A view inside a giant storehouse of the Amazon Logistic Center in Rheinberg, Germany Shoppers in Switzerland will no longer be able to buy items from the US Amazon website due to recent changes to Swiss value-added tax law. Exceptions will be made for e-books and apps. “From 26 December 2018 customers shopping on Amazon.comexternal link and other non-EU Amazon websites will not be able to ship non-digital orders to any...
Read More »Unexpected?
Now that the slowdown is being absorbed and even talked about openly, it will require a period of heavy CYA. This part is, or at least it has been at each of the past downturns, quite easy for its practitioners. It was all so “unexpected”, you see. Nobody could have seen it coming, therefore it just showed up out of nowhere unpredictably spoiling the heretofore unbreakable, incorruptible boom everyone was talking about...
Read More »Why Buy Gold Now? Because Of The “I Don’t Knows”…
From 2000 through 2012, the price of gold increased every year, rising from around $280 an ounce to nearly $1,700. It was an unprecedented run. Then, in 2013, gold took a nose dive, losing over 27% of its value. It was widely reported that the Swiss National Bank, the former bastion of monetary conservatism, lost $10 billion that year just on its gold holdings. As you probably know, central banks hold a portion of their...
Read More »Yellow vest protests cast cloud over Macron’s reform plans
Recent protests could have a negative impact on French growth, tax revenue and president Macron’s reform plans for his country and for Europe. French protests began on November 17 over hikes in fuel taxes, but have progressively broadened out into an expression of general anger with the French government about the cost of living and high taxes. To calm the situation, the government has dropped the planned fuel tax hike...
Read More »FX Daily, December 06: New Spanner in US-China Relations Weighs on Risk Appetites
Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.15% at 1.13 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, December 06(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The global capital markets were fragile amid trade uncertainty and economic slowdown fears. News that Canada arrested the CFO of Huawei on behalf of the US, ostensibly for violating the embargo against Iran triggered an almost immediate...
Read More »Swiss Starbucks Customers Vulnerable due to Insecure WiFi
The investigation by SRF found that hackers could easily gain access to names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses of customers at a Starbucks shop in Bern. (Keystone) An investigation by Swiss Public Television, SRF, has found that data isn’t sufficiently protected when customers use WiFi at cafes in Switzerland of the global coffee chain. Free WiFi access at Starbucks – one of the great perks offered by the company –...
Read More »House View, December 2018
Pictet Wealth Management’s latest positioning across asset classes and investment themes. Asset Allocation We remain neutral on global equities overall, seeing relatively limited potential for developed market stocks in particular as earnings growth declines. We favour companies with pricing power as well as measurable growth drivers and low leverage. We have moved from underweight to neutral in US Treasuries, as the...
Read More »FX Daily, December 05: US Market Closure may be a Firebreak
Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.06% at 1.132 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, December 05(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The 3%+ drop in the S&P 500 yesterday kept global equities under pressure today, though losses in Asia and Europe were milder. In Asia, only Hong Kong and Taiwan benchmarks lost more than 1%. In Europe, the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is...
Read More »The View from the Trenches of the Alternative Media
What’s scarce in a world awash in free content and nearly infinite entertainment content? After 3,701 posts (from May 2005 to the present), here are my observations of the Alternative Media from the muddy trenches. It’s increasingly difficult to make a living creating content outside the corporate matrix. The share of advert revenues paid to content creators / publishers has declined precipitously, shadow banning has...
Read More »No Relief for Swiss Renters as Mortgage Rates Barely Move
Every three months the rate of interest used to set Swiss rents is reviewed. If it goes down some renters have the right to request a decrease in rent. This time it remained at 1.50%. ©-Sergei-Razvodovskij-_-Dreamstime.com_ - Click to enlarge The last time it dropped was 2 June 2017 when it fell to 1.5%, its lowest level since 2008. The rate is based on the average Swiss mortgage rate over three months. This rate is...
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