Tag Archive: newsletter

Central Banking since the 2008 Financial Crisis

2020-02-27

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2020-02-27

[This article is part of the Understanding Money Mechanics series, by Robert P. Murphy. The series will be published as a book in late 2020.] In chapter 5 we reviewed the textbook analysis of how a central bank buys government debt in “open market operations” to add reserves to the banking system, with which commercial banks can then advance loans to their own customers.

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Mises and the “New Economics”

2020-02-27

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2020-02-27

[This article is excerpted from a talk delivered on February 22, 2020 at the Austrian Student Scholars Conference, hosted by Grove City College in Pennsylvania.] I. Introduction What a wonderful gathering of students today, on this impressive and beautiful campus. We can see why Hans Sennholz loved this place, and why Drs. Herbener and Ritenour so enjoy living and teaching here.

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Economy: Curved Again

2020-02-27

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2020-02-27

Mexican Economy, 2016-2019
Earlier today, Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI) confirmed the country’s economy is in recession. Updating its estimate for Q4 GDP, year-over-year output declined by 0.5% rather than -0.3% as first thought. On a quarterly basis, GDP was down for the second consecutive quarter which mainstream convention treats as a technical recession.

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Start of a Virus: Time to Buy Stocks? #Corona

2020-02-26

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2020-02-26

The S&P500 developed well some month after a virus start
We suggest that the first month of a bigger virus outbreak is a good time for buying stocks. History has proven this timing decision right.

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FX Daily, February 26: Dramatic Investor Adjustment Continues

2020-02-26

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2020-02-26

Overview: The warning by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention that Americans should prepare for an outbreak of Covid-19 sent the S&P 500 tumbling to an 11-week low and the 10-year Treasury yield to a record low near 1.30%. The volatility of the S&P (VIX) jumped to its highest level since 2018. The sell-off in global equities continues unabated.

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Should rail commuter data be monetised through advertising?

2020-02-26

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2020-02-26

Swiss Federal Railways is coming under fire for using the personal data of commuters for advertising purposes. The data commissioner and a watchdog group have sounded the alarm bell as the volume of data being harnessed grows.

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Schaetze To That

2020-02-26

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2020-02-26

Inflation Europe, 2007-2020
When Mario Draghi sat down for his scheduled press conference on April 4, 2012, it was a key moment and he knew it. The ECB had finished up the second of its “massive” LTRO auctions only weeks before. Draghi was still relatively new to the job, having taken over for Jean-Claude Trichet the prior November amidst substantial turmoil.

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Seven Big-Picture Considerations for Covid-19

2020-02-26

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2020-02-26

Yuan Performance vs. Major Trading Partners, 2020
Below is a non-exhaustive list of medium- and long-term implications from the Covid-19. We discuss the yuan, China’s competitiveness, its position in the global production chains, the impact on the Phase One trade deal, and rising financial stability risks. Globally, the virus will bring about a new wave of fiscal spending and revive the discussions about the limits of monetary policy.

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Gold May Rise To $2,000/oz This Year Due To Strong Coin and Bar, ETF and Central Bank Demand

2020-02-26

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2020-02-26

IGTV interviewed Mark O’Byrne, Research Director at GoldCore about the outlook for gold and silver bullion. He is bullish on both precious metals in the medium and long term. The fundamentals are very strong with strong central bank demand and ETF gold holdings reaching an all time record high due to deepening political and economic risks.

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The WTO Is Both Irrelevant and Unnecessary

2020-02-26

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2020-02-26

Share of total tariff reduction, by type of liberalization1983–2003, by %:
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is in a state of crisis. When it comes to trade negotiations among large states like the US, India, and China, the WTO has been shown to be an organization that is largely irrelevant.

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FX Daily, February 25: Capital Markets Remain Fragile after Yesterday’s Bloodletting

2020-02-25

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2020-02-25

Overview: Yesterday's bloodletting in global equities has calmed, but investors remain on edge. Despite all the concerns that the markets were under-appreciating the implications of the new coronavirus, there is a sense that yesterday's moves were in excess. Japanese markets, which were closed on Monday, played catch-up today, and the Nikkei shed 3.3%.

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Employment Barometer in the Q4 2019: Uninterrupted employment growth in Switzerland for 10 years

2020-02-25

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2020-02-25

Switzerland Employment Level, Q4 2019
25.02.2020 - In the 4th quarter 2019, the total employment (number of jobs) in Switzerland rose by 1.2% in comparison with the same quarter a year earlier (+0.2% with previous quarter). Employment growth has thus been uninterrupted for a decade. In full-time equivalents, employment in the same period rose by 1.1%.

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2019: Wertpapierdepots klettern um fast eine Billion Franken

2020-02-25

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2020-02-25

Aktiendepots bei Schweizer Banken befinden sich auf Rekordniveau (Bild: shutterstock)Ende 2019 erreichte der Wertschriftenbestand in den Depots der Schweizer Banken laut den neuesten Daten der Schweizerischen Nationalbank SNB einen neuen Rekordstand von 6,72 Bio. Fr. Die Zunahme belief sich auf fast eine Bio. Franken.

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Unions say anti-EU initiative is bad for workers

2020-02-25

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2020-02-25

Trade unions have come out against the initiative to scrap the freedom of movement agreement with the European Union, saying a “yes” vote would be “an attack on all workers”. Accepting the right-wing proposal would lead to a situation whereby “collective agreements and wage checks would be replaced by an unfettered competition of all against all,” Swiss Trade Union Federation boss Pierre-Yves Maillard said on Monday.

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Was It A Midpoint And Did We Already Pass Through It?

2020-02-25

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2020-02-25

Benchmark 10-year UST, 2010-2013
We certainly don’t have a crystal ball at the ready, and we can’t predict the future. The best we might hope is to entertain reasonable probabilities for it oftentimes derived from how we see the past. Which is just what statistics and econometrics attempt. Except, wherein they go wrong we don’t have to make their mistakes.

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When Will We Admit Covid-19 Is Unstoppable and Global Depression Is Inevitable?

2020-02-25

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2020-02-25

The Rising Wedge Model of Breakdown
Given the exquisite precariousness of the global financial system and economy, hopes for a brief and mild downturn are wildly unrealistic. If we asked a panel of epidemiologists to imagine a virus optimized for rapid spread globally and high lethality, they'd likely include these characteristics: 1. Highly contagious, with an R0 of 3 or higher.

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Tax Burdens, Per Capita Income, and Simpson’s Paradox

2020-02-25

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2020-02-25

Home Price
How many times have you heard that higher taxes mean greater social welfare and economic development? The statement is backed up by a touch of popular wisdom: “More taxes, more public services.” Almost incontestable empirical evidence is also cited: with very few exceptions, the richest countries’ tax rates are very high, whereas taxes in poor countries are relatively low.

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FX Daily, February 24: Stocks Slammed and Yields Drop as Virus Containment Fails

2020-02-24

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2020-02-24

Overview: The ring of containment of Covid-19 has grown from China. The new frontline is Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Iran. A lockdown of around 50k people near Milan and Austria blocking trains from Italy is scaring investors. Asian markets fell, but South Korea bore the brunt with a nearly 4% decline. The national holiday in Japan spared local equities.

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When It Comes to Raw Power, Few Have More of It Than Central Bankers

2020-02-24

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2020-02-24

A common retort to the claim that in voluntary exchange both parties expect to become better off (or they wouldn’t do it) is that exchanges are seldom, if ever, a matter of horizontal, equal exchange of values. Instead, any such interaction between people is ultimately a matter of their exercising power over one another. The implication, and often explicitly stated conclusion, is that there is no voluntariness, that exploitation is always present,...

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Who wins and who loses because of negative interest rates?

2020-02-24

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2020-02-24

The Swiss National Bank’s negative interest rates, introduced five years ago, are having an increasingly significant economic and social impact. But despite criticism, the SNB does not want to remove them. It considers the measure necessary to stop the Swiss franc appreciating too much.

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