‘Cryptocurrencies too primitive for national money’: SNB director

Cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology they run on are currently far too primitive for the Swiss central bank to consider issuing a digital franc, says board director Thomas Moser. Moser’s comments on Thursday reflected the previously stated stance taken by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) towards an e-franc version of bitcoin.

Swiss residential property risks growing in buy to let, according to Swiss National Bank

On 21 June 2018, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) announced its decision on interest rates, which it left unchanged. Switzerland’s economy has been sailing into the headwinds of a strong currency since the SNB scrapped its exchange rate cap in January 2015 and the Swiss franc briefly went beyond parity with the euro.

Rise in Bund yield will be limited

With the faltering in euro area business sentiment since February, the Italy-led sell-off of risk assets at the end of May and the European Central Bank’s (ECB) dovish meeting in June, we are revising our year-end forecast for the German 10-year Bund yield from 0.9% to 0.6%, as we hinted we might do in a previous note.

‘Cryptocurrencies too primitive for national money’: SNB director

Cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology they run on are currently far too primitive for the Swiss central bank to consider issuing a digital franc, says board director Thomas Moser. Moser’s comments on Thursday reflected the previously stated stance taken by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) towards an e-franc version of bitcoin.

FX Daily, June 22: BOE Spurs Dollar Pullback

The Bank of England's hawkish hold yesterday, spurred by three dissents in favor of an immediate hike, changed the near-term dynamics in the foreign exchange market.  Both the euro and sterling fell to new lows for the year before reversing higher.  Yesterday's gains are being extended today. 

Bi-Weekly Economic Review (VIDEO)

Information and opinions about the economy and markets from Alhambra Investments CEO Joe Calhoun.

Russia Buys 600,000 oz Of Gold In May After Dumping Half Of US Treasuries In April

Russia adds another 600,000 oz to it’s gold reserves in May. Holdings of U.S. government debt slashed in half to $48.7 billion in April. ‘Keeping money safe’ from U.S. and Trump – Danske Bank. Trump increasing the national debt by another 6% to $21.1 trillion in less than 18 months. Asian nations accumulating gold as shield against dollar devaluation and trade wars.

Brent’s Back In A Big Way, Still ‘Something’ Missing

The concept of bank reserves grew from the desire to avoid the periodic bank runs that plagued Western financial systems. As noted in detail starting here, the question had always been how much cash in a vault was enough? Governments around the world decided to impose a minimum requirement, both as a matter of sanctioned safety and also to reassure the public about a particular bank’s status.

Impressive Swiss Recovery After SNB Peg Removal

Retail data shows that the SNB peg removal in January 2015 as early as April 2015 with minimal adverse impact on the economy. Trade surplus showed that Switzerland had fully recovered its lost trade surplus in May and expectations crossed an important threshold into positive territory in June. CHF strengthened since May end, as the market caught wind of the Swiss recovery, and the Grexit would further strengthen the CHF if it were to occur.

Swiss Franc History, from 2004 to 2009: The undervalued franc

A Critical History of the Swiss Franc: During the "global carry trade" period between 2004 and 2007, the euro strongly appreciated against the Swiss franc. Most astonishingly this happened, despite the fact that the Swiss GDP growth was on average 0.5% higher

Irvin Fisher’s Deflationary Spiral

Weak Yen, Is it Really a Currency War?

Some journalists, like Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of the U.K.'s Telegraph and Michael Casey of the Wall Street Journal, have already claimed this to be a shot in the currency wars. Casey focuses exclusively on the BOJ activity and does not even mention GPIF. Evans-Pritchard spends most of his time talking about the bearish yen implications of the increased BOJ purchases, and mentions GPIF only at the very end of the his essay, and even then to...