Tag Archives: newsletter

By Dara O’Sullivan, Derrick Leonard, and Ilan Solot As the week commences, a few markets such as Sri Lanka and Philippines are extending their lockdown periods while others such as Nigeria and Kenya continue to experience USD liquidity issues. Please see comments below. Sri Lanka: The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) was expected to resume operations on April 27 but, due to an uptick in Covid-19 cases, the exchange remains closed until May 4. Foreign exchange trading is...

Key Takeaways and Actionable Insights Consider these findings from a 2017 report from the G20 Global Partnership For Financial Inclusion, titled Alternative Data: Transforming SME Finance. Access to financing remains one of the most significant constraints for the survival, growth, and productivity of micro, small and medium enterprises (SME’s). Digital SME finance, using alternative data, offers an extraordinary opportunity for addressing…this problem. The...

With its $700 billion bond-buying expansion in response to the COVID crisis, the Federal Reserve has thrust itself into the limelight. Like a sixteen-year-old with a credit card, the Fed is salivating over what money-printing powers it shall seize next. How is the prudent investor to respond? First, what the Fed’s already done: pushed interest rates to zero and expanded into “unlimited” buying of assets, now reaching to corporate bonds and local government bonds....

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.05% to 1.0553 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, April 29(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The dollar is lower across the board as dealers attribute the selling to month-end pressures ahead of the FOMC today and ECB tomorrow and long-holiday weekend for many. Japan’s Golden Week holiday has already begun. Despite the loss in US equities yesterday, despite the higher opening,...

Shoppers bought large amounts of flour at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. At a Migros supermarket in Stans on March 14, 2020 (Keystone / Urs Flueeler) During the coronavirus pandemic, panic buying has not been too problematic in Switzerland. But in previous global crises the Swiss tended to rush to the shops to stock up. Encouraged by the authorities, keeping emergency supplies remains a well-ingrained tradition for Swiss citizens. A week after the First World...

Since superfluous demand was the core driver of most consumer spending, and that demand is in free-fall, what’s the upside of re-opening? The mainstream view assumes everyone will be gripped by an absolutely rabid desire to return to their pre-pandemic frenzy of borrowing and spending and consuming, the more the better. While the urge to believe the Titanic scraping the iceberg will have no consequence and the collision was nothing but a spot of bother is compelling...

I never said it wasn’t powerful. What I continue to show is that it doesn’t work. Ben Bernanke kept his job because despite the carnage, in times of turmoil people are willing to give anyone a second chance. And if the turmoil never ends, so much the luckier – for him.  Anyone who promises it’s all under control.  A combined 58% of respondents said they had a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell would...

Living in Switzerland is expensive. There is no point denying that. However, it is not as expensive as many people think. There are many ways to save money each month on your budget in Switzerland. People pay too much each month for most of their bills in Switzerland. For many people, it is because they do not know they can pay less. Many people simply assume that they need to pay this amount and never try to optimize their budget. Some households are also content...

As of April 26, there were nearly 55,000 COVID-19 deaths reported in the United States. Of those, more than 22,000 (or about 40 percent) were in the state of New York alone. New Jersey was in second place, with nearly 5,900 COVID-19 deaths reported. If we combine these two states, we find that a majority of COVID-19 deaths in the United States have come from them alone. Combined, these two states accounted for more than 51 percent (28,213) of all deaths, while all...

In the increasingly polarized America, Black Swan moments like the COVID-19 pandemic have further confirmed growing divides in the country. Our textbooks would like us to believe that emergencies create fertile grounds for unity. But when you have a populace that is politically dividing itself even when it comes to the TV shows it watches, there comes a point when we have to start recognizing that the prospect of national unity is becoming more of a mirage as the...