Monthly Archive: December 2017

EU tax grey list splits Federal Council

2017-12-11

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2017-12-11

Johann Schneider
It’s “hardly a tragedy” that the European Union has placed Switzerland on a grey list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, says Finance Minister Ueli Maurer. Economics Minister Johann Schneider-Ammann, on the other hand, says he is “irritated” by the move.

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What Is Money? (Yes, We’re Talking About Bitcoin)

2017-12-11

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2017-12-11

What is money? We all assume we know, because money is a commonplace feature of everyday life. Money is what we earn and exchange for goods and services. Everyone thinks the money they’re familiar with is the only possible system of money—until they run across an entirely different system of money.

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Emerging Markets: Preview of the Week Ahead

2017-12-11

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2017-12-11

EM FX closed on a firm note, though most currencies were down for the entire week. TRY and ZAR outperformed, but we do not think that will be sustained. FOMC meeting this week will provide some event risk for EM.

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Giant Sucking Sound Sucks (Far) More Than US Industry Now

2017-12-11

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2017-12-11

Case Study in Conundrum, Jan 1997 - 2004
There are two possibilities with regard to stubbornly weak US imports in 2017. The first is the more obvious, meaning that the domestic goods economy despite its upturn last year isn’t actually doing anything positive other than no longer being in contraction. The second would be tremendously helpful given the circumstances of American labor in the whole 21st century so far. In other words, perhaps US consumers really are buying at a healthy pace,...

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Large email hack reported – Swiss agency tool lets you check if your account was compromised

2017-12-10

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2017-12-10

It’s the question lurking in many people’s minds, especially during the frenzy of online Christmas shopping: has my email account been hacked? MELANI has got your back – up to a point. The Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance (MELANI), is part of the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service.

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General Electric to cut 1,400 Swiss jobs

2017-12-10

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2017-12-10

General Electric (GE) has announced plans to cut around a third of its workforce based in northern Switzerland as the American multinational responds to a sharp fall in demand for fossil fuel power equipment. GE aims to cut up to 1,400 jobs over the next two years at its GE Power unit in the northern Swiss canton of Aargau, where it employs 4,200 people unit focusing on gas and steam turbine production, but said no locations would close. The unit...

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Reduced Trade Terms Salute The Flattened Curve

2017-12-10

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2017-12-10

US Imports, Jan 2007 - 2017
The Census Bureau reported earlier today that US imports of foreign goods jumped 9.9% year-over-year in October. That is the second largest increase since February 2012, just less than the 12% import growth recorded for January earlier this year.

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The Santa Claus Rally is Especially Pronounced in the DAX

2017-12-10

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2017-12-10

Santa Clause
Every year a certain stock market phenomenon is said to recur, anticipated with excitement by investors: the Santa Claus rally. It is held that stock prices typically rise quite frequently and particularly strongly just before the turn of the year. I want to show you the Santa Claus rally in the German DAX Index as an example. Price moves are often exaggerated in the German stock market, which leads to quite pronounced – and hence profitable –...

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Switzerland’s “harmful tax regime” gets it on EU grey list

2017-12-09

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2017-12-09

This week EU Finance ministers came out with a list of countries it thinks don’t measure up to its definition of good tax behaviour. There are two categories: blacklist and so-called “grey list”. Black is bad and grey is heading toward good, but not yet there. Switzerland is on the “grey list”.

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The Latte Index: Using The Impartial Bean To Value Currencies

2017-12-09

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2017-12-09

The Impartial Bean
Like any other market, there are many opinions on what a currency ought to be worth relative to others. With certain currencies, that spectrum of opinions is fairly narrow. As an example, for the world’s most traded currency – the U.S. dollar – the majority of opinions currently fall in a range from the dollar being 2% to 11% overvalued, according to organizations such as the Council of Foreign Relations, the Bank of International Settlements, the...

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Emerging Markets: What Changed

2017-12-09

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2017-12-09

China eased curbs on coal use for heating in the northern provinces to cope with colder weather. Poland announced a cabinet shuffle. Poland’s lower house approved the controversial judicial reform bill. President Trump announced that the US recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Brazil COPOM was more dovish than expected after cutting rates 50 bp to 7.0%. Chile central bank cut its 2017 and 2018 inflation forecasts and shifted to a more dovish...

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Bailins Coming In EU – 114 Italian Banks Have Non Performing Loans Exceeding Tangible Assets

2017-12-09

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2017-12-09

Banks with Texas Highest Rate
Bailins Coming In EU – 114 Italian Banks Have NP Loans Exceeding Tangible Assets. Italy opposes ECB proposal that holds banks to firm deadlines for writing down bad loans. Italy’s banks weighed down under €318bn of bad loans. New ECB rules could ‘derail’ any recovery in Italy’s financial system. Draft proposal requires banks to provision fully for loans that turn sour from 2018. ECB insists banks have better access to collateral on delinquent debt...

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The Party of Spend More vs. the Party of Tax Less

2017-12-09

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2017-12-09

Frédéric Bastiat
The Senate just passed a 500-page tax reform bill. Assuming it lives up to its promise, it will cut taxes on corporations and individuals. Predictably, the Left hates it and the Right loves it. I am writing to argue why the Right should hate it (no, not for the reason the Left does, a desire to get the rich).

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Comment les cédules hypothécaires suisses alimentent le marché européen des produits dérivés

2017-12-08

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2017-12-08

couverture ii
Beaucoup d’emprunteurs ne se rendent pas compte qu’en concluant le contrat, ils acceptent que leur hypothèque soit transmise à des tiers. […] Les clauses de transmission de l’hypothèque à des tiers sont pratique courante, comme il ressort de nos prises de renseignement auprès [d’UBS,] Credit Suisse, Banque cantonale de Zurich et Raiffeisen.

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FX Daily, December 08: Brexit Talks Move to Stage II, While Greenback Remains Firm

2017-12-08

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2017-12-08

Sufficient progress will be judged to have been made, and negotiations of the separation between the UK and EU will be allowed to enter the second stage. The formal decision will be made at next week's EU summit. To be sure, "sufficient progress," which the diplomatic-speak that does not mean that any agreement has really been reached, but rather that the UK has made a few concessionary signals.

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L’Union européenne fait semblant de lutter contre l’évasion fiscale. Attac

2017-12-08

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2017-12-08

Les paradis fiscaux lovés au coeur de l’UE, de l’Asie et des Etats-Unis d’Amérique sont occultés… L’analyse vire à la farce! Après avoir étudié la situation de 92 pays en matière de lutte contre l’évasion fiscale, l’Union européenne n’en retient donc que 17 sur sa liste noire des paradis fiscaux. Parmi ces États dits « non-coopératifs » on trouve, entre autres, le Panama, la Tunisie, les Emirats arabes unis, Trinité et...

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Airbnb charges some customers more than others, particularly the Swiss

2017-12-08

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2017-12-08

AirBNB
Many Swiss residents travel to neighbouring eurozone countries for their holidays. These countries are close and Swiss francs go far there. However, to get the most out of a strong currency you need a good exchange rate. If a Swiss resident presenting euro cash at a checkout in Germany or France was told they couldn’t pay in euros because they live in Switzerland – “I’m sorry sir but you live in Switzerland, you must pay in Swiss francs at our...

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“Gnomes Of Zurich” In Panic As Saudi Corruption Crackdown Sparks Flood Of Money Laundering Inquiries

2017-12-08

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2017-12-08

Zurich
There are two divergent views on the crackdown on corruption by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), which led to the arrest and detention of 200 princes, ministers and former ministers. On one hand, it was a masterstroke which will earn political capital with the Saudi people and catalyse an Arab Spring in which MBS is a modernizing reformer who will liberalise Islam.

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Silver’s Positive Fundamentals Due To Strong Demand In Key Growth Industries

2017-12-08

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2017-12-08

Silver Price in USD, Jan 2013 - 2017
Silver’s Positive Fundamentals Due To Strong Demand In Key Growth Industries. Increased efforts in green energy and advanced technology set to boosts silver’s demand. Four-year supply deficit set to increase due to fewer mine openings and discoveries. Bank manipulation may be why silver under performing. TD Securities and the Bank of Montreal expect silver to be best performing precious metal in 2018.

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Gross domestic product by canton in 2015: Economic activity slowed down in Switzerland in 2015

2017-12-07

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2017-12-07

Gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed between 2014 and 2015 in most cantons. Nevertheless, the cantons of Neuchâtel (+ 4.4%), Schaffhausen (+ 2.9%), Schwyz (+ 2.9%) and Zug (+ 2.8%) recorded a clearly positive development. The canton of Zurich once again made the biggest contribution to the nationwide growth.

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