Tag Archive: ECB

The European Transfer Union From North To South and from Poor to Rich between 1999 and 2007

cyprus, spain, italy, france, austria, portugal, germany, wealth europe in comparison

Cheap ECB rates and rising home prices helped to enrich Southern Europeans between 1999 and 2007. Germany's middle-class and poor, most of them not owning a home, were the ones that financed it.

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European Wealth Reports: Why “Median” Italians are Far Richer than Germans

Italy home sales business loans 2000-2012

We explain why according to the European wealth reports "median" Italians are more wealthy than Germans. The main reasons are high savings and accumulation of wealth for the average family until the 1990s, often invested in homes and real estate. Low ECB interest rates finally let the value of the home rise strongly.

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The Big Swiss Faustian Bargain: Differences between SNB, ECB and Fed Money Printing Explained

Potential losses due to money printing are for the Fed: 1.2% of GDP, Bundesbank: 5% of GDP, SNB: 12% of GDP.

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Ways to the Northern Euro

Two ways for building the Northern euro, exit of Southern members or slow creation of Northern euro with currency interventions of central banks.

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Because They Knew What They Were Doing: The Parallels between European and SNB Leaders

Similarly as European leaders knew what they were doing with the euro, namely introducing a not feasible currency, Swiss National Bank did between 2005 and 2008, namely the absolutely wrong thing.

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The Fairy Tale of Rising Competitiveness in the European Periphery

2012-12-17

by George Dorgan

2012-12-17

In our post we look on two questions concerning competitiveness for the European periphery: When will local production be cheaper than imported products? Do people have the money to buy these local products? It does not help reducing labor costs if local production costs still more than imported products. The second aspect is: even if …

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Definitions of money supply in the context of the SNB

Monetary Aggregates according SNB M0 M1 M2 M3

Euro Morons: Hyperinflation Successfully Avoided, Stagflation Successfully Created

2012-12-01

by George Dorgan

2012-12-01

Keeping Greece in euro zone, eurocrats or better “euro morons” have successfully avoided a weak drachma and a following Greek hyperinflation. Instead they successfully created stagflation. Currently European HICP inflation is at 2.5%, far above the max. 2.0% official ECB mandate, but the euro is becoming weaker and weaker. German salaries are rising with 2.6% …

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The Eurozone crisis between euro-morons and zombie-bankers

Falling Unit Labour Costs, but Rising Production Prices in the Periphery. Is this Competitiveness?

2012-11-17

by George Dorgan

2012-11-17

Currently European HICP inflation is at 2.5%, far above the 2.0% official ECB mandate, but the euro is becoming weaker and weaker. German salaries are rising with 2.6% per year. At the same time, the ECB cannot hike interest rates, because it wants to provide cheap money to the periphery. The periphery continues to buy German products, even …

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Did the SNB Front-Run ECB Decisions Far Ahead of Hedge Funds?

2012-10-30

by George Dorgan

2012-10-30

We think that the Swiss National Bank invested far more in Italian and Spanish bonds than analysts like Standard and Poor’s expected and was able to front-run ECB decisions. This new style of hedge funds, formerly called “central banks”, can refinance at zero percent and is able to show a lot better performance than the …

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SNB Monetary Data Week October 26

2012-10-29

by George Dorgan

2012-10-29

Seasonal effects, the good months for the SNB and the US economy, but weaker ones for emerging markets and Switzerland Despite the seasonal effects between October and March, the SNB is not able to sell currency reserves consistently. Traditionally the USD gets stronger and stocks rise over the autumn months till January. This year’s stocks appreciation was possibly already anticipated …

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SNB Monetary Data Week October 19

2012-10-22

by George Dorgan

2012-10-22

Seasonal effects, the good months for the SNB and the US economy, but weaker ones for emerging markets and Switzerland Given that the seasonal effects between October to March have started, the SNB might be able to sell some currency reserves. Traditionally both the USD gets stronger and stocks rise over the autumn months till January. This year’s stocks appreciation was …

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SNB Monetary Data Week October 12

2012-10-15

by George Dorgan

2012-10-15

Seasonal effects, the good months for the SNB and the US economy, but weaker ones for emerging markets and Switzerland, have started Given that the seasonal effects between October to March have started, the SNB might be able to sell some currency reserves. Traditionally both the USD gets stronger and stocks rise over the autumn months till January. This year’s stocks …

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SNB Monetary Data Week October 5

2012-10-08

by George Dorgan

2012-10-08

Seasonal effects, the good months for the SNB and the US economy, but weaker ones for emerging markets and Switzerland, have started Given that the seasonal effects between October to March have started, the SNB might be able to sell some currency reserves. Traditionally the United States and the USD dollar become stronger and stocks rise over the autumn months …

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SNB Monetary Data Week of September 28

2012-10-01

by George Dorgan

2012-10-01

Seasonal effects, the good months for the SNB and the US economy, but weaker ones for emerging markets and Switzerland, have started Given that the seasonal effects between October to March have started, the SNB might be able to sell some currency reserves. Traditionally the United States and the USD dollar become stronger over the autumn months till …

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Do Swiss companies prefer to hold cash at the SNB instead of local banks ?

2012-09-24

by George Dorgan

2012-09-24

The most recent SNB monetary data show that more and more companies are increasing their deposits at the central bank at a quicker speed than local banks. Might this be missing trust in the Swiss banking system ?

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It’s not simply QE3

2012-09-14

by Marc Chandler

2012-09-14

Submitted by Mark Chandler, from marctomarkets.com The outcome of the FOMC meeting is not just a new round of quantitative easing, some might call it QE3. What the Fed announced represents a new chapter in its policy response. The first distinguishing aspect of its decision is the open-ended nature of it. While it has not indicated … Continue reading...

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Isn’t it wonderful to trade with a strong central bank behind you?

2012-09-13

by George Dorgan

2012-09-13

Isn’t it wonderful to have a strong central bank like the SNB sitting behind you when trading Forex? Losses are limited to the floor of 1.20 and in the meantime you can gain forward swaps with the higher euro zone interest rates. Today the Swiss National Bank (SNB) decided in its monetary policy assessment …

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The next SNB rumor: Wall Street Journal and our response

2012-09-12

by George Dorgan

2012-09-12

A bit breathlessly…. The next SNB rumor story comes from the so-well established Wall Street Journal, its columnist Nick Hastings. WSJ: The Swiss National Bank was bold before. And the central bank would be well advised to be just as bold again. When the SNB announced just over a year ago that it was setting a …

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