Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.17% at 1.139 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, February 06(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The rally in equities is threatening to pause today, even though the few markets open in Asia edged higher. Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600, which has advanced in eight of the past ten sessions and six in a row, is seeing some...
Read More »Switzerland’s gender pay gap closes further
© Charlieaja | Dreamstime.com A recent survey by the Federal Statistical Office shows the overall median pay gap in Switzerland’s private sector shrunk to 12% in 2016, down from 12.5% in 2014 and 15.6% in 2010. In 2016, median pay for women was CHF 6,011 francs a month and median pay for men was CHF 6,830. The gap rose to 18.54% for the highest management positions. Here median pay for men was CHF 10,878 and CHF 8,861...
Read More »Congressman Demands CFTC Explain Its Failure to Find Silver Market Manipulation Where DOJ Did
Washington, DC (February 5, 2018) – A member of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee today pressed the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on its conspicuous failure to uncover the very silver market manipulation now being prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice. In a probing letter dated February 5 to CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo, Rep. Alex X. Mooney (R-WV) writes: “U.S. Justice...
Read More »US Manufacturing Questions
The US economic data begins to trickle in slowly. Today, the reopened Census Bureau reports on orders and shipments to and from US factories dating back to last November. New orders for durable goods rose just 4.5% year-over-year in that month, while shipments gained 4.7%. The 6-month average for new orders was in November pulled down to just 6.6%, the lowest since September 2017 (hurricanes). Durable Goods New...
Read More »FX Daily, February 05: Greenback Remains Firm
Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.04% at 1.1407 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, February 05(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The US dollar is little firmer against most of the major currencies. Despite some disappointing data (retail sales, trade, PMI), the Australian dollar has recovered from initial losses below $0.7200 on the back of the central bank’s...
Read More »Swiss firms increase EU lobbying
Uncertainty about Switzerland’s framework agreement with the EU is fueling more company lobbying in Brussels. (Keystone) Swiss companies have sharply increased their lobbying in Brussels in the face of uncertain relations with the European Union. Switzerland has more companies lobbying in Brussels than many other European countries, writes the SonntagsBlick newspaper, citing the EU’s latest transparency registerexternal...
Read More »The Coming Global Financial Crisis: Debt Exhaustion
The global economy is way past the point of maximum debt saturation, and so the next stop is debt exhaustion. Just as generals fight the last war, central banks always fight the last financial crisis. The Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008-09 was primarily one of liquidity as markets froze up as a result of the collapse of the highly leveraged subprime mortgage sector that had commoditized fraud (hat tip to Manoj S.)...
Read More »Tennessee Considers Removing Tax on Gold and Silver
Several bills introduced in the Tennessee legislature would eliminate sales and use tax against gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Introduced by Representative Ron Gant (R-Rossville), House Bill 212 removes sales and use tax against platinum, gold and silver bullion, some numismatic coins, and numismatic coins sold at trade show. Senator Delores (R-Somerville) has introduced a bill, Senate Bill 333, identical to...
Read More »Who Knows the Right Interest Rate, Report 3 Feb 2019
On January 6, we wrote the Surest Way to Overthrow Capitalism. We said: “In a future article, we will expand on why these two statements are true principles: (1) there is no way a central planner could set the right rate, even if he knew and (2) only a free market can know the right rate.” Today’s article is part I that promised article. Let’s consider how to know the right rate, first. It should not be controversial to...
Read More »FX Daily, February 04: Subdued Start to Quiet Week
Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.07% at 1.1411 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, February 04(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The Lunar New Year celebration made for a quiet Asian session while a light diary in Europe saw subdued turnover. Equity markets are narrowly mixed. Among the three large markets open in Asia Pacific, Australia and Japanese equities...
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