Tag Archive: Featured

Swiss sustainable finance: world leader or wishful thinking?

2020-07-06

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2020-07-06

The Swiss financial centre wants to take a lead in ethical investing. NGOs, however, fear the banks are more interested in cashing in than saving the planet. One thing everyone agrees on is the need for a universal definition of sustainable finance and measures to oversee the sector.

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What Makes You Think the Stock Market Will Even Exist in 2024?

2020-07-06

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2020-07-06

The Fruit of Financialization, 1980-2014
Given the extremes of the stock market's frauds and even greater extremes of wealth/income inequality it has created, tell me again why the stock market will still exist in 2024? When I read a financial pundit predicting a bull market in stocks through 2024, blah-blah-blah, I wonder: what makes you think the stock market will even exist in 2024, at least in its current form?

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EM Preview for the Week Ahead

2020-07-06

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2020-07-06

Risk assets remain hostage to swings in market sentiment. Stronger than expected US jobs data last week was welcome news. However, the tug of war between improving economic data and worsening viral numbers is likely to continue this week, with many US states reporting record high infection rates.

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The Social Consequences of Zero Interest Rates

2020-07-06

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2020-07-06

Japan's Innovation in Decline, 1990-2005
Anyone who has ever been to Japan knows: Japan is special. The country has many strange habits. The Japanese culture is simply different and many peculiarities are hardly understood in the West. But it's not only the old established traditions that are foreign to us Westerners.

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Will the Police Crack Down on Lockdown Violators the Second Time Around?

2020-07-06

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2020-07-06

It will be very interesting if the police—who did nothing to disperse protests that were obviously in violation of bans on mass gatherings—turn around and arrest business owners and other "violators" of a second round of stay-at-home orders.

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New cars on Swiss roads failed to meet emissions targets

2020-07-05

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2020-07-05

Fuel consumption and emissions limits for new cars in Switzerland missed their target in 2019 for the fourth year in a row. This resulted in sanctions totalling CHF78 million for car importers.

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Swiss retail sales up 30 percent in May after COVID-19 measures eased

2020-07-05

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2020-07-05

Recently published figures show a overall jump of 30.2% in retail sales in May 2020 compared to April 2020. May’s rise of 30.2% follows falls of 6.5% in March and 13.7% in April.

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Reality Beckons: Even Bigger Payroll Gains, Much Less Fuss Over Them

2020-07-05

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2020-07-05

What a difference a month makes. The euphoria clearly fading even as the positive numbers grow bigger still. The era of gigantic pluses is only reaching its prime, which might seem a touch pessimistic given the context. In terms of employment and the labor market, reaction to the Current Employment Situation (CES) report seems to indicate widespread recognition of this situation. And that means how there are actually two labor markets at the moment.

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Gold Will “Trend Toward $10,000 Per Ounce Or Higher” Over The Next Four Years

2020-07-05

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2020-07-05

You’re likely aware of the price action in gold lately. Gold has rallied from $1,591 per ounce on April 1 to $1,782 per ounce as of today. That’s a 12% gain in less than three months.

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Swiss salaries rise faster than inflation for the first time in 2 years

2020-07-04

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2020-07-04

In 2019, Swiss salaries were on average of 0.9% higher than the year before. A nominal rise of +0.9% combined with low inflation of 0.4% delivered a real boost of 0.5% to someone earning an average salary in Switzerland.

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Novartis pays big fine for bribing doctors in the US

2020-07-04

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2020-07-04

Swiss pharma company Novartis will pay $729 million (CHF688 million) to US authorities in an out-of-court settlement over various charges, including that the company bribed doctors to use its drugs.

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Dancing Through the Geopolitical Minefield

2020-07-04

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2020-07-04

The Global Wealth Pyramid
The elites dancing through the minefield all have plans, but how many are prepared for the punch in the mouth? Open any newspaper from the past 100 years and you will soon find a newsworthy geopolitical hotspot or conflict. 

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The Disastrous Legacy of Woodrow Wilson

2020-07-04

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2020-07-04

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Princeton University has made it official: Woodrow Wilson’s name no longer will have any place on campus. The former president, or at least his memory, now is part of cancel culture, which is sweeping the nation. The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs will replace the former president’s name with “Princeton,” and Wilson College now will be called First College.

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Fewer cows, more cars: Switzerland misses its emission targets

2020-07-03

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2020-07-03

Switzerland’s emissions have declined over the last 30 years, but not enough to meet the national targets set for 2020. What’s behind the gap? By 2020, greenhouse gas emissions in Switzerland should be down by 20% from what they were in 1990. That’s the target outlined in the federal CO2 law.

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Willkommen in einer Zukunft ohne Zins

2020-07-03

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2020-07-03

Die SNB, die EZB und andere Zentralbanken erwarten auch langfristig keine Zinswende – und machen Nullzinsen zur Regel. Eine Übersicht der Prognosen. Diese Woche ist die Welt einer Zukunft ohne positive Zinssätze ein Stückchen näher gerückt. Schwedens Notenbank erneuerte ihren Zinspfad.

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Dollar Soft Ahead of Jobs Report

2020-07-03

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2020-07-03

Presidential Elections Odds, 2020
Re-shutdowns continue to spread across the US; the dollar has come under pressure again. Jobs data is the highlight ahead of the long holiday weekend in the US; weekly jobless claims will be reported. FOMC minutes were revelatory; the Fed for now will rely on “outcome-based” forward guidance and asset purchases to achieve its goals; US House passed the latest China sanctions bill.

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How Historians Changed the Meaning of “Liberalism”

2020-07-03

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2020-07-03

Understandably enough, the current disfavor into which socialism has fallen has spurred what Raimondo Cubeddu (1997: 138) refers to as “the frenzy to proclaim oneself a liberal.” Many writers today have recourse to the stratagem of “inventing for oneself a ‘liberalism’ according to one’s own tastes” and passing it off as an “evolution” from past ideas.

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FX Daily, July 2: Dollar Thumped Ahead of US Jobs Report

2020-07-02

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2020-07-02

Market optimism over the possibility of a vaccine in early 2021 overshadowed the continued surge in US cases, where the 50k-a-day threshold of new cases has been breached.  Following the NASDAQ close yesterday at record highs, global equities have advanced.  Led by Hong Kong returning from yesterday's holiday, Asia Pacific equities rallied.  Most local markets rose by more than 1%, though Tokyo and Taiwan lagged.

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Coronavirus: Swiss government makes masks compulsory on public transport

2020-07-02

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2020-07-02

On 1 July 2020, Switzerland’s federal government announced that it would become compulsory to wear masks on public transport from 6 July 2020. Due to the the growing number of people using public transport and a rise in the number of people testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 since mid-June, the Federal Council has decided to make it compulsory for those taking public transport to wear a mask.

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Swiss government extends coronavirus economic support

2020-07-02

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2020-07-02

The Federal Council is extending short-term unemployment benefits by another six months and plans to help cushion financial losses faced by public transport. On Wednesday, the government announced that it is extending the maximum period for receiving partial unemployment support from 12 to 18 months to counteract a rise in unemployment.

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