Tag Archive: Featured

House View, September 2020

A surge in new covid-19 cases in a number of countries has interrupted progress towards normality, yet the effects of the virus are becoming more manageable and positive world H2 growth is achievable.

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Versicherungsmarkt Schweiz: deutlich höhere Ergebnisse

Die aggregierten Daten über den Schweizer Versicherungsmarkt zeigen eine deutliche Steigerung der Ergebnisse 2019. Diese fallen pro Teilbranchen zwar unterschiedlich aus, sind aber hauptsächlich auf die Ergebnisse am Kapitalmarkt zurückzuführen.

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Pandemic speeds up push to digital as bank branches close

Swiss lender Credit Suisse is set to launch an overhaul of its digital banking offering, as it uses the coronavirus crisis as a springboard to accelerate the push from bricks-and-mortar branches to online services.

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Sterling Pounded by Brexit Developments

The dollar rebound continues; odds of a near-term stimulus bill in the US are falling; ahead of inflation readings later this week, the US holds a 10-year auction today. Bank of Canada is expected to keep policy steady; Mexico reports August CPI; Brazil reports August IPCA inflation.

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Where Did the US Government Get the Power to Assassinate People?

In an August editorial, the New York Times called for an investigation into the attack on Russian dissident Aleksei Navalny, who was recently transported to Germany in a coma after apparently being poisoned.

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FX Daily, September 10: ECB and Beyond

Overview:  A strong recovery in US stocks, a softer dollar, and higher gold and oil prices may signal the end of the brief though dramatic correction, but the market is in a bit of a holding pattern ahead of the ECB meeting.  Most of the major equity markets in the Asia Pacific region stabilized, except for Hong Kong and China.

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Weekly View – Election nerves increase

The sell-off in stocks last week showed a certain nervousness about the sharp run-up in tech stocks and the role of big option bets. Indeed, prices in some instances had risen too fast. But this was a technical correction. With the US tech titans generating free cash flow, we do not believe we are facing a repeat of the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000. 

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Valcambi refinery denies sourcing ‘dirty’ gold from Dubai

The Swiss-based Valcambi refinery has rejected accusations about gold dealings with a controversial company in the United Arab Emirates.

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ECB Preview

The ECB meets tomorrow and is widely expected to stand pat. Macro forecasts may be tweaked modestly and there are some risks of jawboning against the stronger euro, but it should otherwise be an uneventful meeting. Looking ahead, a lot of room remains for further ECB actions.

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You cannot print your way to prosperity – Part II

Looking at the damage inflicted upon supply chains, production facilities and global trade in particular, how quickly could these operations snap back even if all COVID-related restrictions were lifted tomorrow? Do you think we’ll eventually get back to business as usual, or have we now experienced a permanent shift to a “new normal”?

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The EU’s Drive toward Political Centralization Will Doom Its Economy

In the wake of the economically disastrous covid-19 shutdowns, the political class has desperately tried to save the failing euro system. On July 21 European leaders agreed on what they called a "historic" deal. It was nothing more than a multitrillion euro stimulus package.

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FX Daily, September 09: Investor Anxiety Continues to Run High Despite Some Stability in the Capital Markets

News that the AstraZeneca Phase 3 test had to be stopped to study the adverse reaction of one subject added to the uncertainty of investors amid one of the more significant reversals of risk appetites since March. Equities continued to slump in the Asia Pacific region, with many large markets off more than 1%, led by Australia's more than 2% decline.

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Art Basel and UBS art market survey shows online sales and millennial collectors increasingly important to an art market hit hard by COVID-19

Art Basel and UBS today published a 2020 mid-year survey 'The Impact of COVID-19 on the Gallery Sector' written by renowned cultural economist Dr. Clare McAndrew, Founder of Arts Economics. The survey findings present an analysis of how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted 795 galleries operating in the Modern and contemporary gallery sector, representing 60 different markets across all levels of turnover, throughout the first six months of 2020.

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Switzerland takes Belgium and Mexico off Covid-19 ‘high risk’ list

People arriving in Switzerland from Belgium, Mexico and Luxembourg will no longer have to go into quarantine for ten days.

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Bottleneck In Japanese

Japan’s yen is backward, at least so far as its trading direction may be concerned. This is all the more confusing especially over the past few months when this rising yen has actually been aiding the dollar crash narrative while in reality moving the opposite way from how the dollar system would be behaving if it was really happening.

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We’re Headed toward Stagnation—Unless the Fed Reins In Its Money Printing

The US Fed is considering lifting its inflation target above 2 percent in order to revive the economy. Contrary to the accepted practice, the Fed is not expected to raise an alarm if the measured price inflation begins to rise.

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Bankruptcies Rise Despite Trillions in New Liquidity

Misguided lockdowns have destroyed the global economy and the impact is likely to last for years. The fallacy of the “lives or the economy” argument is evident now that we see that countries like Taiwan, South Korea, Austria, Sweden, and Holland have been able to preserve the business fabric and the economy while doing a much better job managing the pandemic than countries with severe lockdowns.

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FX Daily, September 8: US Threats to Decouple from China and the Greenback Strengthens

The markets remain on edge. US-China tensions are escalating. Strained Brexit talks are set to resume today. Profit-taking in the tech space has continued. The ECB meeting is around the corner. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index snapped a three-day slide today with most markets moving higher, led by a 1% gain in Australia. 

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Monthly Market Monitor – August 2020

Many of the weak dollar trends I noted in June’s update have moderated – even as the dollar has weakened further. US stocks surged over the last month, with growth indices leaving their value counterparts in the dust…again.

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Rights activists want Swiss-Chinese trade deal to be overhauled

Campaigners are urging the Swiss government to renegotiate a six-year-old free trade agreement with China to try to improve human rights and labour conditions for its Uighur Muslim minority.

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