Tag Archive: newsletter

Costs Are Spiraling Out of Control

2019-12-06

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2019-12-06

Wages aren't keeping up
And how do we pay for these spiraling out of control costs? By borrowing more, of course. If we had to choose one "big picture" reason why the vast majority of households are losing ground, it would be: the costs of essentials are spiraling out of control. I've often covered the dynamics of stagnating income for the bottom 90%, and real-world inflation, i.e. a decline in purchasing power.

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Largest Gold Nugget in Britain Found in River in Scotland – “Experts” Concerned About a Scottish Gold Rush

2019-12-06

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2019-12-06

The largest gold nugget in Britain has been found in a Scottish river, as experts reveal that members of the public are taking up hunting after watching YouTube clips. The diver, who wishes to remain anonymous, discovered the £80,000 “doughnut-shaped” nugget using a method called “sniping”, in which a prospector uses a snorkel and hand tools to scan the riverbed for treasures.

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Global ‘Gold Rush’ Beginning As Investors and Central Banks Buy, Repatriate and Move Gold

2019-12-06

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2019-12-06

◆ Gold is flowing to strong hands in safer forms of gold ownership, in safer jurisdictions. ◆ Gold and silver bullion coins and bars owned by GoldCore’s clients have been moved from Hong Kong to Singapore. ◆ Central bank and institutional gold rush is beginning as prudent money diversifies fx reserves by buying gold & repatriates their gold from London and New York.

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FX Daily, December 5: Sterling Sent Higher as Market Discounts Next Week’s Election

2019-12-05

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2019-12-05

Overview: Global equity markets have resumed their climb after a wobble at the end of last week and earlier this week. A strong recovery in the S&P 500 on Tuesday signaled yesterday's strong advance that left a bullish one-day island low in its wake. MSCI Asia Pacific Index snapped a two-day decline today with nearly all the market with the notable exception of South Korea advanced.

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Julius Bär ordered to repay CHF153 million missing German funds

2019-12-05

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2019-12-05

Swiss bank Julius Bär has been ordered to pay CHF153 million ($155 million) to settle a claim that one of its subsidiaries pilfered money from Germany during the reunification of the country in the 1990s. A Swiss court on Wednesday overturned a previous verdict that Julius Bär should not he held responsible. The Swiss wealth manager has been pursued for damages by a German state department that tracks down assets from the former East Germany.

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SNB entbindet zwei Bilanzpositionen der Unterlegungspflicht

2019-12-05

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2019-12-05

Die Schweizerische Nationalbank (SNB) passt die Nationalbankverordnung (NBV) mit Wirkung per Anfang 2020 leicht an. Neben der Anpassung diverser in der NBV verwendeter Begriffe und Anpassungen bei den statistischen Erhebungen im Anhang der NBV sind neu zwei Positionen bei der Berechnung der Mindestreserve nicht mehr massgeblich.

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Record number of new e-cars on Swiss roads

2019-12-05

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2019-12-05

With 10,329 registrations so far this year, Switzerland and Liechtenstein have more new electric passenger cars than ever before. This is the first time the total hit the five-figure mark. The numbers reflect a 136.6% increase over last year’s fleet of new, completely electric passenger cars. What’s more, now e-cars represent 3.7% of all new cars in Switzerland and the principality next door, reported importer association Auto-Schweiz on Tuesday.

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Consistent Trade War Inconsistency Hides The Consistent Trend

2019-12-05

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2019-12-05

Private Non Residential Construction Spending, 2011-2019
You can see the pattern, a weathervane of sorts in its own right. Not for how the economy is actually going, mind you, more along the lines of how it is being perceived from the high-level perspective. The green light for “trade wars” in the first place was what Janet Yellen and Jay Powell had said about the economy.

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The Risen (euro)Dollar

2019-12-05

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2019-12-05

India Real GDP, 1997-2019
Back in April, while she was quietly jockeying to make sure her name was placed at the top of the list to succeed Mario Draghi at the ECB, Christine Lagarde detoured into the topic of central bank independence. At a joint press conference held with the Governor of the Reserve Bank of South Africa, Lesetja Kganyago, as the Managing Director of the IMF Lagarde was asked specifically about President Trump’s habit of tweeting disdain in the direction...

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The Cultural Consequences of Negative Interest Rates

2019-12-05

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2019-12-05

Negative interest rates are now entrenched reality in Europe, and not just for buyers of sovereign or corporate debt – even retail savings accounts are affected. What does this mean for real people trying to save for retirement? And more broadly, what does it mean for Europe culturally? Not to mention America, since Alan Greenspan tells us negative rates are coming here soon?

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The ECB’s “mea culpa”

2019-12-05

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2019-12-05

Economists, conservative investors and market observers have been issuing stern warnings for years regarding the severe impact of the current monetary policy direction. In a recent statement, ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos warned of potential side effects and risks to the economy resulting directly from the central bank’s policies.

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FX Daily, December 4: Hope Springs Eternal

2019-12-04

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2019-12-04

Overview: The prospect of not just the failure of the US and China to resolve its trade dispute but a new escalation has sapped the confidence that had lifted equity benchmarks and the greenback. Led by more than a 1% decline in Tokyo (Nikkei), Hong Kong, and Australia, all the major markets in the Asia Pacific region fell. European shares, perhaps encouraged by an upward revision to the flash composite PMI, are snapping a four-day 2.75% slide.

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Crunchtime: When Events Outrun Plan B

2019-12-04

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2019-12-04

Not only will events outrun Plan B, they'll also outrun Plans C and D. We all know what Plan B is: our pre-planned response to the emergence of risk. Plan B is for risks that can be anticipated, regular but unpredictable events such tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. In the human sphere, risks that can be anticipated include temporary loss of a job, stock market down turns, recession, disruption of energy supplies, etc.

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Verpflichtungen der Anlagefonds sinken erstmals seit 2008

2019-12-04

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2019-12-04

Sinkende Aktienkurse führten 2018 zu hohen Kapitalverlusten. (Bild: Shutterstock/Phongpan)Zwei Faktoren prägten 2018 die finanziellen Forderungen der privaten Haushalte: Einerseits führten sinkende Aktienkurse zu hohen Kapitalverlusten, andererseits erhöhten die privaten Haushalte ihr Finanzvermögen durch Transaktionen.

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China No Longer Needs US Parts In Its Phones

2019-12-04

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2019-12-04

China was once very dependent on US chips for its phones. The latest Chinese phones have no US parts. The Wall Street Journal reports Huawei Manages to Make Smartphones Without American Chips. American tech companies are getting the go-ahead to resume business with Chinese smartphone giant Huawei Technologies Co., but it may be too late: It is now building smartphones without U.S. chips.

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$255 Trillion Global Debt Bubble May Burst In 2020 – Prepare Now

2019-12-04

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2019-12-04

Global Debt on track to surpass $255 Trillion in 2019
◆ Global debt has risen to another record at $255 trillion due to cheap borrowing costs. ◆ A decade of easy money has left the world with a record $250 trillion of government, corporate and household debt. ◆ This is almost three times global economic output and equates to about $32,500 for every man, woman and child on earth.

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Exports: Currency Devaluation Won’t Grow the Economy

2019-12-04

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2019-12-04

Industrial Production, 2000-2019
A visible weakness in economic activity in major world economies raises concern among various commentators that world economies have difficulties recovering despite very aggressive loose monetary policies. The yearly growth rate of US industrial production stood at minus 1.1 % in October, against minus 0.1% in September, and 4.1% in October last year.

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Dollar Soft on Weak Data and the Return of Tariff Man

2019-12-03

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2019-12-03

The dollar has taken a hit from the weaker than expected data Monday. Tariff man is back. The US economy remains solid in Q4 but there are some worrying signs for the November jobs data Friday. The political pressure on Turkey from the US could increase soon; South Africa’s Q3 GDP came in well below expectations at -0.6% q/q and 0.1% y/y.

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FX Daily, December 3: US Brandishes Tariff Weapon and Weakens Animal Spirits

2019-12-03

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2019-12-03

Asia Pacific equities mostly declined in sympathy with yesterday's large sell-off in the US and Europe. China and Taiwan were the notable exceptions, while Australia's 2.2% decline, following the central bank meeting that resulted in what many are seeing as a hawkish hold, led the move lower. Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 fell 1.6% yesterday, the largest loss in two months, and is extending the losses for a third session today.

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USD/CHF hammered down to sub-0.9900 levels, 2-week lows

2019-12-03

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2019-12-03

Technical levels to watch
USD/CHF lost some additional ground for the second straight session on Tuesday. A subdued USD demand, stability in equity markets did little to provide any respite. Trump’s latest remarks opened the room for a further intraday depreciating move. The USD/CHF pair witnessed some follow-through selling on Tuesday and dropped to near two-week lows, below the 0.9900 handle in the last hour.

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