Tag Archive: newsletter

Euro/USD: things look pretty stable

2019-09-21

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2019-09-21

EUR/USD vs Leading Indicators Spread, 2006-2020
Competing forces mean the two currencies could remain in a holding pattern for a while.The euro has remained relatively stable relative to the US dollar in the wake of the European Central Bank (ECB) and US Federal Reserve (Fed) September policy meetings. Growth and interest rate differentials, two key drivers for the EUR/USD rate, suggest things could stay this way.

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What’s The Verdict On This Week?

2019-09-21

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2019-09-21

Money Markets Equivalents, 2009-2019
Jay Powell’s disastrous week is coming to a close, not yet his long nightmare. He has been battling fed funds (meaning repo) for his entire tenure dating back to February 2018. This week wasn’t the conclusion to the contest, just the latest and biggest round of it.

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FX Daily, September 20: UK and India Provide Excitement Ahead of the Weekend

2019-09-20

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2019-09-20

Overview: A word of optimism on a Brexit deal has sent sterling to its best level in two months. Corporate tax cuts sparked a more than 5% rally in Indian stocks as the week draws to a close. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index snapped a four-day losing streak to pare this week's decline.  Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 was flat for the week coming into today, and its four-week advance is at stake.

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Swiss Trade Balance August 2019: the decline in exports continues

2019-09-20

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2019-09-20

Switzerland Trade Balance, August 2019
In August 2019, Swiss exports fell for the second month in a row. Down 4.3% year-on-year, they dropped below 19 billion francs. On the other hand, imports rose by 3.4% and thus regained their level at the beginning of the year. The trade balance closed with a surplus of 1.2 billion francs.

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Dollar Mixed on Central Bank Thursday

2019-09-20

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2019-09-20

As expected, the Fed cut rates by 25 bp; the dollar firmed after the decision but has since given back some gains. During the North American session, there will be a fair amount of US data. BOE is expected to keep rates steady; UK reported August retail sales. SNB and BOJ kept rates steady, as expected; Norges Bank unexpectedly hiked 25 bp.

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Switzerland faces looming shortage of workers

2019-09-20

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2019-09-20

As more baby-boomers – born from 1946 to 1964 – retire, Switzerland will faces a shortage of workers, according to Credit Suisse, a bank. Economists at the bank estimate that 1.1 million people in Switzerland will retire over the next 10 years, a figure which includes nearly 800,000 people currently working.

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The New Orthodoxy: Blasphemy, Heresy and the New Inquisition

2019-09-20

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2019-09-20

A corrupt Orthodoxy devoid of new ideas, an Orthodoxy devoted to maintaining the wealth, status and power of insiders regardless of cost, is a brittle, fragile, unstable system. When the ruling Elites sense their control of the populace is waning, they seek to regain full control via the imposition of a strict Orthodoxy, enforced by an Inquisition. We are living in just such an era.

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FX Daily, September 19: Investors Looking for New Focus

2019-09-19

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2019-09-19

Overview:  Central bank activity is still very much the flavor of the day, but investors are looking for the next focus.  The Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank stood pat, while Indonesia cut for the third consecutive time and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Saudi Arabia quickly followed the Fed. Brazil cut its Selic rate yesterday by 50 bp as widely expected.

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Powell plays the ‘insurance’ card again

2019-09-19

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2019-09-19

The Market Continues to Distrust the FED Dot Plot, Which Shows no Additional cut, 2018-2021
In spite of internal divisions, the Fed may go for a third rate cut in October and step in to alleviate pressure in repo market.The Federal Reserve (Fed) cut rates by 0.25% on Wednesday, as widely anticipated. The new fed funds target range is 1.75%-2.00%. The interest rate on banks’ excess reserves was cut by 0.30% to 1.80%.

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SNB leaves policy rate unchanged at -0.75 percent

2019-09-19

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2019-09-19

SNB announces its latest monetary policy decision - 19 September 2019. Sight deposits rate unchanged at -0.75%Willing to intervene and will remain active in FX market as necessaryExpansionary monetary policy continues to be necessary.

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Monetary policy assessment of 19 September 2019

2019-09-19

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2019-09-19

SNB Switzerland Conditional Inflation Forecast, September 2019
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Another Swiss bank delves into cryptoassets

2019-09-19

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2019-09-19

Arab Bank Switzerland has teamed up with blockchain technology firm Taurus to offer its wealthy clients access to bitcoin and ethereum. The bank joins a growing list of established players joining forces with fintech firms to tap into cryptoassets.

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Markets That Live by the Fed, Die by the Fed

2019-09-19

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2019-09-19

S&P 500, 2000-2015
The "everything bubble" is not permanent. All eyes are again on the Federal Reserve, as everyone understands that the Fed is the market-- the stock market, the bond market, the art market, the housing market, etc. All markets have been driven higher by one force: central bank money creation and distribution to the financial sector of financiers and corporations, the richest of the rich.

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FX Daily, September 18: FOMC Meets Amid Money Market Pressures

2019-09-18

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2019-09-18

Overview:  News that Saudi Arabia was able to restore 40%-50% of the oil capacity lost by the weekend strike coupled with the Fed's efforts to offset the squeeze in the money markets are allowing the global capital markets to trade quietly ahead of the conclusion of the FOMC meeting.  Equities are little changed with a lower bias that has been seen in the first few sessions this week.

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Schweizerische Nationalbank – Weshalb die SNB ihre Munition nicht verpulvern wird

2019-09-18

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2019-09-18

Noch vor wenigen Wochen galt es am Markt bereits mehrheitlich als ausgemacht, dass die Schweizerische Nationalbank am Donnerstag den Leitzins von minus 0,75 Prozent auf minus 1 Prozent weiter absenken wird. Ich konnte die Marktmeinung nie nachvollziehen. Der Wind hat nun tatsächlich gedreht. Eine weitere Absenkung der Zinsen scheint nun so gut wie ausgeschlossen.

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Central Bank Gold Buying Is “Sustainable and Indeed May Accelerate”

2019-09-18

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2019-09-18

Why central banks including China and Russia will keep buying gold due to concerns about the outlook for currencies, including the dollar and the euro, Mark O’Byrne, Research Director of GoldCore told Marketwatch. While the gold tonnage demand from central banks in recent months has been significant and near records, gold remains a tiny fraction of most central banks’ massive foreign-exchange reserves,” O’Byrne says, adding that the trend is...

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Some Thoughts on the Fed and Oil Shocks

2019-09-18

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2019-09-18

U.S. GDP Growth, Q1 1973-Q1 1982
Oil prices have spiked after the weekend attack on Saudi oil facilities.  Will it impact the Fed tomorrow?  No.  We compare the current (but still unfolding) situation to past oil shocks from the 1970s and discuss the policy responses taken.  

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Focus Is On The Pre-recession Condition

2019-09-18

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2019-09-18

Industrial Production, SA 2016-2019
Before the Great “Recession” ended the business cycle as we once knew it, there was a widely accepted concept known as stall speed. In the US, if GDP growth decelerated down to around 2% it suggested the system had reached a danger zone of sorts. In a such a weakened state, one good push, or shock, could send the economy plunging into recession.

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FX Daily, September 17: Markets Calm(er)

2019-09-17

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2019-09-17

Overview: Oil prices have stabilized after yesterday's surge. Both Brent and WTI are holding on to around $7-$8 a barrel gain. Equity markets are mixed. Some are attributing the losses in Asia Pacific outside of Japan (Nikkei rose its highest level since late April), Korea and Australia to the rise in oil prices. European shares opened lower are straddling unchanged levels.

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