Tag Archive: newsletter

Washington State Politicians Drop Cynical Attempt to Impose Taxes on Gold & Silver

2019-04-22

by

2019-04-22

Money and Gold
Well, here’s some encouraging news… Efforts in Washington State to impose sales taxes on gold and silver were SHUT DOWN today thanks to intense efforts by the Sound Money Defense League, a group of in-state coin dealers led by Dan Duncan, the Association of Washington Businesses, and a large number of vocal grassroots supporters.

Read More »

FX Weekly Preview: Six Events to Watch

2019-04-22

by

2019-04-22

The divergence thesis that drives our constructive outlook for the dollar received more support last week than we expected. A few hours after investors learned that Japan's flash PMI remained below the 50 boom/bust level, Europe reported disappointing PMI data as well. And a few hours after that the US reported that retail sales surged in March by the most in a year and a half (1.6%).

Read More »

America’s Forced Financial Flight: Fleeing Unaffordable and Dysfunctional Cities

2019-04-22

by

2019-04-22

Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers 1925-2000
The forced flight from unaffordable and dysfunctional urban regions is as yet a trickle, but watch what happens when a recession causes widespread layoffs in high-wage sectors. For hundreds of years, rural poverty has driven people to urban areas: cities offer paying work and abundant opportunities to get ahead, and these financial incentives have transformed the human populace from largely rural to largely urban in the developed world.

Read More »

Swisscom switches on its 5G mobile network

2019-04-22

by

2019-04-22

This week, Swisscom became the first Swiss mobile phone company to switch on its 5G network, according to a press release. Swisscom spokesperson, Esther Hüsler, said that at midnight on Wednesday Swisscom flipped the switch to become the first Swiss operator to put its 5G network into service. It’s 5G network went live across 102 locations across the country, including most of Switzerland’s cities.

Read More »

Good Friday, bad Gotthard traffic

2019-04-21

by

2019-04-21

Long queues have been reported at the Gotthard tunnel in central Switzerland as holidaymakers head south for the Easter break. The traffic jam at the northern end of the tunnel stands at 12 kilometres, with a wait of almost two hours, the Touring Club of Switzerlandexternal link (TCS) said on Friday morning.

Read More »

China: Q1 growth beats expectations

2019-04-21

by

2019-04-21

Growth in Chinese Real GDP 2013-2019
The Chinese economy grew at a faster rate than expected in the first quarter as policy stimulus effects kick in.The National Bureau of Statistics of China published Q1 GDP figures along with some key economic indicators for March. The data generally surprised on the upside. While we had previously flagged the upside risk to our earlier GDP forecast following the rebound in PMIs and strong credit numbers, the latest data releases still surprised to...

Read More »

Rail bosses worried over train punctuality

2019-04-20

by

2019-04-20

Passengers Boarding a Train in Bern Station
The national railway operator, Swiss Federal Railways, has set up a taskforce to look into train punctuality - currently 90.1% - after the rate slipped slightly last year. News of the taskforce was broken by CH-Media groupexternal link and confirmed by the Federal Railwaysexternal link to the Swiss public broadcaster SRFexternal link. The group, made up of experienced management members, is to report back in six weeks’ time.

Read More »

Business cycle could define Trump’s re-election chances

2019-04-20

by

2019-04-20

Trump's Approval Rates are Stable, 2016-2019
President Trump’s focus on getting re-elected in November 2020 may have implications for his economic policy choices.As we move closer to the 2020 presidential election, Trump has been blatantly leaning on the Federal Reserve to be more accommodative and has been trying to appoint nominees who share his preference for loose monetary policy to the Fed board.

Read More »

FX Daily, April 19: Holiday Note

2019-04-19

by

2019-04-19

Many financial centers are closed today. These include Australia, India, most European markets, and the US. In Asia, equity markets that were open moved higher. The Nikkei, which gapped higher on Monday, rose 0.5% today for a 1.5% gain on the week. China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.6%, lifting the weekly increase to 2.6%.

Read More »

Syngenta slammed for hazardous pesticide profits

2019-04-19

by

2019-04-19

A United Nations representative is demanding action following reports that Swiss crop science company Syngenta is selling highly hazardous pesticides abroad. “There is an urgent need to end this exploitation of lower standards of protection. This is a morally and ethically unjustifiable situation,” Baskut Tuncak, United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and toxics, told Swiss NGO Public Eye on Wednesday.

Read More »

China’s Blowout IP, Frugal Stimulus, and Sinking Capex

2019-04-19

by

2019-04-19

China Industrial Production 1999-2019
It had been 55 months, nearly five years since China’s vast and troubled industrial sector had seen growth better than 8%. Not since the first sparks of the rising dollar, Euro$ #3’s worst, had Industrial Production been better than that mark. What used to be a floor had seemingly become an unbreakable ceiling over this past half a decade. According to Chinese estimates, IP in March 2019 was 8.5% more than it was in March 2018. That was far more...

Read More »

FX Daily, April 18: EMU Disappointment Lifts the Dollar

2019-04-18

by

2019-04-18

Overview: A bout of profit-taking in equities began in the US yesterday and has carried through Asia and Europe today. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell for the first time in five days, while the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is snapping a six-day advance.  The Nikkei gapped higher to start the week and a gap low tomorrow would undermine the technical outlook.

Read More »

Pound to Swiss Franc rates: UK housing price growth hits 6 year low

2019-04-18

by

2019-04-18

We have seen a fairly stagnant market following the Brexit extension until 31st October. Although a key factor on GBP/CHF economic date releases will now gain back some of their impact. Yesterday saw the ease of House Price Growth data and figures dropped to a six year low. The average house price of across the UK grew by 0.6%, but property prices in the capital fell by 3.8%.

Read More »

Swiss Trade Balance Q1 2019: Foreign trade at a high level

2019-04-18

by

2019-04-18

Swiss exports and imports, seasonally adjusted (in bn CHF), Q1 2019
Swiss foreign trade saw a mixed evolution during the first half of 2019. In seasonally adjusted terms, exports fell slightly, still remaining above the 57 billion franc mark. Imports, on the other hand, continued to rise (+1 , 0%) to reach a record level of 51.2 billion francs. The trade balance closes with a surplus of 6.2 billion francs.

Read More »

Credit Suisse to take controlling stake in its Chinese joint venture

2019-04-18

by

2019-04-18

Swiss bank Credit Suisse has agreed with Founder Securities to increase its shareholding to a majority stake in its Beijing-based Credit Suisse Founder Securities (CSFS) joint venture. As a result of the agreement, Credit Suisse’s shareholding is expected to increase from 33.3% to 51% by way of capital injection. The shareholding of Founder Securities in CSFS will reduce to 49%.

Read More »

The Next Financial Crisis Won’t Be Caused by Fraud: This Time Will Be Different

2019-04-18

by

2019-04-18

All Sectors, Debt Securities and Loans, Liability, 1960 - 2019
Financial crises come in two flavors: fraud and credit-valuation over-reach.Fraud-based financial crises may differ in particulars, but they share many traits: perverse incentives are institutionalized; the perverse incentives reward figuring out how to evade oversight via fraud, embezzlement, masking risk, etc. which are soon commoditized; regulations are gutted by insider-funded lobbying; regulators fail to do their job in hopes of getting...

Read More »

FX Daily, April 17: Veracity of Chinese Data Questioned, but Lifts Sentiment Nevertheless

2019-04-17

by

2019-04-17

The veracity of Chinese data will be questioned by economists, but today's upbeat reports round out a picture that began with stronger exports and a surge in lending. Chinese officials, we argue, had a "Draghi moment" and decided to do "whatever it takes" to strengthen the economy in the face of US tariffs and during the 70th anniversary of the Revolution.

Read More »

Swiss Policy Mix Review

2019-04-17

by

2019-04-17

Swiss Government Debt, 1990 - 2018
The Swiss federal budget is governed by a strict expenditure rule, which is enshrined in the Constitution. Since its introduction, the ratio of public debt-to-GDP has been significantly reduced, falling back to its early-90’s level. At the close of 2018, the Swiss federal budget registered a significant surplus of CHF 2.9 billion, compared with budget projections for a surplus of CHF 295 million.

Read More »

Cool Video: Trump Ahead in 2020?

2019-04-17

by

2019-04-17

Marc Chandler
First, I tried playing down the significance of Goldman's call. The markets have anticipated this. redictIt.Org has shown the President to be an easy favorite since the start of the year. Charles Payne, the host, dismissed these results because he said they reflect professional gambler. I don't know if that is true or even relevant (ad hominem?).

Read More »

Swiss pension funds ended 2018 in the red

2019-04-17

by

2019-04-17

Pay-outs by Switzerland’s main state pension plan, which comprises old age insurance and other schemes, far exceeded income last year. Overall, the old age pension scheme recorded a deficit of CHF2.2 billion ($2.2 billion) in 2018 compared with a surplus of CHF1.1 billion the previous year, according to compenswiss, the Federal Social Security Funds.

Read More »