Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.42% to 1.0572 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, April 27(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: Global equities are beginning the new week on an upbeat note. All the markets in the Asia Pacific region rallied, led by more than 2% gains in the Nikkei and Taiwan. European bourses are higher. All the industry groups are participating and financials and consumer discretionary...
Read More »Former UBS boss Marcel Ospel dies aged 70
Marcel Ospel (1950-2020). (Keystone/eddy Risch) Ospel, who was ousted from his job as chairman of UBS in 2008 after fallout from the US subprime mortgage crisis, passed away on Sunday due to cancer. Born in Basel in 1950, Ospel began his career in 1977 with the Swiss Bank Corporation, an investment bank, before later engineering its merger with UBS in 1998. Having become chairman in 2001, the beginning of his tenure was marked by the controversial grounding of the...
Read More »Drivers for the Week Ahead
The FOMC meets Wednesday; first look at Q1 US GDP comes out Wednesday; weekly jobless claims Thursday are expected at 3.5 mln vs. 4.427 mln last week Italy dodged a bullet last Friday; ECB meets Thursday; eurozone reports Q1 GDP and April CPI data ahead of the ECB decision; Sweden’s Riksbank meets Tuesday BOJ meets Monday; Japan has a busy data week after the BOJ meeting The dollar continues to edge higher. On Friday, DXY traded at the highest level since April 6...
Read More »Record year for money laundering tip-offs
(© Keystone / Gaetan Bally) The number of reports of suspected money laundering jumped by about 25% in Switzerland last year. According to the Federal Money Laundering Reporting Officeexternal link, 7,705 reports were filed in 2019, compared to 6,126 the previous year. The office was able to process 4,074 of these reports last year, and forwarded about half (2,024) to the law enforcement agencies, as it stated in its annual reportexternal link published on Thursday....
Read More »Thoughts on the Potential Market Impact of US Downgrades
Our sovereign rating model suggests the US will lose its AAA/Aaa rating. With fiscal stimulus efforts continuing with this latest $484 bln package, the case for downgrades just keep getting stronger but the timing is unclear. How might markets react? We look back to 2011 for some clues. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS The White House and House Democrats struck a deal on a new aid package worth $484 bln. The extra $500 bln amounts to about 2.5% of GDP. The IMF estimated...
Read More »Central Banks and the Next Crisis: From Deflation to Stagflation
All over the world, governments and central banks are addressing the pandemic crisis with three main sets of measures: Massive liquidity injections and rate cuts to support markets and credit. Unprecedented fiscal programs aimed at providing loans and grants for the real economy. Large public spending programs, fundamentally in current spending and relief measures. However, they may cause deeper problems than those they aim to solve. When governments try to...
Read More »Swiss running low on butter
A shortage of frozen butter in Switzerland has the industry wanting to import 1,000 tons. Dairy farmers disagree. On Thursday an umbrella groupexternal link for the dairy sector announced that it had applied to the federal authorities for permission to import 1,000 tons of butter. There are currently 1,500 tons of frozen butter reserves in Switzerland, but the nation would need 4,000-5,000 tons to get through the demand for the rest of the year, says the group....
Read More »Dollar Steady as Global Economy Falls Off a Cliff
The virus news stream is negative today; the dollar is trying to build on its recent gains Weekly jobless claims are expected at 4.5 mln vs. 5.245 mln last week; regional Fed manufacturing surveys for April continue to roll out ECB confirmed reports that it will accept sub-investment grade debt as collateral; EU leaders will hold a video conference today Preliminary April eurozone PMI readings were awful; UK readings were even worse Japan reported weak preliminary...
Read More »Why Markets Are Rallying as Millions Become Unemployed
Wouldn’t you feel great knowing that your stock picking is fully insured by the Fed? Billionaires and wealthy hedge fund managers know the feeling. This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Millian Quinteros. Original Article: “Why Markets Are Rallying as Millions Become Unemployed” You Might Also Like Builders in Denial The year 2006 seems like a lifetime ago. The...
Read More »Business Owners Understand Why the Economy Can’t Just Be “Reopened”
My oldest turned seventeen last month. To commemorate the occasion, she and I watched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I’d taken her to her first (allegedly) rated-R movie a couple years ago to see the quite good Baby Driver, but this was Tarantino. Brad Pitt won an Oscar for portraying Cliff Booth, the personal stuntman for Leonardo DiCaprio’s struggling actor Rick Dalton. Early on, Cliff consoles Rick after Rick interprets a dinner meeting as a signal that he is...
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