Tag Archive: newsletter
FX Daily, January 24: Poor EMU PMI Compounds ECB’s Challenge
Overview: The eurozone's preliminary composite PMI for January fell to its lowest level since July 2013. It reinforces expectations for a dovish Draghi press conference and saw the euro unwind yesterday's gains. The US dollar is firmer against all the major currencies.
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Switzerland scores well on youth job market conditions but suffers from skills mismatch
A recent report places Switzerland second in a ranking of 33 european countries on conditions in the youth labour market in 2016 – youth are those between 15 and 24. Switzerland’s overall score of 5.67 out of 7.00 is close to Denmark’s 5.72. Switzerland’s highest scores are for employment rate (6.01) and working conditions (5.77), with education (5.36) and smoothness of transition to work (5.52) coming in lower.
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Gentrified Urban America Will Be Hit Hard by the Recession
Combine sky-high commercial rents in homogenized, gentrified urban areas and sharp declines in the incomes of the limited populace who can afford gentrified urban areas and what do you get? A number of macro dynamics have set up gentrified urban America for a big fall in the coming recession.
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FX Daily, January 23: Markets Walk Tightrope after Yesterday’s US Equity Drop
Overview: Global equities have fared better than the 1.4% slide in the S&P 500 yesterday may have implied. Asian markets were mixed, with China, Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand advancing. The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 from Europe is a little changed after falling for the past two sessions.
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ECB Preview: Worries Increase but Not Quite Ready to Act
The ECB meets Thursday, and it may be best conceived as a transition meeting. It will lay the rhetorical groundwork for two things: a likely downgrade to the staff's growth forecasts and moving toward a new round of long-term loans (targeted long-term refinance operations).
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Swiss unemployment lowest in 10 years
Switzerland’s unemployment rate, now 2.6%, hasn’t been so low for 10 years, according to the latest figures from Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). A weakening of the Swiss franc helped boost Switzerland’s economic growth, creating more jobs.
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Brexit, EU, Germany, China and Yellow Vests In 2019 – Something Wicked This Way Comes
“Something wicked this way comes” warns John Mauldin. Shaky China: Chinese landing could be harder than expected. Brexit and EU Breakage: “I have long thought the EU will eventually fall apart”. Helpless Europe: If Germany sneezes, their banks & the rest of continent catches cold. We may see “yellow vests” spread globally: Economics is about to get interesting …
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FX Daily, January 22: Dollar Consolidates and Equity Rally Stalls
The US dollar is firmer against most major and emerging market currencies. The yen is a notable exception, and it is firmer, but well within recent ranges. The dollar-bloc currencies and the Norwegian krona are the weakest of the majors as a setback in equities and oil reflects a diminished risk appetite.
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Switzerland has second-most part-time workers in Europe
Part-time work in Switzerland continues to increase, with the latest figures from the Federal Statistical Office showing that over a third of employees work less than 90%. The figures, said the statistical office on Thursdayexternal link, show a marked increase in part-time work over the past 20 years: from 26.3% to 36.7%.
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Want to Heal the Internet? Ban All Collection of User Data
The social media/search giants have mastered the dark arts of obfuscating how they're reaping billions of dollars in profits from monetizing user data, and lobbying technologically naive politicos to leave their vast skimming operations untouched.
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Xapo shifting services from Hong Kong to Switzerland
Bitcoin services provider Xapo is winding down activities at its Hong Kong base and transferring key operations to Switzerland. Xapo president Ted Rogers said the move has been driven by Switzerland’s friendlier regulatory environment. “It was once thought that Hong Kong was the holy grail of crypto regulations,” Rogers told swissinfo.ch at the World Web Forum in Zurich. “But it has become more opaque.”
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FX Daily, January 21: Chinese Data and UK Brexit Start New Week
Overview: Mixed data from China and the anticipation of Prime Minister May's "Plan B" are the main talking points, while US stock and bond markets are closed today. Asia Pacific equities were higher, while European markets have failed to follow suit. Benchmark 10-year bond yields are mostly softer, with the on-the-run Japanese Government Bond yield dipping back into negative territory.
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FX Weekly Preview: Things to Watch in the Week Ahead
"The sky is falling. The sky is falling," they cried, as equities plunged in December. It is signaling a recession, we were told. Instead, global equities have begun the year with a strong advance. The S&P 500 gapped higher ahead of the weekend, extending this year's rally to about 14%.
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European Central Bank likely to stick to script
The ECB is comfortable with current market expectations for rate hikes.At its latest meeting in December, the ECB turned more cautious, lowering its growth forecasts but showing no sign of panic regarding the loss in euro area economic momentum. Risks were considered as “broadly balanced”, but moving to the downside.
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Swiss firms in record number of mergers and acquisitions
The number of merger and acquisition deals involving Swiss companies hit a record high in 2018, according to a report by consultancy firm KPMG. Activity peaked in a number of sectors including financial services, consumer markets, technology, media and telecommunications, power and utilities, says KPMG. There were also a record number of private equity transactions.
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Two Ways the System Is Rigged: HFT and Oligarchic Inheritance
We often hear how the system (i.e. our economy) is rigged to benefit the few at the expense of the many, but exactly how is it rigged? Longtime correspondent Zeus Y. recently highlighted two specific mechanisms that favor the top 0.01%: high frequency trading (HFT) and oligarchic inheritance, the generational transfer of immense wealth and the power it buys.
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L’enfer fiscal peut être suisse… Si si!
Le scandale de la valeur locative, un revenu fictif taxé. Je profite du billet de G Monti pour introduire un thème qui, à lui seul résume ce que peut être l’injustice fiscale. Il s’agit de ce qui est appelée en Suisse la valeur locative de son logement. Il ne faut pas le confondre avec un impôt foncier, ni avec un loyer.
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Hall of Mirrors, Where’d The Labor Shortage Go?
Today was supposed to see the release of the Census Bureau’s retail trade report, a key data set pertaining to the (alarming) state of American consumers, therefore workers by extension (income). With the federal government in partial shutdown, those numbers will be delayed until further notice. In their place we will have to manage with something like the Federal Reserves’ Beige Book.
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Workers paid in euros may not claim for currency losses
The Swiss Federal Court has ruled that two Swiss companies do not have to compensate two employees who were paid in euros and who ended up with less than their franc-earning colleagues. Explaining its decision on Tuesday, the country’s highest court said the cross-border workers from Germany and France had agreed to a corresponding change to their contracts in 2011 – knowing what it meant for their salaries – and therefore any subsequent demands...
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