Tag Archive: newsletter

FX Daily, October 10: Setback for the Greenback

2019-10-10

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2019-10-10

Conflicting headlines about US-China trade whipsawed the markets in Asia, but when things settled down, perhaps, like the partial deal that has been hinted, net-net little has changed. Asian equities were mixed, with the Nikkei, China's indices, and HK gaining, while most of the others slipped lower. The 0.9% gain in the S&P 500 yesterday failed to lift European stocks, and the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is near the week's lows.

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SNB and BIS sign Operational Agreement on BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Switzerland

2019-10-10

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2019-10-10

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) have today signed an Operational Agreement on the BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Switzerland. The Hub will identify and develop in-depth insights into critical trends in technology affecting central banking, develop public goods in the technology space geared towards improving the functioning of the global financial system, and serve as a focal point for a network of...

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Gold ETFs See Holdings Reach All Time Record Highs In September

2019-10-10

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2019-10-10

Gold-backed ETFs holdings, 2004-2018
◆ Global gold ETF holdings reach all time record highs, increasing by 13.4% so far in 2019 on hedging and safe haven demand. ◆ Global gold ETFs, ETCs and similar products had US$3.9bn of net inflows across all regions, increasing their collective gold holdings by 75.2 tonnes(t) to 2,808t, the highest levels of all time in September.

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New Swiss 100-franc banknote blocks certain ATMs

2019-10-10

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2019-10-10

The new CHF100 ($100) banknote, which went into circulation last month, has blocked bank ATMs in half a dozen German-speaking Swiss cantons. Bank machines belonging to the PostFinance bank do not seem to like the new blue CHF100 note, which was officially launched on September 12.

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BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Switzerland

2019-10-10

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2019-10-10

From the SNB’s press release regarding the newly established BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Switzerland: The Swiss Centre will initially conduct research on two projects. The first of these will examine the integration of digital central bank money into a distributed ledger technology infrastructure. This new form of digital central bank money would be aimed at facilitating the settlement of tokenised assets between financial institutions.

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Our Time/Labor Is Finite, But Money Is Infinite

2019-10-10

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2019-10-10

All Sectors; Debt Securities and Loans 1960-2019
Once we understand this mechanism, we understand that labor can never get ahead. I've been pondering a comment longtime correspondent Drew P. emailed me in response to my post, What's Holding Up the Market?: Our time/labor is finite, but money is infinite. Drew explained that creating new fiat currency and injecting it into a closed system (our financial system) controls and restrains the value of our time and labor, past, present and future.

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From JOLTS Series Shift To Series of Rate Cuts

2019-10-10

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2019-10-10

Average Weekly Hours All Employees, 2007-2019
I’ve said all along that they would be dragged into them kicking and screaming. After all, the Federal Reserve undertook its last rate hike in December 2018 – just as the markets were making clear he was completely mistaken in his view of the economy. What followed was the ridiculous “Fed pause” which pretty much everyone outside of the central bank and the Economics profession knew wasn’t the end of it.

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Swiss are skilled but not so dynamic, finds ranking

2019-10-10

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2019-10-10

Switzerland has slipped down a slot in the annual Global Competitiveness Index from the World Economic Forum (WEF). Having come in fourth in 2018, Switzerland now follows Singapore, the United States, Hong Kong and the Netherlands. The index covers 141 countries. The world economy is not ready for a major slowdown, warns WEF.

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FX Daily, October 9: Hope is Trying to Supplant Pessimism Today

2019-10-09

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2019-10-09

Overview: The 1.5% drop in the S&P 500 and the deterioration of US-China relations and the prospects of a no-deal Brexit failed did not carry over much into today's activity. Asia Pacific equities were mostly a little lower, though China and India bucked the regional trend, while Korea was closed for a national holiday. Taiwan led the losses amid a sell-off in semiconductor stocks.

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SNB to cut rates in early 2020 as global economy sours – UBS

2019-10-09

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2019-10-09

SNB Logo
In the latest note to the clients, the UBS Economist Alessandro Bee indicated that he sees the Swiss National Bank (SNB) cutting interest rates next year. “Both the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve to “react to recession risks” with more rate cuts.

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Dollar Soft Despite Heightened Geopolitical Risks

2019-10-09

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2019-10-09

The dollar staged a stunning comeback yesterday as risk-off took hold on rising geopolitical risk; those risks remain high. US-China tensions have risen ahead of trade talks that begin Thursday. The US abruptly announced that it would withdraw its troops from northeast Syria. US reports September PPI; German IP came in better than expected.

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Swiss firms give over CHF5 million a year to parties and candidates

2019-10-09

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2019-10-09

Switzerland’s biggest firms – mainly banks, pharmaceutical firms and insurance companies - donate at least CHF5 million ($5 million) a year to political parties and candidates, a survey has revealed. The poll of 140 companies by Swiss public radio RTS, published on Tuesday, found that one in five firms donate regularly to political parties or politicians, to the tune of CHF5 million annually.

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Switzerland’s top UN diplomat in New York

2019-10-09

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2019-10-09

When Antonio Guterres was elected United Nations Secretary General in 2016, some criticized the decision because they thought a woman should finally be at the helm of the international organisation. To his credit, Guterres has filled many of the UN’s top posts with women including Mirjana Spoljaric – Switzerland’s top ranking UN diplomat in New York.

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Head Faking In The Empty Zoo: Powell Expands The Balance Sheet (Again)

2019-10-09

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2019-10-09

Federal Reserve Balance Sheet, 2001-2019
They remain just as confused as Richard Fisher once was. Back in ’13 while QE3 was still relatively young and QE4 (yes, there were four) practically brand new, the former President of the Dallas Fed worried all those bank reserves had amounted to nothing more than a monetary head fake. In 2011, Ben Bernanke had admitted basically the same thing.

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China’s Central Bank Buys 100 Tons Of Gold As Trade and Dollar Tensions With U.S. Escalate

2019-10-09

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2019-10-09

Spot Gold Price USD
◆ China has added more than 100 tons of gold bullion bars to its gold reserves since it resumed buying in December; China’s gold holdings rose to 62.64m ounces in September, an increase of 190,000 ounces in one month. ◆ The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) increased it’s gold reserves for a 10th straight month in September, reinforcing its standing as one of the major official accumulators as many creditor nation central banks stock up on the precious...

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Switzerland Unemployment in September 2019: Unchanged at 2.1 percent, seasonally adjusted unchanged at 2.3 percent

2019-10-08

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2019-10-08

Switzerland Unemployment Rate n.s.a., September 2019
Registered unemployment in September 2019 - According to surveys by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), at the end of September 2019, 99'098 unemployed people were enrolled in the Regional Employment Centers (RAV), 454 less than in the previous month. The unemployment rate remained at 2.1% in the month under review.

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The Consequences Of ‘Transitory’

2019-10-08

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2019-10-08

Euro Interbank, 2019
Europe’s QE, as noted this weekend, is off to a very rough start. In the bond market and in inflation expectations, the much-ballyhooed relaunch of “accommodation” is conspicuously absent. There was a minor back up in yields between when the ECB signaled its intentions back in August and the few weeks immediately following the actual announcement.

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What’s Holding Up the Market?

2019-10-08

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2019-10-08

What is keeping the market from crashing?
The Fed's nearly free money for financiers policies in support of the Super-Rich do not exist in a vacuum--the disastrous consequences are already baked in. What's holding up the U.S. stock market? The facile answer is the Federal Reserve but this doesn't actually describe the mechanisms in play or the consequences of a market that levitates ever higher on the promise of more Fed money-for-nothing injected into the diseased veins of the financial...

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Chinese Buy Gold In Large Volume In Holiday Week as Gold Jewelry Sales ‘Soar’

2019-10-08

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2019-10-08

Spot Gold Price USD
Gold is marginally lower today at $1,503/oz and stocks are mixed ahead of what are set to be tense U.S. and China trade negotiations. Gold sales are expected to accelerate through the end of the year due to weakening global economic conditions, according to Mike McGlone, a Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity strategist as quoted by China Daily (see below).

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