Tag Archives: newslettersent

Swiss Franc The Euro has risen by 0.64% to 1.1425 CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, August 14(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The lack of new antagonisms over the weekend between the US and North Korea has prompted the markets to react accordingly.  Already before the weekend, we detected some signs that at least some market participants had begun looking past...

Over the last number of years, one of the most interesting trends in the physical gold world is the ongoing conversion of large 400 ounce gold bars into smaller high purity 1 kilogram gold bars to meet the insatiable demand of Asian gold markets such as China and India. This transformation of 400 ounce bars into 1 kilogram bars is an established fact and is irrefutable given the large amount of evidence which proves it...

“Add to shopping cart”: Regiodata reported in May that online sales represent about 10% of overall retail sales in Switzerland. (Keystone) According to a European comparison, Swiss residents spend the second-most money annually on online purchases, after British shoppers. Each year, people in Switzerland click their way to an average of CHF1,172 ($1,202) in online goods per person. Shoppers in Britain topped the list...

Swiss Franc The euro is up by 0.19% to 1.1348 CHF EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, August 11(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The downward pressure on US yields, with the 10-year slipping to 2.18%, nearly a two-month low, coupled drop in equities helped underpin the Japanese yen. The dollar traded below JPY109 for the first time since the middle of June. The greenback...

Commercial aircraft already take off and land using their on-board computers (Keystone) Pilotless cargo and passenger planes could be in use within eight years and save airlines billions, according to a report by Swiss bank UBS. But customers remain wary of the new technology despite potential fare reductions. “In the not-too-distant future, we would expect to see a situation where flights are pilotless or the number of...

Fools and Rascals And it’s time, time, time And it’s time, time, time It’s time, time, time that you love And it’s time, time, time… – Tom  Waits [embedded content] Tom Waits rasps about time POITOU, FRANCE – “So how much did you make last night?” “We made about $15,000,” came the reply from our eldest son, a keen cryptocurrency investor. “Bitcoin briefly pierced the $3,500 mark – an all-time high. The market cap of...

Late 2014/early 2015 will perhaps be the closest to a real recovery from the Great “Recession” we shall see in this cycle.  Q1 2015 marked the peak year over year growth rate of GDP in this recovery at 3.76%. That rate compares quite unfavorably with even the feeble post dot com crash recovery high of 4.41% in Q1 2004. It doesn’t even come close to the routine 4-5% year over year growth rates we saw in the late 90s....

Swiss Franc The euro has depreciated by 0.13%  to 1.1312CHF. EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, August 10(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates The net impact is to lift the US dollar, yen and gold. The geopolitical tensions saw more profit-taking in equities. Debt markets are little changed, but the US Treasuries area a little firmer. We suspect that like yesterday, North...

US futures are set for a sharply lower open (at least in recent market terms) following a steep decline in European stocks and a selloff in Asian shares, following yesterday’s sharp escalation in the war of words between the U.S. and North Korea. In a broad risk-off move U.S. Treasuries rose, the VIX surged above 12 overnight, while German bund futures climbed to the highest level in six weeks. The Swiss franc gained...

Asian tourists helped offset a stagnant European demand (Keystone) The number of overnight stays in Swiss hotels rose by 4.4% in the first half of 2017 compared to the same period the year before. Tourists from India and China were largely responsible for the increase in demand. According to figures released by Federal Statistical Office on Monday, tourists – both domestic and international – spent a total of 17.6...