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The first day of each month sees the reporting of a number of statistics about the London Gold Market by the bullion bank led London Bullion Market Association (LBMA). These statistics focus on clearing data and vault holdings data and are reported in a 1 month lag basis for clearing activity and a 3 month lag basis for vault holdings data. Therefore the latest clearing data just published is for the month of August,...

Sometimes, one just needs to look in the right place. And often in those cases, it just takes a conversation to alert one where to look. We had a call with a Swiss company this week, to discuss gold financing for their business. They reminded us that there is a negative interest rate on Swiss francs. And then they said that a swap of francs for gold has a cost. That is, the CHF GOFO rate is negative (the dollar based...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.16% at 1.1415 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, October 01(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The Canadian dollar and Mexican peso are extending its pre-weekend gains on news that a new NAFTA deal (US-Mexico-Canada Agreement USMCA) has been struck. Against most of the other major and emerging market currencies, the US dollar...

Neuchâtel, 1 October 2018 (FSO) – Turnover in the retail sector rose by 1.1% in nominal terms in August 2018 compared with the previous year. Seasonally adjusted, nominal turnover rose by 0.3% compared with the previous month. These are the provisional findings from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Real turnover in the retail sector also adjusted for sales days and holidays rose by 0.4% in August 2018 compared with...

Companies argue that the Swiss workforce alone cannot fill every highly skilled job vacancy. The Swiss authorities have responded to demands from companies and cantons for access to highly-skilled employees by granting 1,000 extra permits for workers that come from outside the European Union from next year. From 2019, firms will be able to recruit 8,500 foreign workers from countries such as the United States, China and...

Few conventional-media commentators are willing or able to discuss these factors in the labor shortage / declining participation trends. Is there a labor shortage in the U.S.? Employers are shouting “yes.” Economists keep looking for wage increases as evidence of a labor shortage, and since wage increases are still relatively modest, the argument that there are severe labor shortages in parts of the U.S. is...

ETH Zurich came in at 7th and 19th place in the QS and Shanghai rankings respectively this year. The Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) remains the best university in continental Europe, despite slipping one place to 11th in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019. The listexternal link, which was released on Wednesday, scores 1,250 universities on five main criteria: teaching,...

What shape are the markets in right now? This month, Credit Suisse Global CIO Michael Strobaek discusses growth in the global and Swiss economies and explains the right investment strategies during the growth phase. Global economic growth. Switzerland is doing well too. It is encouraging that the global economy is in good shape despite the disparate growth rates in the various regions this year. The Swiss economy is...

“Most households can no longer afford to buy property in the top financial centres without a substantial inheritance”. Sound familiar to Zurich and Geneva dwellers? An index by Swiss bank UBS shows significant risks of real estate bubbles in booming cities such as Hong Kong, Munich and Toronto. The Swiss cities of Zurich and Geneva remain relatively stable. The 2018 Global Real Estate Bubble Indexexternal link,...

Despite the recent fall in French consumer confidence, spending should pick up in the second half of the year. The French economy disappointed in the first half of this year. While there was a widespread ‘soft patch’ in the euro area, the source and size of the slowdown in France stands out. The real GDP growth rate fell by 0.5 points, much more than the rest of the euro area. Moreover, while the slowdown in the other...