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Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.06% to 1.0837 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, December 1 (see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview:  The near-record rallies seen in the major equity markets in November may have contributed to the month-end drama yesterday.  There has been no follow-through activity.   Stocks bounced back, and the US dollar is heavy, with few exceptions.  In the Asia Pacific region, all the...

Switzerland’s GDP grew by 7.2 % in the 3rd quarter of 2020,  after decreasing by a total of 8.6 % in the first half of the year. Domestic demand and parts of the service sector recovered significantly, while international developments had an adverse impact on exports. Switzerland Gross Domestic Product (GDP) QoQ, Q3 2020(see more posts on Switzerland Gross Domestic Product, ) Source: investing.com - Click to enlarge In the 3rd quarter, Switzerland’s GDP grew...

We are hearing rumors this week of a shortage of the big silver bars, the thousand-ouncers. No, we don’t refer to bullion banks saying this. Nor big dealers, who are happy to sell us as many of these as we can buy. Nor our peeps in high places (we don’t claim to have any such peeps). We refer to the usual suspects. We talk about abundance and scarcity of the metals in nearly every one of these reports, in terms of the spread between spot and futures prices. Some...

The coronavirus pandemic has made people more conservative with their voting. Keystone / Peter Klaunzer The battle over the responsible business initiative is now over. The way the campaign was managed and how the issue was eventually decided says a lot about Switzerland. On November 29, 50.7% of Swiss voters backed an initiative to extend liability over international human rights abuses and environmental harm caused by major Swiss companies and the firms they...

By Edward Girardet For a nation that prides itself on being on the global forefront of new technologies and science, particularly health care, Switzerland has an astoundingly poor record for dealing with Covid-19. The Lake Geneva region, which borders locked-down France, ranks as one of the worst coronavirus hotspots in Europe. Many Swiss, too, act as if there is no pandemic by crowding into shopping malls or socialising without masks. And in an astounding Orwellian...

One sure way to identify a system “optimized for failure” is if all the insiders are absolutely confident the system is “optimized for my success”. I often discuss optimization here because it offers an insightful window into how systems become fragile and break down. When we optimize something, we’re aiming to get the most bang for our buck: maximize our efficiency, profit, productivity, etc., while minimizing our costs. To maximize our goal, whatever it is–profits,...

The Hermitage fraud became an international cause célèbre after the death in custody of Browder’s lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky. Keystone High-profile Kremlin critic and investor Bill Browder has threatened Credit Suisse and UBS with legal action for breaching US sanctions if they unfreeze accounts belonging to three Russian clients accused of a huge tax fraud against his investment company. The two Swiss banks hold assets worth more than $24 million (CHF21.8 million),...

Are foreigners selling Treasury bills? If they are, this would seem to merit consideration for the reflation argument. After all, the paramount monetary deficiency exposed by March’s GFC2 (and the Fed’s blatant role in making it worse) was the dangerous degree of shortage over the best collateral. Best collateral means OTR, and for standard practice this had always meant Treasury bills (as well as, noted yesterday, bonds and notes just auctioned off). According to...

“Small business” is just a government classification. Entrepreneurial businesses serving well-defined communities via creative specialization exhibit enormous economic productivity, energy and dynamism. Such businesses can not be defined quantitatively as small, medium or large. They’re defined by their qualitative impact on their customers’ lives. Entrepreneurial businesses care differently, and care more. Big businesses must pay attention to size and scale, to...

The online purchase of a second-hand luxury watch is becoming ever more popular. Andrew Poplavsky The market for second-hand luxury watches is booming. But for the average consumer, it is not easy to tell a fake from the genuine article and determine the real value of a particular timepiece. Certificates based on blockchain technology could provide more transparency. Watch fans who want to get the new diving watch by Rolex had better be patient. The official...