Tag Archives: newsletter

Anyone who follows Alhambra knows that we keep an eye on the dollar. It is a very important part of our process of identifying the economic environment. A rising dollar, when combined with a falling rate of growth, can be a lethal combination. That was the situation in March and of course during the financial crisis of 2008. So the recent rally is something that has got our attention. For now, though, we don’t see any significant stresses in the system that would...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.04% to 1.0769 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, September 23(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: A more stable tone is evident in the capital markets after the S&P 500, and NASDAQ rose more than one percent yesterday. Japan returned from a two-day holiday, and local shares slipped fractionally, while China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Australian shares rallied. India and...

Current Account Key figures: Current Account: Down 52.14% against Q2/2019 to 9.878 bn. CHF of which Goods Trade Balance: Minus 13.55% against Q2/2019 to 15.193 bn. of which the Services Balance: Minus 39.69% to 1.158 bn. of which Investment Income: Minus 70.07% to 3.012 bn. CHF. Current Account Switzerland Q2 2020(see more posts on Switzerland Balance of Payments, Switzerland Capital Account, Switzerland Current Account, Switzerland Financial Account, )...

Davos has hosted thousands of political, business and civil society leaders for 50 years. © Keystone / Christian Beutler The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) flagship summit may not take place in Davos next year, businesses in the alpine town have been warned. The pandemic had already forced organisers to postpone the event from its usual January slot to a potential early summer date. But hoteliers in Davos, the alpine resort that has hosted the global conference for the...

The dollar remains firm on continued safe haven flows but we still view this situation as temporary Fed Chair Powell appears before the House Financial Services Panel with Treasury Secretary Mnuchin; the text of Powell’s testimony was released already House Democrats plan to vote on a stopgap bill today; Fed manufacturing surveys for September will continue to roll out; Brazil COPOM minutes will be released UK CBI September industrial trends survey came in weak; BOE...

Interview with Robert Mark As we move deeper and deeper into this covid crisis, more and more people understand that there’s a lot more to fear besides the disease itself. As the economic impact and the full scale of the damage caused by the lockdowns and the shutdowns become undeniable, there are too many questions lacking any sort of convincing answer and the future for so many employees, business owners, investors and ordinary savers seems bleak and uncertain....

After a bout of inflation and “socialism-light”, we could end up with even more extreme inequality when the whole rotten structure collapses. Imagine owning a Buffett-Bezos fortune of bilious billions, or even 10% of these mega-fortunes, i.e. between $5 billion and $20 billion. Heck, imagine owning 1% of these mega-fortunes, i.e. $500 million to $2 billion. You’re extremely rich so you can buy the best advice. Your capital is mobile, and so are you. You can live...

Inflationism is that policy which by increasing the quantity of money or credit seeks to raise money prices and money wages or seeks to counteract a decline of money prices and money wages which threatens as the result of an increase in the supply of consumers’ goods. In order to understand the economic significance of inflationism we have to refer to a fundamental law of monetary theory. This law says: The service which money renders to the economic community is...

The public examines some of the 25 luxury cars seized by canton Geneva during a money laundering probe into Teodoro Obiang, the son of Equatorial Guinea’s President – but such seizures are rare, according to Thelesklaf. Keystone / Laurent Gillieron The former head of Switzerland’s anti-money laundering office says the country is failing to pull its weight in the fight against large scale corruption. Daniel Thelesklaf is convinced that billions of dollars are still...

Markets are starting the week in risk-off mode; the dollar is firm on some safe haven flows but this is likely to prove temporary US politics is coming in to focus as the election nears; we fear that the likely horse-trading and arm-twisting will take away any residual desire to get another stimulus package done The trend towards more restrictive measures continues with London in focus; between the virus numbers and Brexit risks, sterling remains under pressure China...