Many major and emerging central banks took action in June, but outside of possible technical adjustments will continue with the current supportive stance in July. The policy focus will shift back to fiscal initiatives. The highlights will be the EU Summit on July 12, which is considering the EC’s 750 bln euro package of grants and loans, and the US decision regarding the $600 a week extra unemployment insurance (expiring at the end of July) and another large budget...
Read More »Gold Outperforms All Assets In 2020 YTD as Enters Seasonal Sweet Spot of July, August and September
◆ Gold is the top performing asset in the world in the first half of 2020, outperforming all stock markets including the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq and outperforming “safe haven” U.S. government bonds (see table above). Gold had an 18% gain in dollars in the first half of 2020 as risk assets, especially stock markets, fell sharply with the S&P down 4.5% and other stock markets down more than 10% (see table). Gold gained 18.6% in euros and by 25% in British...
Read More »FX Daily, July 1: Second Verse Can’t be Worse than the First, Can it?
Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.04% to 1.0641 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, July 1(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The resurgence of the contagion in the US has stopped or reversed an estimated 40% of the re-openings, but the appetite for risk has begun the second half on a firm note, helped by manufacturing PMIs that were above preliminary estimates or better than expected. Except for Tokyo and...
Read More »SWISS slowly expands web of destinations from Zurich and Geneva
A sculpture outside the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, one of the destinations that SWISS is flying to again from Zurich Keystone / Luis Tejido Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has published its flight schedules up to October 24, the end of the summer timetable. As well as resuming service to more network destinations, it plans to intensify its frequencies on routes already restored in both its short-haul and long-haul networks. The Swiss national airline said on...
Read More »What The PMIs Aren’t Really Saying, In China As Elsewhere
China’s PMI’s continue to impress despite the fact they continue to be wholly unimpressive. As with most economic numbers in today’s stock-focused obsessiveness, everything is judged solely by how much it “surprises.” Surprises who? Doesn’t matter; some faceless group of analysts and Economists whose short-term modeling has somehow become the very standard of performance. According to one such group, China’s official manufacturing index, the one calculated and...
Read More »A Review of Stephanie Kelton’s The Deficit Myth
The good news is that Stephanie Kelton has written a book on MMT that is very readable and will strike many readers as persuasive and clever. The bad news is that Stephanie Kelton has written a book on MMT that is very readable and will strike many readers as persuasive and clever. Narrated by the author. Original Article: “A Review of Stephanie Kelton’s The Deficit Myth“. You Might Also Like Some...
Read More »The COVID Crisis Supercharged the War on Cash
The corona crisis has already taken a very high toll and caused deep damage in our societies and our economies, the extent of which is yet to become apparent. We have seen its impact on productivity, on unemployment, on social cohesion and on political division. However, there is another very worrying trend that has been accelerated under the veil of fear and confusion that the pandemic has spread. The war on cash, already underway for almost a decade, has been...
Read More »FX Daily, June 30: When Primary is Secondary
Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.40% to 1.0647 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, June 30(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The gains in US equities yesterday carried into Asia Pacific trading today, but the European investors did not get the memo. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is succumbing to selling pressure and giving back yesterday’s gain. Energy and financials are the biggest drags, while real estate and...
Read More »Swiss Retail Sales, May 2020: 5.6 percent Nominal and 6.6 percent Real
30.06.2020 – Turnover adjusted for sales days and holidays rose in the retail sector by 5.6% in nominal terms in May 2020 compared with the previous year. Seasonally adjusted, nominal turnover rose by 30.2% compared with the previous month. These are provisional findings from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Real turnover adjusted for sales days and holidays rose in the retail sector by 6.6% in May 2020 compared with the previous year. Real growth takes...
Read More »Tally Weijl to close quarter of stores
Tally Weijl, which sells clothing for women and teenage girls, was founded in 1984 Keystone / Georgios Kefalas Swiss fashion chain Tally Weijl will close 200 of its 800 stores internationally and withdraw completely from Bulgaria. In Switzerland, it will close between five and ten of its 81 stores. However, the company says it has secured financing. The Basel-based retail chain said in a statement on Monday its aim was to strengthen its online presence and retain...
Read More »