Category Archive: 1) SNB and CHF

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Negativzinsen: Unsere Schweiz als Versuchskaninchen

2016-09-26

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2016-09-26

In der gestrigen Ausgabe der NZZ am Sonntag wird Nobelpreisträger Paul Krugman zitiert, wie er den Mindestkurs der SNB und deren Negativzinsen lobt. Die Negativzinsen seien ein „wertvolles Experiment“ meint er und „bedankt“ sich dafür sogar bei der SNB. „Die Schweiz eruiert neues Territorium. Aus akademischer Sicht liebe ich das.“

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SNB Monetary policy assessment September 2016 and Comments

2016-09-15

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2016-09-15

The SNB inflation forecast showed a strange diversion of conditional inflation forecasts: Draghi expected inflation to rebound to 1.2% next year and 1.6% in 2018. The SNB, however, predicts 2017 inflation at 0.2% and 2018 at 0.6%. For us, one of the two is wrong.

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Seven years of inaction on SNB rates day won’t end this week

2016-09-14

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2016-09-14

Anyone feeling let down that the European Central Bank didn’t do much last week might just want to skip the Swiss rate decision on Thursday to avoid more disappointment. While the Swiss National Bank may be infamous for some seismic policy changes in the last few years, those bombshells weren’t dropped at scheduled meetings. In fact, the last time the institution altered interest rates at a decision in its public calendar was more than seven years...

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Strong Swiss growth lessens chance SNB will act

2016-09-13

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2016-09-13

Swiss real GDP growth data surprised on the upside in Q2, expanding by 0.6% q-o-q (and 2.5% q-o-q annualised). In addition, growth in the three previous quarters was revised significantly higher. As a result, our GDP growth forecast for growth in Switzerland rises mechanically from 0.9% to 1.5% for 2016.

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Swiss trains the most expensive in Europe

2016-09-09

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2016-09-09

A study by GoEuro, compares the cost of travelling 100km by train. Switzerland led the ranking with the most costly train trips in Europe. Travelling 100km in Switzerland cost CHF 52.

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Swiss National Bank: Carl Menger Prize

2016-09-07

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2016-09-07

Despite her incredible money printing and FX purchases, the SNB has many roots in the Austrian School of Economics, a school that maintains that money printing leads to price inflation. One of the major Austrian economists was Carl Menger.

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Cash in a box catches on as Swiss negative rates bite

2016-09-07

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2016-09-07

It’s a sign the world is getting used to negative interest rates when what once seemed bizarre starts looking like the norm. Consider Switzerland, where more and more companies are taking out insurance policies to protect their cash hoards from theft or damage.

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SNB Survey: 2016 Foreign Exchange Turnover

2016-09-01

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2016-09-01

This press release presents the results for a Swiss National Bank (SNB) survey on turnover in foreign exchange and derivatives markets. The request for data was sent to 30 banks that operate in Switzerland and have a sizeable share in the foreign exchange and over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets. These banks reported the turnover of their domestic offices.

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SNB Balance Sheet Now Over 100 percent GDP

Since 2008 the balance sheet of the Swiss National Bank has risen from 28% to 102% of Swiss GDP. Balance sheets of other central banks have strongly risen, too. But there is one big difference: The risk for the SNB is far higher, the SNB nearly exclusively possesses assets denominated in volatile foreign currency.

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Wir wollen nicht in die EU. Stoppt diese SNB!

2016-08-28

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2016-08-28

Politischen Druck auf die SNB hält Wirtschaftsprofessor Aymo Brunetti für „fatal in einer derart schwierigen Situation“. Dabei macht die SNB Politik, sie führt die Schweiz in den Euro.

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Interim results of the Swiss National Bank as at 30 June 2016

2016-08-25

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2016-08-25

Income statement, 1 January–30 June 2016
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) reports a profit of CHF 21.3 billion for the first half of 2016. A valuation gain of CHF 7.6 billion was recorded on gold holdings. The profit on foreign currency positions amounted to CHF 13.0 billion.

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Why Switzerland’s franc is still strong in four charts

2016-08-17

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2016-08-17

Swiss National Bank President Thomas Jordan keeps saying the franc is “significantly overvalued.” And that’s despite the central bank’s record-low deposit rate and occasional currency market interventions.

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666: The Number Of Rate Cuts Since Lehman

2016-08-05

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2016-08-05

BofA's Michael Hartnett points out something amusing, not to mention diabolical: following the rate cuts by the BoE & RBA this week, "global central banks have now cut rates 666 times since Lehman."

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“Mystery” Buyer Revealed: Swiss National Bank’s US Stock Holdings Rose 50 percent In First Half, To Record $62BN

2016-08-05

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2016-08-05

In a month, quarter and year, in which many have scratched their heads trying to answer just who is buying stocks, as both retail and smart money investors have been aggressively selling, yesterday we got the answer.

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Swiss National Bank’s U.S. equity holdings hit record $61.8 billion last quarter

2016-08-03

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2016-08-03

The value of the Swiss National Bank’s U.S. stock portfolio jumped to a record in June, helped by equity market gains. The holdings climbed to $61.8 billion from $54.5 billion at the end of March, according to calculations by Bloomberg based on the central bank’s regulatory filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and published on Wednesday.

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Switzerland has world’s priciest Big Macs. So eat Swiss chocolate instead.

2016-08-01

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2016-08-01

The Economist invented the Big Mac index in 1986 as a tongue-in-cheek guide to currency valuations. Because the well-known burger is the same throughout much of the world, the magazine thought it could be used as a measure of how over or undervalued a currency was. An overpriced burger suggests an overvalued currency and a cheap one an undervalued currency.

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Greenspan explains negative Swiss Yields

2016-08-01

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2016-08-01

For Alan Greenspan, negative Yield Reflect Spread between Italian and Swiss Bonds. For him, bond prices in general have risen too much.

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The relationship between CHF and gold

Many people think that Switzerland is related to gold due to its inflation-hedging safe-haven status. Historically this is true. With rising U.S. inflation in the 1970s gold appreciated to record-highs. So did the German Mark and even more the Swiss franc, that maintained low inflation levels.

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CHF Price Movements: Correlations between CHF and the German Economy

CHF Correlation to German economy
A big part of Swiss consumption is imported from Germany. Therefore Swiss inflation is often correlated to German inflation. Capital flows often move to Switzerland and Germany at the same time.

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Spiritus rector des kranken Bonussystems ist Oswald Grübel

2016-07-13

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2016-07-13

97 Franken – das war der Kurs der CS-Aktie im Mai 2007. Vergangene Woche notierte die Aktie noch bei einem Zehntel. Bei einem solch dramatischen Kurszerfall muss die CS sich nicht wundern, wenn kritische Fragen gestellt werden. Weshalb beträgt der aktuelle Wert der CS-Titel nur noch rund die Hälfte des in der Bilanz ausgewiesenen? Besteht die Gefahr eines Konkurses der CS? Wer wird dieses Too Big To Fail-Institut allenfalls retten? Die SNB, der...

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