Tag Archives: Featured

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.18% to 1.0744 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, January 15(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: News that US tariffs on China will remain until through at least the November US election and continued US attempts to stymie China (e.g., more curbs on Huawei under consideration and stepped up efforts to force it to cut subsidies to business) have taken some momentum from the push...

EUR/CHF is trading at 33-month lows near 1.0759.  The US added Switzerland to its current manipulators’ list.  The SNB removed the cap on the euro on Jan. 15, 2015. Five years after the Swiss National Bank (SNB) shocked the financial markets by abandoning the euro cap, the Swiss Franc is trading at 33-month highs against the single currency. The EUR/CHF pair dropped to 1.0759 on Tuesday, the lowest level since April 2017 and was last seen trading at 1.0766. Tuesday’s...

The US Treasury said it was also closely monitoring the interventions of the Swiss National Bank in the foreign exchange market (© Keystone / Ti-press / Alessandro Crinari) The US Treasury Department has put Switzerland back on a biannual list of countries that are under observation because of large trade surpluses with the United States. Switzerland was previously included on the Monitoring Listexternal link between October 2016 and October 2018, “having a material...

Opponents of the tax breaks say it will not benefit the middle class and would be a gift for wealthy families instead. (© Keystone / Gaetan Bally) Opponents of a proposal to increase tax deductions for parents have succeeded in collecting enough signatures to force a referendum on the subject. On Tuesday the leftwing Social Democratic Party submitted the necessary signatures required to trigger a referendum. The party is opposed to a “tax bonus for rich parents” and...

[From Power and Market, Chapter 3.] Instead of making the product prohibition absolute, the government may prohibit production and sale except by a certain firm or firms. These firms are then specially privileged by the government to engage in a line of production, and therefore this type of prohibition is a grant of special privilege. If the grant is to one person or firm, it is a monopoly grant; if to several persons or firms, it is a quasi-monopoly or oligopoly...

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has begun the process of updating its annual benchmarks. Actually, the process began last year and what’s happening now is that the government is releasing its findings to the public. Up first is the Household Survey, the less-watched, more volatile measure which comes at employment from the other direction. As the name implies, the BLS asks households who in them is working whereas the more closely scrutinized Establishment...

The US Treasury’s latest “Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States” report no longer considers China a currency manipulator. The underlying message is that the Trump administration will continue to use an ad hoc “carrot and stick” approach to improve US access to the domestic markets of its major trading partners. This suggests there will still be many minor trade skirmishes this year. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS The latest...

Boris and the Conservatives won the General Election with a very good majority. In truth, opposition parties stood little chance of success against the Tory strategists, who controlled the narrative despite a hostile media. At the centre of their slick operation was Dominic Cummings, who masterminded the Brexit leave vote, winning the referendum against all the betting in 2016. It was Cummings who arranged for the Tory Remainers to fall on their swords, which by...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.37% to 1.0767 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, January 14(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The leaked US decision to lift the currency manipulator designation on China was the latest fodder fueling the new record highs in the S&P 500. The risk-taking appetite helped extend the rally in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index for the fourth consecutive session. Europe’s Dow Jones...

Injection of pressurised water underground creates a lot of pressure in the spaces between the rocks and is believed to be responsible for minor tremors. (Keystone / George Frey / Raser Technologies) Identifying the kind of fault or tectonic forces in an underground reservoir can reduce the risk of tremors caused by geothermal energy or carbon storage. The injection of cold pressurised water into hot impermeable rocks several kilometres underground is how underground...