Tag Archives: newsletter

A Well-Established Tradition Seemingly out of the blue, equities suffered a few bad hair days recently. As regular readers know, we have long argued that one should expect corrections in the form of mini-crashes to strike with very little advance warning, due to issues related to market structure and the unique post “QE” environment. Credit spreads are traditionally a fairly reliable early warning indicator for stocks...

“You can’t eat gold.” The enemies of gold often unleash this little zinger, as if it dismisses the idea of owning gold and indeed the whole gold standard. It is a fact, you cannot eat gold. However, it dismisses nothing. This gives us an idea. Let’s tie three facts together. One, you can’t eat gold. Two, gold is in backwardation in Switzerland. And three, speculation is a bet on the price action. The fact that gold is...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.38% at 1.142 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, October 15(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: Despite the pre-weekend gains that lifted the S&P 500 above its 200-day moving average, global equities are moving lower today. The main news over the weekend included the US renewing its threat to impose more tariffs on China...

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...

One in four Swiss Airline flights were delayed by about 15 minutes over the summer months. (Keystone) The Swiss International Airlines is among the worst victims of a shortage of air traffic controllers in Europe. About 34% of all Swiss flights are delayed because of issues with air navigation safety or at the airport, the SonntagsZeitung newspaper reports quoting data from Eurocontrol.external link Only two other...

There are three broad forces of movement in the week ahead: the equity market performance, political developments, and economic data. United States It was a tumultuous week for equities, and there was not clear or obvious trigger. With US bond yields and equities trending higher this year, there does not seem to a reason why it ended last week. Similarly, the recovery before the weekend, which lifted the S&P 500...

By the standards of previous generations, the middle class has been stripmined of income, assets and purchasing power. What does it take to be middle class nowadays? Defining the middle class is a parlor game, with most of the punditry referring to income brackets as the defining factor. People tend to self-report that they belong to the middle class based on income, but income is not the key metric: 12 other factors...

[embedded content] What does Alhambra Investments think about the 1300 point drop in the Dow Jones Average this week? Alhambra CEO Joe Calhoun has some thoughts. Related posts: Cool Video: Bloomberg Clip from Discussion on Emerging Markets Cool Video: Emerging Markets Continue to Sell-Off FX Daily, August 13: Turkey Drives Risk-Off, but Pressure...

When it comes to stress, gender plays less of a role than the number of working hours, found the Job Stress Index. (racorn / 123rf.com) Workplace stress in Switzerland is on the rise, particularly among younger workers – who often show up feeling unwell. The consequences are costly. The “Job Stress Index” – published by Health Promotion Switzerlandexternal link on the eve of World Mental Health Dayexternal link – has...

Gold’s Best Day In 2 Years Sees 2.5 Percent Gain As Global Stocks Sell Off – This Week’s Golden Nuggets News, Commentary, Charts and Videos You May Have Missed Here is our Friday digest of the important news, commentary, charts and videos we were informed by this week. Market jitters and volatility have returned this week and the sell-off in US government bonds led to sharp falls on Wall Street centered on the very...