Tag Archives: Featured

Tracks being cooled with water The hottest day of the year in Switzerland caused a headache for the Swiss Federal Railways. Track damage occurred on Wednesday in the Zurich Oberland, canton Aargau near Brugg and in the Geneva area. Railways spokesman Raffael Hirt confirmed that lines had been interrupted in Zurich between Pfäffikon and Wetzikon and in Aargau between Wildegg and Brugg. In Geneva the stretch between...

The popular image of the German industrial machine politics is one which has Germany’s massive factories efficiently churning out goods for trade with the South of Europe (Club Med). Because of the common currency, numerous disparities starting with productivity differences had left the South highly indebted to the North just as the Global Financial Crisis would strike. The aftermath of that crisis, particularly the...

Je vous ai parlé de long en large de la BNS : ici : https://www.crottaz-finance.ch/blog/tag/bns/ De son bilan démesuré supérieur au PIB suisse De ne pas avoir vendu les euros achetés quand elle le pouvait D’avoir dû abandonner le taux plancher de 1.2 CHF pour 1 EUR sous la pression du marché (je l’avais prévu, mais la BNS a quand même tenu 3 ans et demi) Qu’avec les taux négatifs, les caisses de pensions (donc les...

Actually, Keynes’ “barbarous relic” remark was made not about gold itself but about the gold standard for currencies. Keynes wasn’t denying gold’s use as money. But that is the least of the problems with Wolf’s reply. Who cares about the prices of useless metals? “No significance in the modern world”? For starters, governments themselves care. That’s why central banks, against Wolf’s advice, continue to hold huge...

In the world of assets classes, I don’t believe it is equities which hold the Federal Reserve’s attention. After the 2006-11 debacle, the big bust, you can at least understand why policymakers might be more attuned to real estate no matter how the NYSE trades. It may be a decade ago, but that’s the one thing out of the Global Financial Crisis which was seared into the consciousness of everyone who lived through it....

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.17% at 1.0966 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, July 24(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: Disappointing flash PMI pushed an already offered euro lower ahead of tomorrow’s ECB meeting. European bonds rallied and equities, amid a rash of earnings, is trying to extend the advance for a fourth consecutive session. Italian and...

Movement for the Pound to Swiss Franc pair limited Pound to Swiss franc exchange rates have remained relatively rangebound this week, despite yesterday’s political developments inside the UK. Whilst the GBP/CHF pair is historically less volatile than GBP/EUR for an example, a range of only two cents movement over the past month is testament to the current market uncertainty. GBP has hit a high of 1.2457, whilst trading...

Despite the impressive year-to-date performance of corporate credit, we remain prudent about prospects in the remainder of 2019. Corporate bonds have posted stellar total returns year to date, thanks to the positive combination of lower sovereign yields and tighter credit spreads. While high yield (HY) bonds have performed slightly better than investment grade (IG) ones on both sides of the Atlantic, the additional...

Swiss women are particularly keen to work more. - Click to enlarge 2018, 7% of Switzerland’s workforce claimed they would like to work more. Women are the most affected. According to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) figures publsihed on Tuesday, Switzerland’s labour pool has 830,000 people. This includes 356,000 underemployed individuals, 231,000 unemployed and 243,000 people who are looking for work but not...

Signs of a potential global recession are appearing, such as a fall in fixed investment and industrial production and a build-up in unwanted inventories. We are revising down our world growth forecast. The effects of a negative shock dating back to early 2018 are still being propagated throughout the world economy. Sentiment was the first to be hit, but there have been increasing signs of a marked slowdown in hard data...