Tag Archives: newsletter

I have always had a bad attitude toward official secrets regardless of who is keeping them. That prejudice and John Kenneth Galbraith are to blame for an unauthorized withdrawal I made from the World Bank. When I lived in Boston in the late 1970s, I paid $25 to attend a series of lectures by Galbraith on foreign aid and other topics. The louder Galbraith praised foreign aid, the warier I became. His hokum spurred my reading and led me to recognize that foreign aid is...

Overview:  The Fed's hawkish pivot came a few weeks before yesterday's FOMC meeting, which confirmed more or less what the market had already largely anticipated. Buy the (dollar) on rumors (of tapering and more aggressive stance on rates) and sell the fact unfolded, and unleashed the risk-appetites which rippled through the capital markets. US stocks rallied yesterday, and the futures point to a gap higher opening today. Large Asia Pacific bourses, led by a 2%...

A view of the Alps inside the Swiss pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. Www.sebastiencrettaz.com The Swiss pavilion at the ongoing Universal Exposition in Dubai leads the visitor through Alpine landscapes in a show of light and shadows to showcase Swiss sustainability, urbanisation and innovation. It is a concept that seems to appeal to the public, despite the pandemic and the many contradictions that characterise the Gulf region. With an investment of CHF16.5 million...

I never thought I would find myself saying this but President Biden has just instituted a great boycott. It’s against China, which U.S. officials have been trying their best to reconvert into a Cold War enemy, opponent, rival, or adversary.  What’s so good about this boycott? It purports to punish China by prohibiting U.S. government officials from attending the Winter Olympics in China.  That’s a punishment? Are you kidding? What greater thing could befall China...

BBVA Switzerland, the Swiss franchise of Spanish multinational financial institution BBVA, has expanded its cryptocurrency custody and trading service with the addition of Ether to its investment portfolio. Its private banking clients and new gen customers will now have access to both Bitcoin and Ether, a statement from the company said. These digital assets can be viewed along with other traditional investments on BBVA’s app, and can automatically be converted to...

The Fed delivered what it was expected to do:  double the pace of tapering and project a more aggressive interest rate response with its individual forecasts.  The dollar initially rallied on the headlines, and new sessions highs were recorded, but the price action was a bit of a head-fake, as it were. The greenback's gains were quickly pared,  though it remained above JPY114 ahead of Chair Powell's press conference. The market had already discounted two hikes and...

Overview: The US dollar is trading with a bit of heavier bias against most of the major currencies as the focus turns to today's FOMC meeting, where a clear consensus has emerged in favor of faster tapering and a dot plot pointing to a steeper pace rate hikes.  Emerging market currencies led by Turkey and South Africa are mostly lower. The JP Morgan Emerging Market Currency Index is lower for the third straight session.  The US 10-year Treasury yield is flat, near...

14.12.2021 – The Producer and Import Price Index rose in November 2021 by 0.5% compared with the previous month, reaching 105.2 points (December 2020 = 100). In particular, petroleum products as well as petroleum and natural gas saw higher prices. Compared with November 2020, the price level of the whole range of domestic and imported products rose by 5.8%. These are the results from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). In particular, higher prices for non-ferrous...

A Democratic state lawmaker in Illinois has introduced legislation requiring unvaccinated residents to pay out-of-pocket for healthcare services. It’s all part of an effort to come up with new and creative ways to punish people who refuse to get the covid jab. WBBM Radio in Chicago reports: [Jonathan] Carroll’s legislation would amend the state’s insurance code so that “a person who is eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine and chooses not to be vaccinated shall pay...

A digital programmable euro is essential for innovative business models in Germany, according to the Frankfurt School Blockchain Centre (FSBC). The FSBC is a think tank and research centre focusing on the business implications of blockchain. It published the “The Programmable Euro: Review and Outlook” report on behalf of the Finanzplatz München Initiative (fpmi), highlighting the use cases of the digital programmable euro, a blockchain-based euro that enables...