Tag Archive: newsletter

Emerging Market Risk Map

With year-end upon us, we review some of the key risks to EM assets and how we think they progress from here. In short, the two most significant downside risks would be a decisive improvement in Elizabeth Warren’s polling figures and an upset in the US-China trade negotiations.

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Why Friedman Is Wrong on the Business Cycle

According to an article in Bloomberg on November 5, 2019, Milton Friedman’s business cycle theory seems to be vindicated. According to Milton Friedman, strong recoveries are just natural after particularly deep recessions. Like a guitar string, the harder the string is plucked down, the faster it should come back up.

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Congressman Prods Attorney General on Gold, Silver Trading Questions Ignored by CFTC

A U.S. representative who has been pressing the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) with questions about the gold and silver markets has asked Attorney General William P. Barr to try intervene and get answers from the commission. In a letter dated November 1 and made public today, the U.S. representative, Alex W. Mooney, Republican of West Virginia, commends Barr for the Justice Department's recent...

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Monetary Metals Leases Platinum to Money Metals Exchange

Scottsdale, Ariz, October 25, 2019—Monetary Metals® announced today that it has leased platinum to Money Metals Exchange® to support its U.S.-based business of selling precious metals at retail and wholesale. Investors earn 3% on their platinum, which is held in Money Metals’ inventory vault in the form of platinum coins, bars, and rounds. The lease fee is paid in gold.

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FX Daily, November 14: Unexpected German Growth Fails to Buoy the Euro

Overview: Rising trade anxiety and disappointing economic reports from the Asia Pacific region helped unpin the profit-taking mood in equities, while bond yields continued to pullback. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index and the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 are in the red for the fourth time in the last five sessions. Germany reported a surprise 0.1% expansion in Q3, but it has done little for the DAX or the euro.

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Swiss Producer and Import Price Index in October 2019: -2.4 percent YoY, -0,2 percent MoM

The Producer and Import Price Index fell in October 2019 by 0.2% compared with the previous month, reaching 100.9 points (December 2015 = 100). Compared with October 2018, the price level of the whole range of domestic and imported products fell by 2.4%.

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Swiss Labour Force Survey in 3rd quarter 2019: 0.3percent increase in number of employed persons; unemployment rate based on ILO definition rose to 4.6percent

14.11.2019 - The number of employed persons in Switzerland rose by 0.3% between the 3rd quarter 2018 and the 3rd quarter 2019. During the same period, the unemployment rate as defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) increased from 4.4% to 4.6%. The EU's unemployment rate decreased from 6.5% to 6.2%. These are some of the results of the Swiss Labour Force Survey (SLFS).

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Swiss National Bank Now Owns Record $94 Billion In US Stocks After Q3 Buying Spree

In the third quarter of 2019, one in which the global economy continued to cycle lower, global central banks across the world continued to slash interest rates and launched/expanded quantitative easing programs with very little success at troughing global growth. Still, US equity indices powered to new highs, climbing a wall of worry of President Trump's "trade optimism" tweets. 

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Banknoten können künftig unbegrenzt umgetauscht werden

Der Bundesrat hat am Mittwoch beschlossen, die Teilrevision des Bundesgesetzes über die Währung und Zahlungsmittel (WZG) auf den 1. Januar 2020 in Kraft zu setzen. Das Parlament hatte diese im Juni verabschiedet.

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Telecom operator Sunrise to pay up for failed deal

Following shareholder pushback, Swiss telecom operator Sunrise has cancelled the purchase contract for the cable network operator UPC, officially burying the controversial deal. This is another failed attempt to challenge industry leader Swisscom.

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Stock Market Cheerleading: Why Do We Celebrate the Super-Rich Getting Richer?

It's not too difficult to predict a political rebellion against the machinery of soaring wealth and income inequality. The one constant across the media-political spectrum is an unblinking focus on the stock market as a barometer of the national economy: every major media outlet from the New York Times to Fox News prominently displays stock market action, and TV news anchors' expressions reflect the media's emotional promotion of the market as the...

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Cross-border workers entering Switzerland set record in 2019

The number of people from neighbouring countries commuting to Switzerland for work each day reached a record 325,000 this year. The increase was felt especially in cantons Ticino and Geneva. Following a slight drop in 2018, the Swiss job market is once again attracting cross-border workers in historically high numbers. Some 325,291 peopleexternal link entered the country each day in the third quarter of 2019, beating the previous record of 316,491...

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FX Daily, November 13: Investors Temper Euphoria

Overview: The recent rise in equity markets and backing up in yields spurred many observers to upgrade their macroeconomic outlooks rather than the other way around. Yet we continue to see may worrisome signs. It is not just trade, though, of course, that is part of it. Sentiment itself is fragile and will likely follow prices.

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SNB’s Jordan: Swiss franc remains highly valued

Foreign exchange market remains fragile. Negative rates, readiness for intervention still necessary. Danger of a worsening international situation remains large. Imbalances in Swiss real estate market still persist.

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Swiss crypto bank SEBA outlines ambitions

Crypto bank SEBA is confident of attracting a “three-digit” number of Swiss clients by the end of the year before setting its sights on global expansion and raising more than CHF100 million ($101 million) in extra funding from the public.

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USD/CHF technical analysis: Greenback loses steam against Swissy, trades near 0.9930 level

USD/CHF erased its intraday gains, settling near the 0.9930 level. Support is seen at the 0.9920 level. On the daily chart, USD/CHF is trading in a range below its 200-day simple moving average (DMA). The spot is holding just above the 50 SMA today at the 0.9921 level. 

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No Swiss citizenship for WEF founder Schwab, reports say

World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab will not be receiving honorary Swiss citizenship, despite the idea having being mooted earlier this year. Such an honorary conferral of the passport has no basis in Swiss law, the Federal Justice Office announced on Tuesday, after it was contacted by the daily Südostschweiz newspaper.

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Now That We’ve Incentivized Sociopaths–Guess What Happens Next

As long as central banks create and distribute trillions in conscience-free credit to conscience-free financiers and corporations, the incentives for sociopathy only increase. "Sociopath" is a word we now encounter regularly in the mainstream media, but what does it mean? Here is a list of 16 traits, many of which are visible in lionized corporate and political leaders and entrepreneurs.

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FX Daily, November 12: Farage Declares Truce with Tories after being Offered a Peerage, Underpins Sterling

Global capital markets are calm as investors look for a new catalyst. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index snapped back after posting its first back-to-back decline in a month. All the equity markets were higher, but Australia. The Nikkei, Kospi, and Taiex led the advance with about a 0.8% gain. European shares closed firmly near session highs yesterday, even if still lower on the day, and there has been some follow-through buying today.

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Billionaires’ club shrinks as economy wobbles

The world lost 57 billionaires last year as economic woes and the unexpected strengthening of the US dollar wiped $388 billion (CHF386 billion) from their combined wealth. Switzerland had three fewer billionaires; the 33 who remain saw their bank accounts shrink by $16 billion.

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