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Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.10% to 1.1578 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, February 01(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The Yellen Fed ended on a high note. She took over the reins the of Federal Reserve an implemented a strategic normalization process monetary policy, and helped engineer not only the first post-crisis rate hikes but also the beginning of...

The Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP) in Geneva wants shopping hours in Geneva to be standardized and extended. © Tea | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge In general, French-speaking Switzerland has stricter laws on opening hours that the rest of Switzerland. For example a Migros store in Zurich is open until 9pm every night except Sunday. A similar store in Geneva is only open until 9pm one day a week. The rest of the...

Whilst sales of quartz watches declined last year, demand for more expensive mechanical timepieces grew significantly. (Keystone) - Click to enlarge After two years of decline, the Swiss watch industry grew by 2.7% in 2017, according to the figures released by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FH) on Tuesday. Exports grew by 2.7 % to CHF19.9 billion ($21.3 billion) on 2016. “Growth returned sooner...

Something for Nothing The world is full of bad ideas.  Just look around.  One can hardly blink without a multitude of bad ideas coming into view.  What’s more, the worse an idea is, the more popular it becomes. Take Mickey’s Fine Malt Liquor.  It’s nearly as destructive as prescription pain killers.  Yet people chug it down with reckless abandon. Looking at the expression of this Mickey’s Malt Liquor tester one might...

The Used Goods Question Retail sales in several countries like Germany, Japan and Switzerland continue to fall or they remain steady for years. In the United States they have strongly risen recently. We should remind readers, that used goods sold via Ebay or similar, are not contained in this statistics. Still they create economic value for the purchases. By mentality, Swiss, Germans or Japanese pay more attention so...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.16% to 1.1587 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, January 30(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The US dollar is paring yesterday’s gains, and the 10-year Treasury yield has slipped back below the 2.70% level after pushing 2.73% briefly. European bonds have also eased, with yields one-two basis points lower. It is thus far a mild...

We do not like Purchasing Power or Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) as measurement for currencies. For us, the trade balance decides if a currency is overvalued. Only the trade balance can express productivity gains, while the REER assumes constant productivity in comparison to trade partners. Who has read Michael Pettis, knows that a rising trade surplus may also be caused by a higher savings rate while the trade...

In January, the KOF Economic Barometer does not continue its upward tendency, which started in September 2017, but has declined. However, despite the decline, the indicator remains well above its long-term average. It still indicates a more dynamic economic development than in mid-2017. The recovery of the Swiss economy is thus likely to continue, albeit with slightly less momentum than indicated in the past few...

USD/CHF The USDCHF pair shows some bullish bias to approach retesting the previously broken support that turns into key resistance now at 0.9418, noticing that stochastic loses its bullish momentum clearly to reach the overbought areas, while the EMA50 forms continuous negative pressure against the price. Therefore, our bearish overview will remain active for today unless breaching 0.9418 level and holding above it,...

Some 59% of Swiss households were rentals in 2015, according to the most recent figures. The average monthly rent across the country came in at just over CHF1,300 ($1,395). The numbers were released on Monday by the Federal Statistical Office and reflect the situation at the end of 2015, when 2.1 million rented accommodations were recorded. The regions with the highest proportion of renting were the urban cantons of...