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European investment opportunities remain, despite financial repression in the region. The European Central Bank (ECB) surprised market watchers with its dovish turn in January, wiping out any prospect of an interest-rate rise this year and revising its growth projections for the euro area downward for 2019. With Europeans set to live with interest rates at zero (or negative) for longer, many are wondering if Europe now...

Ironically, their ample compensation allows them to avoid the poor-quality services they’ve designed for everyone below them. If we define middle class by the security of household income and what that income can buy rather than by an income level, what do we conclude? We have little choice but to conclude the middle class is decaying, both in the percentage of the workforce that qualifies as “middle class” according to...

Several IT companies and the Swiss government administration are involved in one of the biggest corruption cases in recent years. (© Keystone/Christian Beutler) Four suspects have been sentenced in a major corruption case involving a unit of the Swiss economics ministry. But the main defendant is still awaiting a formal indictment. The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) announced on Wednesday that a trustee was given...

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.07% at 1.1402 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, May 02(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The US dollar is consolidating yesterday’s post-Fed rally, and this is giving it a slightly heavier tone today. Equities are mostly lower and Europe’s Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is off about 0.5% in late morning turnover, which if sustained would...

Claudia Aebersold-Szalay at a NZZ event. (Image: Evenito) Claudia Aebersold Szalay will assume the role of Head of Media Relations at the Swiss National Bank on 1 June, replacing Walter Meier who will be leaving the bank having reached retirement age. Ms Aebersold Szalay was previously an economics and business editor at the NZZ newspaper for eleven years. Her remit included covering European Central Bank and the...

02.05.2019 – Turnover in the retail sector fell by 0.5% in nominal terms in March 2019 compared with the previous year. Seasonally adjusted, nominal turnover fell by 0.1% compared with the previous month. These are provisional findings from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Real turnover in the retail sector also adjusted for sales days and holidays fell by 0.7% in March 2019 compared with the previous year. Real...

The Volkswagen emissions scandal began in September 2015, when the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States accused the Volkswagen group of violation of environmental laws. (Keystone) The lawyer representing about 500 people in Switzerland who have filed a complaint against German carmaker Volkswagen and importer AMAG says the Swiss attorney general is dragging his feet in the so-called ‘Dieselgate’ case....

The bid-ask spread of both (spot) gold and silver has blown out. Both, on March 1. In gold, the spread had been humming along around 13 cents—gold is the most marketable commodity, and this is the proof, a bid-ask spread around 1bps—until… *BAM!* It explodes to around 35 cents, or two and half times as wide. On the same day, silver went from half a cent to 1.5 cents, or about triple. We zoomed out far enough—it does...

Last April, monetary officials in Japan were publicly contemplating ending asset purchases under QQE. This April, they are more quietly wondering what other financial assets they might have to buy just to keep it all going a little longer. I’d suggest something like the clouds passing over the islands or the ocean water surrounding them. Nobody would notice either way and it would be equally as effective. Before the...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.23% at 1.1401 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, May 01(see more posts on EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The May Day holiday has shut most markets in Asia and Europe, making for subdued market action. Equity markets that are open, like Australia and the UK, advanced and US shares are trading higher helped by Apple’s upbeat forecasts and...