Tag Archives: newsletter

With all due respect to Niall Ferguson, whom I’ve heard of, and Huw van Steenis, whom I’ve not, this tweet is quite preposterous.  I’ve personally met more than five people who understand money just in my own circles. What they mean is “monetary policy,” which is in fact very difficult to understand—given it effectively operates as a political program within the muddled field of macroeconomics. Monetary policy, unlike money per se, is ad hoc, highly technical,...

Overview:  On the heels of a dramatic jump in US job creation and firmer than expected year-over-year CPI, the US reported a larger than expected jump in retail sales and a strong recovery in manufacturing output. Few think that economic momentum that the recent data implies can be repeated, the "no landing" camp has gained adherents. We suspect that says more about psychology than the economy. The US two-year note is threatening to snap a five-day 20 bp advance...

The Swiss National Bank has named Markus K. Brunnermeier as the next speaker for its Karl Brunner Distinguished Lecture Series. Markus K. Brunnermeier is Professor of Economics at Princeton University and also Director of the Bendheim Center for Finance. His research focuses on the interaction between financial markets and the macroeconomy. His work on price bubbles in stock and real estate markets, systemic risks, liquidity crises and digital currencies is of great...

Coal piled up at a thermal power plant in Berlin. Glencore says it benefited from large coal price moves last year. Keystone / Clemens Bilan Profits at Swiss mining and trading group Glencore last year were boosted by the explosion in commodity prices. Thanks to a more than threefold increase in net profit, the Zug-based giant wants to double its shareholders’ remuneration, in particular through a share buyback. “The unprecedented developments in global energy...

India is currently the seventh-largest country in the world with the largest youth population. There are many elements that make this country unique, the foremost being diversity—diversity of culture, race, ethnicity, and linguistics. India faced an era of colonialism under the British, who would take raw material from India at cheaper rates and import the finished products. India and Nigeria are both countries that gained independence from Britain in the same...

The federal government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released new price inflation data today, and according to the report, price inflation during the month decelerated slightly, coming in at the lowest year-over-year increase in sixteen months. According to the BLS, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rose 6.4 percent year over year in January before seasonal adjustment. That’s down very slightly from December’s year-over-year increase of 6.5 percent, and...

Overview: Although the US January CPI was in line with expectations, the year-over-year rate was a little firmer than expected. Still, the measure that Fed Chair Powell has underscored, core services, excluding shelter, moderated with a 0.3% month-over-month gain. US rates shot up and this lent the dollar support, while weighing on equities and risk sentiment. The US two-year note yield rose to almost 4.64% yesterday, the highest in three months. The greenback is...

The government wants to boost relations with ASEAN countries (Archive photo from 2017 with Swiss foreign minister and representatives from ASEAN countries). © Keystone / Peter Klaunzer The Swiss government has for the first time adopted a regional strategy for the Asia-Pacific region for the period 2023-2026. The move takes into account the growing importance of the southeast Asia region and complements the government’s China strategy, according to a government...

Under pressure: Credit Suisse headquarters in Zurich. © Keystone / Michael Buholzer Disappointing results leave no more room for accidents as the bank carries out restructuring. It has been a year since Axel Lehmann took over as chair of accident-prone Credit Suisse and about half that since Ulrich Körner became chief executive. But they have yet to stem the problems at Switzerland’s second-biggest bank, caused by a succession of historic scandals and mismanaged...

The Biden administration and its acolytes in the U.S. mainstream press are celebrating the fact that Nicaraguan socialist dictator Daniel Ortega just released 222 political prisoners and sent them packing to the United States. In the process, however, they are only demonstrating the arbitrary, capricious, and hypocritical nature of America’s socialist system of immigration controls.  Ortega’s political prisoners were being held in brutal conditions in Nicaraguan...