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ABB was among the Swiss companies in big M & A deals last year, selling its power grid division to Hitachi. Its top officials are seen here at a press conference on the USD 9.4 billion deal. The number of merger and acquisition deals involving Swiss companies hit a record high in 2018, according to a report by consultancy firm KPMG. Activity peaked in a number of sectors including financial services, consumer...

The net result of a rigged system is the vast majority of the gains in income and wealth flow to the very tippy-top of the wealth/power pyramid. We often hear how the system (i.e. our economy) is rigged to benefit the few at the expense of the many, but exactly how is it rigged? Longtime correspondent Zeus Y. recently highlighted two specific mechanisms that favor the top 0.01%: high frequency trading (HFT) and...

Le scandale de la valeur locative, un revenu fictif taxé Je profite du billet de G Monti pour introduire un thème qui, à lui seul résume ce que peut être l’injustice fiscale. Il s’agit de ce qui est appelée en Suisse la valeur locative de son logement. Il ne faut pas le confondre avec un impôt foncier, ni avec un loyer. En Suisse, quand vous voulez accéder à la propriété, tout sera fait pour pousser les...

Today was supposed to see the release of the Census Bureau’s retail trade report, a key data set pertaining to the (alarming) state of American consumers, therefore workers by extension (income). With the federal government in partial shutdown, those numbers will be delayed until further notice. In their place we will have to manage with something like the Federal Reserves’ Beige Book. It may not be close to the same...

The two employees demanded they be reimbursed for losses in exchange rates The Swiss Federal Court has ruled that two Swiss companies do not have to compensate two employees who were paid in euros and who ended up with less than their franc-earning colleagues. Explaining its decisionexternal link on Tuesday, the country’s highest court said the cross-border workers from Germany and France had agreed to a corresponding...

Goods require money to finance both their production as well as their movements. They need oil and energy for the same reasons. If oil and money markets were drastically awful for a few months before December, and then purely chaotic during December, Mario Draghi of all people should’ve been paying attention. China put up some bad trade numbers for last month, but Europe’s goods downturn came first. According to...

For first time in over 16 years, palladium futures settle at a premium to gold futures Gold futures on Wednesday resumed their climb toward the psychologically important price of $1,300 an ounce, settling at their highest in nearly two weeks on the back of political turmoil in the U.K. and U.S. Caution among traders had deepened “ahead of a no-confidence vote on British Prime Minister Theresa May’s government and other...

The Producer Price Index (PPI) or officially named “Producer and Import Price Index” describes the changes in prices for producers and importers. For us it is interesting because it is used in the formula for the Real Effective Exchange Rate. When producers and importers profit on lower price changes when compared to other countries, then the Swiss Franc reduces its overvaluation. The Swiss PPI values of -6% in 2015...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.13% at 1.1311 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, January 18(see more posts on EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, ) - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: Sentiment has improved since the volatility last month spooked investors and, perhaps, some policymakers. Global equities are rallying. The Shanghai Composite and the Nikkei are at their best levels in almost a month, while the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is at...

Swiss Foreign Affairs Minister Ignazio Cassis, left, with his Italian counterpart, Enzo Moavero Milanesi, in Lugano By spring, the Italian government is expected to clarify its position on a new tax system for cross-border commuters between Italy and Switzerland. “It is a delicate issue that must be digested sufficiently, with both administrative and political evaluations. It takes time, but spring is not far away,”...