Tag Archives: Featured

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.19% at 1.1347 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, March 11(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: Asian shares recovered from opening losses to finish mostly higher, with the Shanghai Composite up nearly 2% and India tacking on 1% after the election was called, starting April 11. European markets, led by energy, communication, and...

Brexit comes to a head. By nearly all reckoning, the Withdrawal Bill will be resoundingly defeated in the House of Commons on March 12. The margin of defeat may not match the first rejection, but it will be the death knell to the path that had been negotiated for a year and a half. On March 13, the House of Commons will vote on leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement. Most, except the most extreme partisans, think...

Before 1956, Swiss Railways (SBB/CFF) offered third-class rail tickets in so-called ‘wooden class’ Swiss railway companies should introduce a third-class category for passengers on a budget, a report commissioned by the Federal Office of Transport has recommended. The NZZ am Sonntag newspaper said on Sunday that a recent federal government report, commissioned by an external expert group, had recommended introducing...

The soaring cost of services is driven by a number of factors. What will the future bring: fire (inflation) or ice (deflation)? The short answer: both, but in very different doses. Goods that are tradeable and exposed to technologically driven commodification will decline in price (deflation) while untradeable services that are difficult to commoditize will increase in price (inflation), generating a self-reinforcing...

© Teo Lay Peng | Dreamstime.com Strolling through the pasta aisle of a Swiss supermarket, someone new to Switzerland might conclude that the locals prefer egg pasta over the eggless variety. And, while that might to some extent be true, there is another reason. Every year, Swiss egg producers produce too many eggs and turn to the government for help. The Federal Office of Agriculture (OFAG) does three things. Firstly,...

Special Guest Trey Reik and Board Member Jim Rickards Discuss Fed Policy On occasion of its Q1 meeting in late January, the Incrementum Advisory Board was joined by special guest Trey Reik, the lead portfolio manager of the Sprott Institutional Gold & Precious Metal Strategy at Sprott USA since 2015 [ed note: as always, a PDF of the complete transcript can be downloaded further below]. Trey Reik of Sprott USA. -...

  Europe at an Important Juncture European economic fundamentals have deteriorated rather noticeably over the past year – essentially ever since the German DAX Index topped out in January 2018. Now, European stock markets have reached an important juncture from a technical perspective. Consider the charts of the Euro-Stoxx 50 Index and the DAX shown below:   Euro Stoxx 50 and DAX, DailyThe Euro-Stoxx 50 Index already...

There currently exists about 3,500 charging stations across Switzerland but only very few along the country’s motorway network. (© Keystone/Alexandra Wey) The Swiss government has awarded concessions to five companies to set up additional electric charging stations at 100 rest areas along the country’s motorways. The decision, announced by the Federal Roads Office on Thursday, is part of government plans to boost...

This is the politics of decline and collapse. The unspoken assumption of the modern era is that politics can fix whatever is broken: whatever is broken in society or the economy can be fixed by some political policy or political process– becoming more inclusionary, seeking non-partisan middle ground, etc. What if this assumption is flat-out wrong? What is politics is incapable of fixing what’s broken? What if politics...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.03% at 1.1313 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, March 08(see more posts on EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: A weak economic assessment in the Beige Book and an ECB that slashed growth forecasts have been followed by news of a nearly 21% slump in China’s exports have marked the end of the dramatic equity rally that was seen in the first...