Tag Archives: newsletter

Stock Markets EM FX appears to be rolling over (see our recent piece “Is EM FX Finally Turning?”). Technical indicators are stretched as many EM currencies bump up against strong resistance levels. Strong US jobs data is bringing Fed tightening back into focus. We think ZAR could be shaping up to be the canary in a coalmine.  It was -3% vs. USD last week and by far the worst in EM. Stock Markets Emerging Markets,...

A little while back I was part of a small exchange of views on twitter. It was about Italy. I was arguing against a claim that Italy’s woes are all about its past fiscal excesses. It is not just about about Italy’s legacy. It is true that Italy runs a primary budget surplus. The primary budget surplus has averaged in excess of  2% for nearly two decades. Over this period, Italy debt has soared. I took exception with a...

© Shaunwilkinson – Dreamstime If you have ever wondered how much employees in Switzerland get paid you can check with the online tool Salarium, created by the Swiss government. The information is compiled from a database of numbers from a salary survey done in 2014. After entering five required bits of information: region, business sector, occupation, professional position and working hours, the tool calculates the...

Gold consolidates on 2.5% gain in July as the dollar has fifth monthly decline Trump administration and vicious “civil war” politics casting shadow over America and impacting dollar All eyes on non farm payrolls today for further signs of  weakness in U.S. economy Gold recovers from 1.7% decline in June as dollar falls Gold outperforms stocks and benchmark S&P 500 YTD Gold gains 10.8% versus 10.6% gain for S&P...

The Gotthard, the world’s longest train tunnel, was opened to passenger trains last December. (Keystone) About 2.3 million rail passengers have travelled through the new transalpine tunnel in Switzerland over the past eight months, an increase of 30% compared with same period a year ago. On average, 10,400 people cross the Gotthard base tunnel in central Switzerland every day, according to the Federal Railways. Some...

It is often said that the market for US Treasuries is the deepest and most liquid in the world. While that’s true, we have to be careful about what it is we are talking about. There is no single US Treasury market, and often differences can be striking. The most prominent example was, of course, October 15, 2014. In truth, the liquidity side of cash market UST’s has been diminished since around 2013. Largely as a...

SNB to launch survey on payment methods in 2017 The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is this year conducting a survey on payment methods for the first time. Over the coming months, 2,000 people resident in Switzerland will be asked about their habits regarding the use of payment methods. The aim of the survey is to obtain representative information on the Swiss population’s use of various payment methods and to identify any...

Financial service firms in London are preparing for the impact of Brexit. (Keystone) At the same time as big global banks are considering alternatives to London in the wake of the Brexit vote, Swiss newspaper Le Matin Dimanche reports, financial institutions are also recruiting new staff in the City. Rather than in commercial banking, however, these employees specialise in private wealth management. Here “the...

Sterling reached a new 11-month high against the dollar earlier today, but the dovish take away from the Bank of England has seen sterling reverse lower. It has now fallen below the previous day’s low, and a close below there (~$1.3190) would confirm the bearish key reversal pattern. Support near the week’s low just below $1.3100 is holding, and if that goes, the $1.30 level can be tested. A break of $1.2930, the low...

Last June in Munich, Greenpeace symbolically showcased a diesel engine in a coffin. (Keystone) After decades of rapid growth, the popularity of diesel vehicles in Switzerland is on the wane following scandals and concerns about environmental impact. The rise of diesel in Switzerland was big and it was fast: accounting for 17.8% of all cars on the road in 2002, last year diesel had more than doubled, to 36.8%, an...