Tag Archive: newsletter

Coronavirus: infection rates in some Swiss cantons now higher than Lombardy

2020-03-25

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2020-03-25

Lombardy, the region in northern Italy where the coronavirus outbreak first took off in Europe, now has fewer per capita cases testing positive for the virus than some Swiss cantons. Recent data from Italy show there were 179 cases per 100,000 in Lombardy. In Ticino, Switzerland’s worst affected canton, there were 329 cases per 100,000. Geneva (231) and Vaud (211) had Switzerland’s next highest rates.

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In Spain You Can’t Use Your Own Back Yard. Police Make Sure of It.

2020-03-25

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2020-03-25

The last days and weeks of the coronavirus epidemic give an interesting insight into the human psyche. Elementary liberties are restricted all over the world, such as the freedom of movement or private property. Yet most people accept these restrictions without blinking, as the state declares their indispensability.

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Three Short Run Factors Don’t Make A Long Run Difference

2020-03-25

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2020-03-25

US Treasury Curve, 2018-2020
There are three things the markets have going for them right now, and none of them have anything to do with the Federal Reserve. More and more conditions resemble the early thirties in that respect, meaning no respect for monetary powers. This isn’t to say we are repeating the Great Depression, only that the paths available to the system to use in order to climb out of this mess have similarly narrowed.

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Global Supply of Gold and Silver Coins and Bars Evaporated In Safe Haven Rush

2020-03-25

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2020-03-25

Gold Price Performance: percent Annual Change
◆ GoldCore remain open for business unlike many dealers, mints and refineries (see News below) and we continue to buy bullion coins and bars and sell gold bars (1 kilo). The supply situation changes hour to hour. ◆ We, like the entire industry have experienced record demand in recent days and the global supply of gold and silver bullion coins (legal tender 1 oz) and gold bars (in 1 oz and 10 oz formats) has quickly evaporated. We continue to have...

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FX Daily, March 24: Relief Bounce On Tuesday, but Turn Around not Secure

2020-03-24

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2020-03-24

Overview: Bottom-picking, after officials step up efforts and some optimism creeps in, is helping lift spirits today. As one looks at the equity bounces, it is important to remember that among the biggest rallies take place in bear markets. Nearly all the bourses in Asia-Pacific rallied, led by a 7% advance by Japan's Nikkei and an 8%+ surge in South Korea's Kospi. Most other markets were up 2%-5%.

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Handel – Schweiz mit grossem Leistungsbilanzüberschuss in Q4

2020-03-24

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2020-03-24

Den Wert des Vorjahres übertraf er sogar um gut 11 Milliarden. Der Anstieg sei vor allem auf den grösseren Einnahmeüberschuss bei den Kapitaleinkommen und beim Warenhandel zurückzuführen, teilte die Schweizerische Nationalbank (SNB) am Montag mit.

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USD/CHF Price Analysis: US dollar eases from 2020 highs, stabilizes near 0.9800 figure

2020-03-24

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2020-03-24

USD/CHF daily chart
USD/CHF consolidates gains for the second consecutive day. The level to beat for bulls is the 0.9900 resistance. The parity level might be on the bulls’ radar. USD/CHF is retreating slightly this Monday while the currency pair is consolidating gains for the second consecutive day above the main SMAs.

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Big reductions in Swiss public transport services

2020-03-24

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2020-03-24

Swiss public transport has been widely reduced as of Monday, with the Federal Railways cutting back on services as part of nationwide anti-coronavirus measures. The scaling back of Europe’s most-used rail network in an effort to combat the spread of Covid-19 was announced last week as part of wider measures to reduce social contact and slow down the pace of life in the country.

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As COVID-19 Drives People Into Isolation, Wall Street’s New ‘Virtual Workplace’ May Become The Norm

2020-03-24

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2020-03-24

As governments take drastic measures to slow the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, Wall Street - much like a plethora of other industries - has embraced the virtual workplace, according to Bloomberg.

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Conference Call Replay

2020-03-24

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2020-03-24

Here is the link for the replay of the conference call I hosted earlier today.  I shared two ways in which this crisis is different from what we have seen in the last generation.  Unlike the Great Financial Crisis, the tech bubble, and the S&L Crisis, the current crisis did not begin in the financial sector, but the real economy.   

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Helicopter Money: Short-Term Relief Won’t Cure our Financial Disease

2020-03-24

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2020-03-24

The collateral supporting the global mountain of debt is crumbling as speculative bubbles deflate. A great many freebies are being tossed in the Helicopter Money basket. That households experiencing declines in income need immediate support is obvious, as is the need to throw credit lifelines to small businesses.

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Regime Change

2020-03-24

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2020-03-24

Stocks took another beating last week as the scope of the coronavirus shutdown started to sink in. The S&P 500 was down 15% last week with most of that coming on Monday after the Fed’s emergency rate cuts. Our accounts performed much better than that, but were still down on the week as corporate and municipal bonds continued to get marked down.

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Cash is Toilet Paper, Market Report 23 March

2020-03-24

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2020-03-24

Gold Spot vs Near Contract, 2019-2020
The price of gold dropped $31, and that of silver fell even more by proportion, $2.14. The gold-silver ratio hit a hit of over 126 before closing the week around 119. This exceeds the high in the ratio last hit in the George H.W. Bush recession. Last week, we were warming up to silver, if not recommending it.

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Sygnum bank creates digital version of Swiss franc for trading

2020-03-23

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2020-03-23

Sygnum bank has launched a digital version of the Swiss franc (DCHF) to allow faster payments when trading a new breed of securities. The DCHF digital tokens will be backed by the corresponding amount of Swiss francs that Sygnum will hold at the Swiss National Bank (SNB).

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FX Daily, March 23: Greenback Demand Not Satisfied by Swap Lines

2020-03-23

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2020-03-23

Overview: In HG Wells' "War of the Worlds," the common cold repelled a Martian invasion. Now, a novel coronavirus is disrupting everything and everywhere. Global equities continue to get hammered, though the apparent relative resilience of Japan may have spurred some buying of Japanese equities.

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Further billions may be needed to save Swiss companies

2020-03-23

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2020-03-23

A CHF42 billion coronavirus financial aid package may not be enough to save firms from extinction, warn business leaders and economists. The state could be saddled with a bill three times higher if the crisis drags on until the end of the year.

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Swiss hospitals take French coronavirus patients

2020-03-23

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2020-03-23

Three Swiss hospitals have agreed to provide intensive care treatment for six seriously ill coronavirus patients from the neighbouring Alsace region of France. However, experts fear that Switzerland’s health infrastructure will soon be stretched by the rising number of pandemic victims.

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The System Will Not Return to “Normal,” and That’s Good; We Can Do Better

2020-03-23

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2020-03-23

Essential home lockdown reading. The pandemic is revealing to all what many of us have known for a long time: the status quo was designed to fail and so its failure was not just predictable but inevitable. We've propped up a dysfunctional, wasteful and unsustainable system by pouring trillions of dollars in borrowed money down a multitude of ratholes to avoid a reckoning and a re-set.

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Drivers for the Week Ahead

2020-03-23

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2020-03-23

Risk sentiment is likely to remain under pressure this week as the impact of the coronavirus continues to spread; demand for dollars remains strong. As of this writing, the Senate-led aid bill has stalled; the US economic outlook is getting more dire; Canada is experiencing similar headwinds. This is a big data week for the UK; eurozone March flash PMIs will be reported Tuesday; oil prices continue to slide.

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