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Black Friday sales started emerging in Switzerland around five years ago. (© Keystone / Walter Bieri) The busiest shopping day of the year in the United States has become big business in Switzerland. But, some worry about the risks of consumers falling into debt and the pressure the Black Friday “holiday” puts on employees and the postal service. It wasn’t until five years ago that Black Friday, which falls on the Friday after American Thanksgiving (this year...

EM FX was mostly weaker last week due to doubts about a Phase One trade deal between the US and China. Those talks continue this week and while we expect a deal to be struck, there is likely to be a lot of last minute posturing that will likely keep markets volatile over the short-run. In the meantime, investors need to beware of idiosyncratic country risk within EM.   AMERICAS Chile reports Q3 GDP Tuesday, with growth expected at 3.3% y/y vs. 1.9% in Q2. Still, this...

Warum die Schweizer Negativzinspolitik trotz aller leidigen Nebenwirkungen bis auf weiteres unumgänglich ist. Muss sich der EZB und deren zementierten Negativpolitik anpassen: SNB-Präsident Thomas Jordan. Foto: Keystone/Anthony Anex Negativzinsen in der Schweiz sind ein Sonderfall. Denn die Schweiz hat keine Negativzinsen, um das Wirtschaftswachstum anzukurbeln oder um bedrohte Schuldner vor dem Zusammenbruch zu retten. Die Negativzinsen hierzulande haben nur einen...

Older people want to work but find opportunities limited. (Christof Schuerpf) Switzerland must do more to find employment options for older citizens and increase work productivity says the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco). If not, prosperity for all will decline as the population ages. The median age of the Swiss population has risen to 43 compared to 32 in 1970. By 2060 this will rise further to 48-years-old going by current fertility rates. Increasing...

Libertarians think that taxation is theft. The government takes away part of your income and property by force. Your payments aren’t voluntary. If you think they are, try to withhold payment and see what happens. An influential book by Liam Murphy and Thomas Nagel, The Myth of Ownership, tries to show that this view of taxation is wrong. Many people, they say, foolishly resent taxes. By what right does the government take away part of what we own? Isn’t this...

The stock market’s dichotomy grows ever wider. On the one side, record high prices which are being set by the expectations of a trade deal plus renewed worldwide “stimulus.” Sure, officials everywhere were late to see the downturn coming, but they’ve since woken up and went to work. On the other side, though, there’s not nearly the same level confidence. Earnings are derived from several factors but chiefly the economic climate in which companies operate....

US Banks are seeing a larger number of new entrants into the industry. Chime, a mobile-only bank, has opened two million online checking accounts and is adding more customers each month than Wells Fargo or Citibank. Firms from outside traditional consumer banking including Square, Goldman Sachs (Marcus), and Robinhood are entering the industry as well. The consulting firm CG42 said in a recent report on the vulnerability of retail banking that it expects the ten...

An iceberg melts in Kulusuk, Greenland near the arctic circle. (file photo) (Keystone / John Mcconnico) The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is doing enough to mitigate climate damage with its investment policy, senior directors have stated. Switzerland’s central bank does not have the mandate to impose environmental conditions on the commercial banking sector. The remarks follow a recent speechexternal link by the new head of the International Monetary Fund...

A synchronized global slowdown, with no end in sight, has spooked some of the wealthiest investors around the world, according to a new survey from UBS Wealth Management, seen by Bloomberg. UBS polled wealthy investors, who are preparing for a significant stock market correction by the end of next year. S&P 500 Index, 2013-2021 - Click to enlarge In the survey of more than 3,400 high net wealth respondents, 25% said they’ve sold risk assets, such as equities,...

◆ Gold price falls to a three-month low as concentrated selling of COMEX gold futures contracts equal to over 3 million ounces are sold in 30 minutes ◆ 33,596 contracts were aggressively sold in the 30 minutes between 10:00 and 10:30 a.m. New York time which is more than triple the 100-day average for that time of day ◆ This pushed the most active gold contract to as low as $1,448.90 an ounce, the lowest since August 5 as reported by Bloomberg (see chart below) ◆ It...