. The past fortnight has seen nations around the world scrambling for...

When Mario Draghi’s tenure was approaching its end, I argued for a sterner governor for the European Central Bank (ECB); hence, I was not even slightly enthusiastic when Draghi’s successor turned out to be Christine Lagarde—a patent dove, as can be inferred from her ideological proximity to a famous Keynesian like Olivier Blanchard. However, I am here to defend the stance she took with her March 12 speech—in which, addressing the economic turmoil spurred by...

The feedback loop has reversed: by saving more, people will spend, borrow and speculate less, draining the fuel from any broadbased expansion. In eras of confidence and certainty, people save less and spend more freely. When we’re confident that good times are not only here but will continue, we not only spend more freely, we’re more inclined to borrow money and speculate on the shimmering promises of more good times ahead. In eras of uncertainty, people save more...

However high the death rate of the COVID-19 coronavirus becomes, the governmental response to the threat will be even more dangerous. If the current blockade of economic life continues, more people will die from the countermeasures than from the virus itself. In a short time, the basic supply of everyday goods will be at risk. By interrupting the global transport and supply chains, important medicines will be missing and food supplies will be insufficient. This is...