Tag Archive: newsletter

Switzerland ranked world’s fourth most competitive economy

2019-05-31

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2019-05-31

Switzerland is Europe’s most competitive nation, coming fourth in the annual global ranking of the Lausanne-based IMD business school. The small Alpine nation climbed from fifth to fourth place in the 63-country competitiveness ranking. It was helped by economic growth, the stability of the Swiss franc and high-quality infrastructure, IMD said on Tuesday.

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Gold Investment In Switzerland Remains Very Popular

2019-05-31

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2019-05-31

Switzerland gold demand
Investors in Switzerland like gold and it is the second most popular investment after property or real estate20% plan to invest in gold in the next 12 monthsAlmost two-thirds buy or invest in precious metals at their bank; fewer than one-in-ten buy gold online

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Why Being a Politician Is No Longer Fun

2019-05-31

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2019-05-31

Income Inequality and Political Polarization, 1947-2007
As a society, we are ill-prepared for the end of "politics is the solution." It's fun to be a politician when there's plenty of tax revenues and borrowed money to distribute, and when the goodies get bipartisan support. An economy that's expanding all household incomes more or less equally is fun, fun, fun for politicians because more household income generates more income tax revenues and more spending that generates other taxes.

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Canada, Mexico, and the USMCA

2019-05-31

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2019-05-31

The US dollar closed today above CAD1.3500 for the first time since January 2.  Despite the setback, the Canadian dollar is the strongest of the major currencies year-to-date with a little less than a one percent gain.  The yen, in second, has is up about 0.2% (~JPY109.50).  Among emerging market currencies,  the Mexican peso's 2.6% gain puts it in in second place behind the Russian rouble's 7.2% appreciation.

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FX Daily, May 30: Kill Bull: Intermission

2019-05-30

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2019-05-30

Overview:  After significant moves in equities and interest rates, investors are taking a collective breath, waiting for fresh developments.  A nervous calm has settled over the capital market.  China, Japan, and Australian equities leaked lower, but other bourses in the region, including Korea and Taiwan posted modest gains, while Indonesian equities are still responding positively to the recent election.

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Avenues worth exploring in strategic asset allocation

2019-05-30

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2019-05-30

Equity Weights
The prospect of diminishing returns for classic, and previously highly effective, 60/40 portfolios (60% equities, 40% bonds) is leading to changes in strategic asset allocation. Efforts to improve prospects include identifying macroeconomic regimes to guide investments and refining how diversification is understood.

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Europe Comes Apart, And That’s Before #4

2019-05-30

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2019-05-30

EU Pew Survey Overall
In May 2018, the European Parliament found that it was incredibly popular. Commissioning what it calls the Eurobarameter survey, the EU’s governing body said that two-thirds of Europeans inside the bloc believed that membership had benefited their own countries. It was the highest showing since 1983. Voters in May 2019 don’t appear to have agreed with last year’s survey.

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Ranking finds Switzerland lagging on wind power

2019-05-30

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2019-05-30

In a comparison of European solar and wind power generation, Switzerland ranks near the bottom. Per year and inhabitant, Switzerland produces 250 kilowatt hours of solar (236kWh) and wind (14kWh) power – the amount needed to power a dishwasher, roughly. This puts Switzerland in 25th place when compared with the 28 European Union nations, according to a study published by the Swiss Energy Foundation (SES) on Wednesday.

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FX Daily, May 29: Equity Slump Deepens while Yields Plunge

2019-05-29

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2019-05-29

Overview:  The slump in equities continues after the poor showing in the US yesterday.  Nearly all bourses in Asia Pacific and Europe are lower.  Indonesia is the notable exception as domestic operators re-position after the election.  Foreign investors have been notable sellers of Korean and Taiwanese shares this month (in excess of $6.2 bln). Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is testing its lowest levels since March, and the S&P 500 is poised to gap...

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Swiss Trains Test Free Mobile Internet Access

2019-05-29

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2019-05-29

Swiss Trains Mobile Internet Access
The Swiss Federal Railways has started testing free mobile internet based on 3G/4G coverage on the main train routes. However, it does not cover all Swiss operators. The state-owned company has started testing the service on 44 Intercity trains between Zurich and Geneva, St Gallen and Lausanne, and from Basel to Biel, the federal railways announced on Tuesday in a statementexternal link.

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Switzerland GDP Q1 2019: +0.6 percent QoQ, +1.7 percent YoY

2019-05-29

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2019-05-29

Switzerland Gross Domestic Product (GDP) QoQ, Q1 2019
Switzerland’s GDP rose by 0.6% in the 1st quarter of 2019. Growth was driven primarily by increasing domestic demand. Foreign trade also provided positive impetus. Value added grew in most sectors.

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Lesson of the S-Curve: Doing More of What’s Failed Will Fail Spectacularly

2019-05-29

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2019-05-29

S-curve of Rapid Expansion, Stagnation and Decline
I often refer to the S-Curve because Nature so often tracks this curve of ignition, rapid expansion, stagnation and decline. One lesson of the S-Curve is that the human bias to keep doing more of what worked so well in the past leads to doing more of what failed even as results turn negative.

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In Gold We Trust 2019 

2019-05-29

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2019-05-29

Eroding Trust
The New Annual Gold Report from Incrementum is Here. We are happy to report that the new In Gold We Trust Report for 2019 has been released today (the download link can be found at the end of this post). Ronnie Stoeferle and Mark Valek of Incrementum and numerous guest authors once again bring you what has become the reference work for anyone interested in the gold market.

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The Crime of ‘33, Report 27 May

2019-05-28

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2019-05-28

Gold and Silver Price
Last week, we wrote about the impossibility of China nuking the Treasury bond market. Really, this is not about China but mostly about the nature of the dollar and the structure of the monetary system. We showed that there are a whole host of problems with the idea of selling a trillion dollars of Treasurys: Yuan holders are selling yuan to buy dollars, PBOC can’t squander its dollar reserves If it doesn’t buy another currency, it merely tightens...

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FX Daily, May 28: Risk Appetites Curbed, US Leadership Awaited in FX

2019-05-28

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2019-05-28

Overview:  The euro initially reacted positively to the EU Parliament elections.  The populists did not do quite as well as many expected.  The two main groupings failed to secure a majority, but with the help of the Liberals, and possibly the Greens, that did well throughout Europe, a new European Commission will be forged.  The heads of state meet later today, but no real decisions are likely.  The horse trading will likely take most of the next...

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European elections – a more diverse but still pro-Europe parliament

2019-05-28

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2019-05-28

Evolution In EU Turnout Elections, 1979-2019
Voter turnout for European parliament elections surged across the continent, exceeding 50% for the first time in a quarter century and breaking the downward trend of the last four decades. However, differences in turnout across the EU have been substantial and a more fragmented parliament has emerged.Voter turnout was up for the first time ever and at 51%, higher than in any election since 1994. The results delivered a parliament with a...

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Chinese firms stole sensitive data from Swiss-based competitor

2019-05-28

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2019-05-28

Swiss investigators have broken up a Chinese industrial spying scheme that stole hundreds of sensitive documents from a technology company in Switzerland, reports the SonntagsZeitung newspaper. Prosecutors confirmed that a technician was fined for his part in the affair.

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Employment Barometer in the Q1 2019: Positive employment situation

2019-05-27

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2019-05-27

Switzerland Employment Level, Q1 2019
In the 1st quarter 2019, total employment (number of jobs) rose by 1.3% in comparison with the same quarter a year earlier (+0.5% with previous quarter). In full-time equivalents, employment in the same period rose by 1.5%. The Swiss economy counted 6700 more vacancies than in the corresponding quarter of the previous year (+9.4%) with the employment outlook indicator showing a downward trend (–0.1%).

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Swiss authorities intervene to halt exports of nuclear weapons material

2019-05-27

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2019-05-27

Federal authorities are stepping up efforts to prevent the sale of Swiss machinery that could be used to develop nuclear weapons. The latest interventions concern direct sales to the US and France. According to reports by the German-language newspaper NZZ am Sonntag, the federal export group halted the export of suspicious machinery to the US two times last year.

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Forget “Money”: What Will Matter Are Water, Energy, Soil and Food–and a Shared National Purpose

2019-05-27

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2019-05-27

World exports corn
If you want to identify tomorrow's superpowers, overlay maps of fresh water, energy, grain/cereal surpluses and arable land. The status quo measures wealth with "money," but "money" is not what's valuable. "Money" (in quotes because the global economy operates on intrinsically valueless fiat currencies being "money") is wealth only if it can purchase what's actually valuable.

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