Tag Archive: newsletter

Record year for money laundering tip-offs

2020-04-26

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2020-04-26

The number of reports of suspected money laundering jumped by about 25% in Switzerland last year. According to the Federal Money Laundering Reporting Officeexternal link, 7,705 reports were filed in 2019, compared to 6,126 the previous year.

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Thoughts on the Potential Market Impact of US Downgrades

2020-04-26

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2020-04-26

Our sovereign rating model suggests the US will lose its AAA/Aaa rating.  With fiscal stimulus efforts continuing with this latest $484 bln package, the case for downgrades just keep getting stronger but the timing is unclear.  How might markets react?  We look back to 2011 for some clues.

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Central Banks and the Next Crisis: From Deflation to Stagflation

2020-04-26

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2020-04-26

All over the world, governments and central banks are addressing the pandemic crisis with three main sets of measures: Massive liquidity injections and rate cuts to support markets and credit.Unprecedented fiscal programs aimed at providing loans and grants for the real economy.Large public spending programs, fundamentally in current spending and relief measures.

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Swiss running low on butter

2020-04-25

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2020-04-25

A shortage of frozen butter in Switzerland has the industry wanting to import 1,000 tons. Dairy farmers disagree. On Thursday an umbrella group for the dairy sector announced that it had applied to the federal authorities for permission to import 1,000 tons of butter.

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Dollar Steady as Global Economy Falls Off a Cliff

2020-04-25

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2020-04-25

Mexico Bond and CDS, 2020
The virus news stream is negative today; the dollar is trying to build on its recent gains. Weekly jobless claims are expected at 4.5 mln vs. 5.245 mln last week; regional Fed manufacturing surveys for April continue to roll out. ECB confirmed reports that it will accept sub-investment grade debt as collateral; EU leaders will hold a video conference today.

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Why Markets Are Rallying as Millions Become Unemployed

2020-04-25

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2020-04-25

Wouldn’t you feel great knowing that your stock picking is fully insured by the Fed? Billionaires and wealthy hedge fund managers know the feeling.

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Business Owners Understand Why the Economy Can’t Just Be “Reopened”

2020-04-25

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2020-04-25

My oldest turned seventeen last month. To commemorate the occasion, she and I watched Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I’d taken her to her first (allegedly) rated-R movie a couple years ago to see the quite good Baby Driver, but this was Tarantino.

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FX Daily, April 24: Markets Limp into the Weekend

2020-04-24

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2020-04-24

Overview:  The reversal in US equities yesterday set the stage for today's losses.  All the Asia Pacific bourses fell today but Australia.  For the week, the regional index is off more than 2%.  Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 was flat for the week coming into today's sessions.  It is off around 0.5% in late morning activity. 

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SNB Interim Results: -38 Billion, An Analysis

2020-04-24

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2020-04-24

The Swiss National Bank reports a loss of CHF 38.2 billion for the first quarter of 2020. The loss on foreign currency positions amounted to CHF 41.2 billion.

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AxisOfEasy Salon #1: Hypernormalisation, Legitimacy and Simulacrum

2020-04-24

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The first episode in the AxisOfEasy Salon and Interviews series with the AoE Contributors: Charles Hugh Smith, Jesse Hirsh and Mark E. Jeftovic.

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Coronavirus: predicting post-lockdown Switzerland with positivity

2020-04-24

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2020-04-24

As Switzerland moves towards easing Covid-19 social restrictions, some fear the virus will get away again. A key part of containing the spread is testing. One way to evaluate how comprehensive testing is is to look at positivity, the percentage of tests that are positive. 

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Switzerland facing biggest economic slump since 1975

2020-04-24

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2020-04-24

In a revised forecast in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, federal authorities predict GDP will contract by 6.7% in 2020 and recover slowly in 2021. On Thursday, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) announced that it had adjusted 2020 economic forecasts to take into account sporting events affected by the pandemic.

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The Fallen Kings & The Bond Throne of Collateral

2020-04-24

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2020-04-24

UST Yield Curve, 2017-2020
There is no schadenfreude at times like these, no time to dance on anyone’s grave. Victory laps are a luxury that only central bankers take – always prematurely. The world already coming apart because of GFC1, what comes next with GFC2 and then whatever follows it? Another “bond king” has thrown in the towel.

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EM Sovereign Rating Model For Q2 2020

2020-04-24

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2020-04-24

Emerging Markets Q2 2020
The major ratings agencies are punishing Emerging Markets (EM) credits much more than their DM counterparts.  Our own sovereign ratings model suggests that there is still more pain to come. We have produced this interim ratings model to assist investors in assessing relative sovereign risk across the major EMs. 

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Your Supermarket Overlords: Why Barbados Needs a Voluntary Quarantine

2020-04-24

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2020-04-24

On Wednesday, April 1, the acting prime minister of Barbados, Hon. Santia Bradshaw, came on the local news station to announce a mandatory partial shutdown to combat COVID-19. She announced that starting April 3, all “nonessential” businesses would remain closed until midnight April 14.

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Kauf von Main Street Capital – Monatszahler im Aktien Depot ??

2020-04-24

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2020-04-24

Am Aktienmarkt ist Erholung zu erkennen, aber ist diese von Dauer? Ich kaufe trotzdem regelmässig nach, komme was wolle. Ich nutze die Gelegenheit, um Main Street Capital mit starkem Abschlag aufzustocken und habe mir 50 Aktien gekauft. Jetzt besitze ich insgesamt 200 Stück. Hier geht’s übrigens zum letzten Aktien Kauf ABB Ltd.

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FX Daily, April 23: Investors Take PMI Crash in Stride

2020-04-23

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2020-04-23

Overview: Investors have remained fairly calm in the face of flash April PMI crashes and an increase of virus cases in several European countries. Most equity markets in the Asia Pacific region rose, with the notable exceptions of China and Australia.  The Nikkei rose for the first time this week, and its 1.5% gain led the region.

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How Swiss drones and robots are changing farming

2020-04-23

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2020-04-23

Remote sensing, big data, artificial intelligence and robotics are being integrated into everyday farm management. Based on information relayed by a Swiss start-up, the owner of a sugar mill in India tells local cane farmers it’s almost time to harvest their crop.

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Gold Will Reach $3,000/oz: “Fed Can’t Print Gold” and Is “Ultimate Store Of Value” – Bank of America

2020-04-23

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2020-04-23

Gold in USD – 3 Days
Gold in USD – 3 Days Gold prices are 0.7% higher today after falling just 0.3% yesterday as traders sought refuge in safe haven gold as oil prices collapsed lower again. Oil slumped to nearly $15 a barrel, its lowest since 1999 as the economic fallout from government lockdowns and the shutting down of entire economies impacts risk assets and commodities dependent on economic growth.

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An International Puppet Show

2020-04-23

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2020-04-23

Federal Reserve: H.10 Foreign Exchange Rates, 2006-2020
It’s actually pretty easy to see why the IMF is in a hurry to secure more resources. I’m not talking about potential bailout candidates banging down the doors; that’s already happened. The fund itself is doing two contradictory things simultaneously: telling the world, repeatedly, that it has a highly encouraging $1 trillion in bailout capacity at the same time it goes begging to vastly increase that amount.

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