Tag Archives: SNB

A couple of weeks ago, the four central banks that meet in the coming days were thought to be a big deal. Numerous Federal Reserve officials were preparing the market for a summer hike. Risks of a new downturn in Japan spurred speculation that BOJ would ease policy. On the other hand, the neither the Bank of England nor the Swiss National Bank were expected to move ahead of the UK referendum on June 23. Besides...

This posts shows again the stupidity of the financial media, that mixes up assets and liabilities for central banks.SNB FX reserves are assets. They are in different foreign currencies and subject to the valuation effect of these currencies.Our weekly sight deposits report show the liabilities. They are measured in Swiss franc and therefore not subject to valuation effects. They are the only way to measure...

Urs Birchler Am Dienstagabend gab ich an der Uni Zürich meine Abschiedsvorlesung. Inhalt: Geldreformen, die gleichzeitig als Weltreformen gedacht waren oder sind: Corvaja’s Bankokratie, Gesell’s Freiwirtschaft, die Vollgeldinitiative, der Euro. Fazit: Der Versuch, über das Geld die Welt zu erneuern, ist zum Scheitern verurteilt. Im schlimmsten Fall gehen dabei sowohl das Geld kaputt, als auch die angestrebte neue Welt. Bestes Beispiel: der Euro. Der Versuch, Europa via Gemeinschaftswährung...

On April 28, the catalyst the sent the stock price of AAPL to its post-August 25 frash crash lows, and launched a tremor not only within the Nasdaq but the broader market, was news that after several years of being AAPL’s biggest cheerleader, even coming up with price targets north of $200, Carl Icahn had suddenly cooled on the China-focused growth company, and had liquidated his entire stake. But as Icahn was selling, or just before as we don’t know precisely when Icahn, who has since...

The current financial market volatility increasingly reflects loss of faith in policy makers. Celebrity central bankers are learning that they must constantly produce new miracles for their followers. First, the measures implemented since 2009 created an artificial stability and an asset price boom in many markets. But the absolute rate of GDP expansion and level of price changes is inadequate to solve global debt problems. Second, new initiatives seem the risky response of clever...

The SNB increased the equities share from 18% to 20% in Q1/2016. Purchases focused on US equities.It raised holdings in U.S. Equities 32 percent in the first Q1 2016, from $41.3 billion at the end of last year. The S&P 500 rose 0.8 percent over that period. This makes obvious that the central bank goes higher risk. The first risk is the risk on equities, the second one is the dollar that is currently quite expensive. Main Positions: Swiss National Bank, 2007-2013 Still in 2009, the...

The Swiss National Bank has achieved a profit of 5.7 billion CHF in Q1/2016. The total yield on assets per annum was 3.4%.The main contribution comes from gold with price change of 10% in this quarter, hence a total yield of 48%.The total yield on debt was positive with +0.2% thanks to negative interest rates.The deflationary environment let to rising bond prices. Bonds, make up 74% of the SNB portfolio. Here the details of our calculation: Position Total Positionin bn CHF % of Total...

The Q1/2016 update on the SNB investment strategy and its assets. The Swiss National Bank is a passive conservative investor. As opposed to other investors, the exposure in currencies is as important as the strategic asset allocation according asset classes (bonds, equities, cash, real estate).  The importance of currencies is one reason why the SNB is often called a hedge fund, the second the volatility of gains and losses.The SNB balance sheet looks as follows: In this post we will...

Urs Birchler Hier ein Veranstaltungshinweis in eigener Sache: Abschiedsvorlesung von Prof. Dr. Urs BirchlerProfessor of Banking am Institut für Banking und Finance. Das Geldwesen ist aus den Fugen, Reformvorschläge blühen. Freigeld, Vollgeld, Bit-Geld, Negativzins, Bargeldverbot: Was gestern als Wahn erschien, ist heute Wirklichkeit — und umgekehrt. Ein Blick durch’s monetäre Kaleidoskop in die Zukunft… Dienstag, 24. Mai 2016, 18.30Universität Zürich, Aula KOL-G-201, Rämistrasse 71, 8006...

We show the history of Japanese FX interventions. The Japanese only intervened when the USD/JPY was under 80. Therefore the 2016 FX intervention threads at 108 are ridiculous.As opposed to the Swiss National Bank, the Japanese only talk, they do not fight. 2016 Japanese interventions thread Once the Fed finally reduced rate expections, the USD/JPY depreciated from 120 to 108 in a single quarter. (via Reuters and investing.com) Gains for stock markets and a warning of the chances of...