Tag Archives: Featured

In the United States, law courts routinely hand out court order mandating payments to victims. And then do little to enforce them. For example, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2015 only 43.5 percent of custodial parents received the full amount of court-ordered child support payments. 25.8 percent received partial payment while 30.7 percent — a figure which is trending higher — received no payments. I live in Canada, where the situation is equally, if not...

Hypothekarnehmer können von den Negativzinsen profitieren, während die Sparer bestraft werden. (Bild: Shutterstock.com) Seit fünf Jahren bittet die Schweizerische Nationalbank (SNB) hiesige Banken zur Kasse. Diese bezahlen auf Giroeinlagen ab einer bestimmten Höhe einen Negativzins von 0.75 Prozent. Die Banken belasten diesen «Strafzins» vermehrt Kunden mit hohen Bargeldbeständen – meist erst ab mehreren hunderttausend Franken. Ein Ende des Negativzinsregimes sei für...

Im Dezember 2014 wurden sie von der Schweizerischen Nationalbank angekündigt, am 15. Januar 2015 dann überfallartig eingeführt: Die Negativzinsen von 0,75 Prozent. Damals ging man davon aus, dass die harte Massnahme der Schweizer Währungshüter zwei, maximal drei Jahre dauern würden. Nun sind es fast fünf Jahre Negativzins. Und die Nationalbank liess den Zinssatz, der weltweit tiefste einer Zentralbank, an ihrer Sitzung am Donnerstag einmal mehr unverändert. Fritz...

Most investments went to Europe (Keystone / A3250/_oliver Berg) Companies in Switzerland invested double the amount abroad in 2018 than the previous year, figures show. But foreign investors withdrew capital from Switzerland due to a US tax reform. In 2018, companies domiciled in Switzerland invested CHF 61 billion abroad ($62 billion) (compared to CHF30 billion in 2017). Around three-quarters of the direct investment were from firms in the services sector, the Swiss...

We see the ECB remaining on hold throughout next year although we believe it could tweak some of the technical parameters of its toolkit. The first press conference of any new ECB President is an event in itself, and this time will be no different. Christine Lagarde’s debut  this week will understandably attract a lot of attention as the media and market participants scrutinise both form and substance. Indeed, the ECB’s ‘transition’ goes beyond the change in...

Switzerland has no plans to launch a centralised Swiss franc version of bitcoin. (© Keystone / Christian Beutler) Switzerland has ruled out the possibility of a central bank-issued digital franc for the general public in the foreseeable future. The government has backed up the Swiss National Bank’s (SNB) fears that this would lead to financial instability. Responding to a parliamentary question, the Federal Council on Friday said an ongoing project to produce a...

As France’s Finance Minister, Christine Lagarde objected strenuously to Ben Bernanke’s second act. Hinted at in August 2010, QE2 was finally unleashed in November to global condemnation. Where “trade wars” fill media pages today, “currency wars” did back then. The Americans were undertaking beggar-thy-neighbor policies to unfairly weaken the dollar. The neighbor everyone though most likely to be sponged off of was Europe. The day after the Fed’s second launch,...

The biggest tail risks impacting markets this year have cleared up; risk assets are rallying, while safe haven assets are selling off During the North American session, US November retail sales will be reported Russia central bank cut rates 25 bp to 6.25%, as expected Bank of Japan released a mixed Q4 Tankan report The dollar is broadly lower against the majors as tail risk evaporates.  Nokkie and sterling are outperforming, while Aussie and yen are...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.21% to 1.0964 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, December 13(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The combination of a US-China trade deal and exit polls showing the Tories securing a majority in the House of Commons boosted risk assets, sent sterling flying, and the euro sharply higher.  Separately, the Fed stepped up its efforts to make as smooth as possible funding over the...

Andréa M. Maechler, Mitglied des Direktoriums der Schweizerischen Nationalbank. Die Schweizerische Nationalbank hat vor einem halben Jahr den SNB-Leitzins eingeführt, weil der zuvor verwendete Referenzzins Libor ein Ablaufdatum hat. Seither haben die Währungshüter den Saron im Fokus. Dieser soll von den Marktteilnehmern nun konsequenter verwendet werden. Für die Finanzmärkte sei diesbezüglich insbesondere ein Saron-basierter Swapmarkt wichtig, sagte...