Monthly Archive: March 2018

Four Charts: Debt, Defaults and Bankruptcies To See Higher Gold

2018-03-21

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2018-03-21

Gold's Resilience, Mar 2015 - 2018
$8.8B Sprott Inc. sees higher gold on massive consumer debt, defaults & bankruptcies. Rising and record U.S. debt load may cause financial stress, weaken dollar and see gold go higher. Massive government and consumer debt eroding benefits of wage growth (see chart).

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Is Profit-Maximizing Data-Mining Undermining Democracy?

2018-03-21

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2018-03-21

Dominance of Google and Facebook, 2014 - 2015
As many of you know, oftwominds.com was falsely labeled propaganda by the propaganda operation known as ProporNot back in 2016. The Washington Post saw fit to promote ProporNot's propaganda operation because it aligned with the newspaper's view that any site that wasn't pro-status quo was propaganda; the possibility of reasoned dissent has vanished into a void of warring accusations of propaganda and "fake news" --which is of course propaganda in...

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The Boom Reality of Uncle He’s Globally Synchronized L

2018-03-21

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2018-03-21

China GDP, Apr 1993 - Mar 2018
Top Chinese leadership is taking further shape. With Xi Jinping’s continuing consolidation of power going on right this minute, most of the changes aren’t really changes, at least not internally. To the West, and to the mainstream, what the Chinese are doing seems odd, if not more than a little off. Unlike in the West, however, there is determined purpose that is in many ways right out in the open. Many here had been expecting that outgoing PBOC...

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BNS; les liquidités des banques suisses au service du QE de la communauté monétaire internationale

2018-03-20

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2018-03-20

Dollar Black Hole
La BNS s’est arrimée à l’euro en 2011 sous le prétexte de soutenir les exportateurs suisses.Ce serait donc la raison de sa transformation en hedge fund. De notre côté, nous avons toujours soutenu depuis 2011 qu’elle n’avait fait que suivre ses collègues dans la pratique du quantitative easing, dans le but de soutenir les grandes banques et autres hedge funds, en les déchargeant de leurs créances publiques à haut risque.

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Swiss Trade Balance February 2018: Foreign Trade at a High Level

2018-03-20

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2018-03-20

Swiss exports and imports, seasonally adjusted (in bn CHF), February 2018
In February 2018, exports increased by 1.8%, confirming their positive trend. After their January record, imports fell back (-9.8%). However, they continued to grow at a high level, at 16.1 billion francs. At the entrance, the flagship markets Europe and North America led the result.

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Emerging Markets: Preview of the Week Ahead

2018-03-20

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2018-03-20

EM ended Friday under renewed selling pressures, and capped off a mostly softer week. COP, THB, and TWD were the best performers last week, while TRY, RUB, and ZAR were the worst. Despite a widely expected 25 bp hike, this week’s FOMC meeting still has potential to weigh on EM.

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Rolex ‘most reputable global brand’ for third straight year

2018-03-20

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2018-03-20

Swiss watch brand Rolex has topped a ranking of the world’s most reputable brands for a third year in a row. Rolex beat Danish toy firm Lego for the top spot, while Swiss food manufacturer Nestlé jumped 21 places to rank 33rd. The Reputation Institute compiled the list in its annual Global RepTrack 100external link, after asking more than 230,000 people in 15 countries to rank some of the world’s biggest companies based on criteria such as ethical...

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Swiss voters could get to decide on Switzerland’s Winter Olympics bid

2018-03-20

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2018-03-20

In October 2017, when Switzerland’s Federal Council announced the government would stand behind Sion’s bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics, it sparked a backlash. A survey run by Tamedia in February 2018 suggests 59% of the Swiss public are against the bid, according to RTS. The estimated cost to Swiss taxpayers is close to CHF 1 billion. Other costs, to be borne by the host canton Valais and other cantons, are expected on top of this federal...

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US Industry Experiences The Full 2014 Again in February

2018-03-20

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2018-03-20

US Industrial Production, Jan 2006 - 2018
In February 2018, it was like old times for the US industrial sectors. Prior to the 2015-16 downturn, the otherwise moribund economy did produce two genuine booms. The first in the auto sector, the other in energy. Without them, who knows what the no-recovery recovery would have looked like. They were for the longest time the only bright spots.

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New CHF200 banknote to be introduced in August

2018-03-19

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2018-03-19

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has announced that the latest addition to the new banknote series – the CHF200 note ($209) - will go into circulation on August 22. The brown note’s key motif will be physical matter. It will “showcase Switzerland’s scientific expertise”, the SNB said a press release on Monday.

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Bi-Weekly Economic Review

2018-03-19

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2018-03-19

Bob Williams and Joseph Y. Calhoun talks about Bi-Weekly Economic Review for March 15, 2018.

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FX Weekly Preview: The Fed and More

2018-03-19

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2018-03-19

The most significant event in the coming week is the first FOMC meeting under the Chair Powell. At ECB President Draghi’s first meeting he cut interest rates. He cuts rates at his second meeting as well, underwinding the two hikes the ECB approved under Trichet. At BOJ Governor Kuroda’s first meeting, an aggressive monetary policy was announced that was notable not only in its size, but also in the range of assets to be purchased under the...

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Weekly Technical Analysis: 19/03/2018 – USD/JPY, EUR/USD, GBP/USD, NZD/USD, USD/CHF

2018-03-19

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2018-03-19

USD/CHF, March 19
The USDCHF pair leaned well on 0.9488 level to resume its positive trading, on its way towards our first waited target at 0.9581, as the price moves inside bullish channel that appears on the above chart, supported by the EMA50 that protects trading inside this channel, noting that breaching the targeted level will extend the pair’s gains to reach 0.9675.

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Emerging Markets: What Changed

2018-03-19

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2018-03-19

Hong Kong may impose a tax on unsold apartments as an effort to increase supply and cool off the housing market. Bank of Israel’s MPC had a split vote last month for the first time in three years. South Africa President Ramaphosa said the ANC wants Julius Malema of the opposition EFF to rejoin the party. Former South Africa President Zuma will face trial on 16 criminal charges.

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Buy Silver And Sell Gold Now

2018-03-19

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2018-03-19

Gold:Silver Ratio, 1720 - 2018
Buy silver and sell gold now – Frisby. Gold should cost 15 times as much as silver. Silver might have disappointed in short term – But it’s time to buy. Editor’s note: Silver has outperformed stocks, bonds and gold over long term (see table).

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SWISS boss says that Geneva airport routes are not guaranteed

2018-03-18

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2018-03-18

The CEO of Swiss International Air Lines has said that it is not impossible that the carrier’s Geneva operations be taken over by Eurowings, Lufthansa’s low-cost arm, in 2019. In an interview published in the Agefi newspaper on Monday, Thomas Klühr said he remained “confident” that such a scenario would not come about, but that it depended on the Swiss airline making a profit on its Geneva operations through the course of 2018.

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Captation des capitaux retraite LPP, le bras de fer…

2018-03-18

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2018-03-18

C’est une réforme majeure du 2ème pilier qui a été repoussée sous la Coupole fédérale. Dans le cadre de la modification du régime des prestations complémentaires, le Conseil national a refusé de limiter le retrait de l’avoir vieillesse sous forme de capital.

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Checking In on the Four Intersecting Cycles

2018-03-18

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2018-03-18

Intersection of Four Long-Term Cycles, 1900 - 2020
Correspondent James D. recently asked for an update on the four intersecting cycles I've been writing about for the past 10 years. Here's the chart I prepared back in 2008 of four long-term cycles: 1. Generational (political/social).2. Price inflation/wage stagnation (economic). 3. Credit/debt expansion/contraction (financial). 4. Relative affordability of energy (resources).

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How Much Longer Can We Get Away With It?

2018-03-18

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2018-03-18

Debt Securities and Loans, 1960 - 2018
Alas, fakery isn't actually a solution to fiscal/financial crisis.. This chart of "debt securities and loans"--i.e. total debt in the U.S. economy--is also a chart of the creation and distribution of new money, as the issuance of new debt is the mechanism in our financial system for creating (or "emitting" in economic jargon) new currency: when a bank issues a new home mortgage, for example, the loan amount is new currency created out of the...

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Europe chart of the week – Employment

2018-03-17

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2018-03-17

Euro area employment grew for the 18th consecutive quarter in Q4 2017 (+0.3% q-o-q), and is now 1.5% above its pre-crisis (2008) level. By contrast, hours worked per person employed decreased during the same period, remaining 4% below their pre-crisis level. The two data series have followed divergent trends since the start of the economic recovery. Between Q1 2008 and Q2 2013, the total amount of labour input used by firms decreased massively.

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