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Swiss health insurers to send patients to pharmacy first

Swiss healthcare is typically ranked the world’s second most expensive, as a percentage of GDP, after the US. In Switzerland, compulsory health insurance premiums cover 37% of healthcare costs. Much of the rest is covered by tax payers and non-reimbursable out-of-pocket payments by individuals.

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That Can’t Be Good: China Unveils Another ‘Market Reform’

The Chinese have been reforming their monetary and credit system for decades. Liberalization has been an overriding goal, seen as necessary to accompany the processes which would keep the country’s economic “miracle” on track. Or get it back on track, as the case may be. Authorities had traditionally controlled interest rates through various limits and levers.

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FX Daily, August 14: Markets Paring Exaggerated Response to US Blink

The US cut its list of Chinese goods that will be hit with a 10% tariff at the start of next month by a little roe than half, delaying the others until the mid-December. This spurred a near-euphoric response by market participants throughout the capital markets. However, as the news was digested, it did not seem as much of a game-changer as it may have initially.

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The Internal War in the Deep State Claims Its High Profile Casualty: Jeffrey Epstein

The "traditionalist" Neocons are going to have to decide to fish or cut bait. I've been writing about the fracturing Deep State for the past five years: The conflict has now reached the hot-war stage where bodies are turning up, explained away by the usual laughable covers: "suicide," "accident" and "heart attack." That Jeffrey Epstein's death in a secure cell is being labeled "suicide" tells us quite a lot about the desperation of the faction...

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FX Weekly Preview: Macro Deterioration

The US-China tensions remain the dominant driver of investor risk appetites. President Trump has repeatedly accused China of manipulating its currency on twitter, and finally Treasury Secretary Mnuchiin acquiesced after China failed to prevent the dollar from rising above CNY7.0.

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FX Daily, August 6: Markets Stabilize with Help of CNY Fix in Muted Turnaround Tuesday

Overview: The escalation of the economic conflict between the world's two largest economies is dominating the capital markets.  The US cited China as a currency manipulator after the North American markets closed, ensuring the troubled start to Asian trading after the US equities and yields plummeted on Monday.  The VIX surged to 25%, doubling in the past week.

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Swiss apprenticeships – too many places, not enough takers

Figures on unfilled apprenticeship places show the difficulty of matching supply and demand in the labour market. This year there were 12,000 unfilled apprenticeship positions in Switzerland. Switzerland’s apprenticeship model, which helps match workers’ skills with employer demand, is one driver of Switzerland’s low unemployment (4.9%) – 2018 ILO basis.

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Swiss Central Bank under Pressure as Franc Rises

Yesterday, the Swiss franc reached its highest level against the euro in two years. The EUR/CHF exchange rate reached 1.097 on 24 July 2019, a rate not seen since early 2017. Upward pressure on the franc is partly being driven by expectations of interest rate cuts by eurozone and US central banks. In addition, the franc is considered a safe haven currency and typically rises when global risk perceptions rise.

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BNS, les taux vont encore être baissés

De son bilan démesuré supérieur au PIB suisse. De ne pas avoir vendu les euros achetés quand elle le pouvait. D’avoir dû abandonner le taux plancher de 1.2 CHF pour 1 EUR sous la pression du marché (je l’avais prévu, mais la BNS a quand même tenu 3 ans et demi). Qu’avec les taux négatifs, les caisses de pensions (donc les retraites) subissent des ponctions anormales.

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Rents have risen in Switzerland’s main cities, according to rental website

The website homegate.ch has compiled data on rental prices in Zurich, Basel, Bern and Geneva over the last two years. The data shows how rents have risen in these cities and presents them on maps showing prices rises by suburb in each of these cities.

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Complaint filed against Federer and other Instagram influencers

A Swiss consumer protection organisation has filed a complaint against Swiss tennis star Roger Federer and several other celebrity “influencers”, accusing them of “stealth advertising” on Instagram and other social media sites.

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Misplaced Pride: Most of the “Middle Class” Is Actually Working Class

If we look at these charts, it looks like only the top 10%, or perhaps the top 20% at best, might qualify as "middle class" by the metrics described below. The conventional definition of working class is based on income and education:the working class household earns between $30,000 and $69,000 annually, and the highest education credential in the household is a two-year community college degree or trade certification.

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Swiss pay more for magazines and clothes than other countries

Swiss consumers pay a “high price island” premium of up to 245% for magazines and clothing compared to prices being charged for the same goods in neighbouring countries. A consumer group study found the price differential to be higher in Italy and France than in Germany. For many people living in Switzerland the findings of the Swiss Alliance of Consumer Associations, together with watchdogs in the French and Italian-speaking regions of the...

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Swiss give clear ‘yes’ to corporate tax reform

Swiss voters largely accepted on Sunday a reform of the corporate tax system that will scrap preferential treatment for multinational firms. The result also means a financial boost for the country's ailing pension system. Two years after voters rejected a similar idea to overhaul corporate tax rules, the issue – this time linked controversially to pensions – received a clear thumbs-up.

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FX Daily, May 13: Investors Still Looking for New Balance

The end of the tariff truce between the US and China has discombobulated investors. They had been repeatedly that a deal was close and there had even been talk at the US Treasury about where Trump and Xi should meet to sign the agreement. Now China was given around a month to capitulate to US demands or face a 25% tariff on their remaining exports to the US.

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FX Weekly Preview: Trade, the Dollar, and the Week Ahead

China is isolated on trade. No one supports its trade practices. The idea that China was going to "naturally" evolve to be more like the US, or Europe for that matter, was always fanciful and naive. The emergence of China, as Napoleon warned two centuries ago, would make the world shake.

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FX Daily, May 09: De-Risking as US-China Trade Talks Resume

The end of the tariff truce between the US and China continues to dominate investment considerations. The truce was often cited in narratives explaining the recovery of equities from the Q4 18 slide. Ahead of the midnight US tariff hike, global equities are being smashed. Korea's Kospi was off 3%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was shed 2.4%. Shanghai lost 1.5%.

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Swiss teachers stretched thin with unpaid overtime work

Swiss teachers are still working too much unpaid overtime, particularly in German-speaking Switzerland, according to a new survey by two major teachers’ associations. "Swiss teachers have the highest number of working hours of all OECD countries and work unpaid overtime for hundreds of millions of francs," denounced Beat Zemp, president of the Swiss Teachers’ Association (LCH).

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Brexit to drive pound to Swiss franc exchange rates

Yesterday the PM’s deputy David Liddington confirmed that the UK will be taking part in European elections, therefore in my view the cross-party talks between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn are over. If the Prime Minister thought that they would be able to come to an agreement in the upcoming days Mr Liddington would not have made the announcement yesterday.

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Gun law and corporate tax reforms set to be approved

Opponents of restrictions on gun ownership in Switzerland have not been able to win substantial additional support over the past months, according to an opinion poll ahead of a nationwide vote on May 19. The No camp lags more than 30 percentage points behind the supporters, a survey published by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation on Wednesday as found.

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