Major infrastructure building projects abroad are could be an opportunity for Swiss companies to expand their business activities. Keystone/Joerg Sarbach The government has pledged CHF7.8 million ($8.5 million) over the next three years to help Swiss companies participate in major infrastructure projects abroad. The aim is to coordinate cooperation between the private sector and the government administration to help Swiss companies gain international visibility and...
Read More »Der niemals endende Kampf zwischen Staat und Freiheit
Die Vorstellung, dass die Amerikaner immer frei sein werden, ist Teil der Glaubenssätze, die den Schülern der öffentlichen Schulen eingebläut werden. Seit Hunderten von Jahren haben Philosophen, Politiker und Reformer gelehrt, dass der Triumph der Freiheit unausweichlich sei. „Unterdrückte Menschen können nicht ewig unterdrückt bleiben. Der Drang nach Freiheit wird sich irgendwann Bahn brechen“, schrieb Martin Luther King Jr. in seinem berühmten „Brief aus dem...
Read More »FX Daily, April 20: Market has Second Thoughts about Timing of First Fed Hike
Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.05% to 1.1015 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, April 20(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: Even as US yields edge higher, the dollar struggles. With the 10-year Treasury yields now at 1.62%, nine basis points above last week’s lows, the greenback has turned mixed against the major currencies. After briefly slipping below JPY108, the dollar has recovered to around JPY108.55....
Read More »How Credit Suisse rolled the dice on risk management — and lost
Credit Suisse chairman Urs Rohner has some explaining to do at the bank’s AGM later this month. © Keystone / Ennio Leanza Five months before Greensill Capital’s collapse, Credit Suisse invited a special guest to present to its top ranks in Asia. The visitor was hailed as the sort of bold entrepreneur the bank wanted to do business with: Lex Greensill. “The tone was this is the exact kind of client the bank wants, tell the MDs to go out and find more guys like Lex,”...
Read More »Societe Generale Issues Structured Products as Security Token on Public Blockchain
Societe Generale announced that it has issued its first structured product as a security token directly registered on the Tezos’ blockchain network. The securities were fully subscribed by Societe Generale Assurances. The move was in line with the development of Forge which is a regulated subsidiary of Societe Generale Group. Forge’s operating model enables security tokens to be directly integrated to conventional banking systems interfaced with SWIFT format. Forge...
Read More »If You Don’t See Any Risk, Ask Who Will “Buy the Dip” in a Freefall?
Nobody thinks a euphoric rally could ever go bidless, but as Greenspan belatedly admitted, liquidity is not guaranteed. The current market melt-up is taken as nearly risk-free because the Fed has our back, i.e. the Federal Reserve will intervene long before any market decline does any damage. It’s assumed the Fed or its proxies, i.e. the Plunge Protection Team, will be the buyer in any freefall sell-off: no matter how many punters are selling, the PPT will keep...
Read More »Three-quarters of employees in Switzerland record their working hours
19.04.2021 – In 2019, 73.9% of employees in Switzerland registered their working hours, whereas in the European Union (EU) only 58.1% did so. In European comparison, fixed working hours were less common in Switzerland (49.2%; EU: 60.1%) and more employed persons enjoyed a high level of job autonomy (60.4%; EU: 50.6%). In 2020, 18.2% of employed persons worked regularly on Saturdays and 9.3% regularly on Sundays. Teleworking from home increased considerably in 2020,...
Read More »Swiss digital asset trading network expands
Out with the old, in with the new? Digital asset trading venues now have to convert promise into performance. Keystone / Justin Lane A blockchain-inspired trading infrastructure, which links banks, companies and investors to cryptocurrencies and a new breed of digital securities, is nearing fruition in Switzerland. On Monday, the Swiss financial regulator gave the green light for the TDX Digital eXchange by awarding a securities house licence to technology company...
Read More »Nichts ist so permanent wie ein temporärer Staatseingriff
Der hervorragende amerikanische Wirtschaftshistoriker Robert Higgs warnte eingehend vor dem Ratchet-Effekt des Staatsinterventionismus. Auf Deutsch könnte man ihn auch den „Sperrklinkeneffekt“ nennen. Ein Zahnrad mit Sperrklinke lässt sich leicht in eine Richtung drehen, aber nach dem Einrasten der Klinke gibt es kein Zurück. So ähnlich ist es mit Staatseingriffen auch. Higgs entwickelte die Theorie in seinem Buch Crisis and Leviathan, das bereits 1987...
Read More »Weekly Market Pulse: The Market Did What??!!
One of the most common complaints I hear about the markets is that they are “divorced from reality”, that they aren’t acting as the current economic data would seem to dictate. I’ve been in this business for 30 years and I think I first heard that in year one. Or maybe even before I decided to lose my mind and start managing other people’s money. Because, of course, it has always been this way. Economic data represents the past while markets look to the future. And...
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