Tag Archive: newsletter

A third of Swiss companies have difficulty filling vacancies

2018-08-21

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2018-08-21

A shortage of skilled labour continues to affect the Swiss job market, according to the latest survey by employment agency Manpower. Among reasons given for difficulties in finding the right candidates, 30% of employers surveyed cited a lack of technical skills, 29% a lack of candidates, 17% blamed a lack of professional experience and 14% cited missing interpersonal skills.

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Annual Mine Supply of Gold: Does it Matter?

2018-08-21

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2018-08-21

Cumulative Global Gold Production: 1835 to present day.
The topic of how much extractable gold is left in the world has become increasingly discussed within the last few years. This is because of increased focus on ‘peak gold’ and also a concern about remaining levels of unextracted gold reserves. Peak gold is a term referring to the phenomenon of annual gold mining supply peaking (i.e. the rate of gold extraction increases until it peaks at maximum gold output and subsequently diminishes).

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In Next Crisis, Gold Won’t Drop Like 2008, Report 19 August 2018

2018-08-20

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2018-08-20

Gold Basis Continuous, 2004-2008
Last week, we discussed the tension between forces pushing the dollar up and down (measured in gold—you cannot measure the dollar in terms of its derivatives such as euro, pound, yen, and yuan). And we gave short shrift to the forces pushing the dollar down. We said only that to own a dollar is to be a creditor. And if the debtors seem in imminent danger of default, then creditors should want to escape this risk.

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FX Daily, August 20: Greenback Consolidates Pre-Weekend Pullback in Quiet Turnover

2018-08-20

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2018-08-20

The US dollar is slightly firmer against most of the major currencies, as the light participation and lack of fresh news see a consolidative tone emerge after the pullback at the end of last week. Although markets in Turkey are closed for a nearly week-long holiday, it has not prevented the lira from weakening. After closing a little below TRY6.02 before the weekend, the greenback has moved to TRY6.15 in the European morning.

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FX Weekly Preview: Five Traps in the Week Ahead

2018-08-20

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2018-08-20

Officials have taken steps to make it more difficult and more expensive to short the lira, but that did not prevent a 5% slide ahead of the weekend. There is no interest rate, within reason, that can compensate for such currency risk.

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Emerging Markets: Preview of the Week Ahead

2018-08-20

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2018-08-20

EM FX stabilized last week as the situation in Turkey calmed somewhat. Reports Friday that the US and China are hoping to resolve the trade dispute also helped EM FX ahead of the weekend. However, TRY remains vulnerable as the US threatens more sanctions due to the pastor. Both S&P and Moody’s downgraded it ahead of the weekend and our own ratings model points to further downgrades ahead. Turkish markets are closed this week for holiday.

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Capital Flocks to the US

2018-08-19

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2018-08-19

The US policy mix gets a privileged place in our understanding of what is the dollar. Tighter monetary policy and looser fiscal policy could be the closest thing to an elixir for currencies.  It is the policy mix that the US is pursuing.  

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Swiss Health Insurance Companies Aim to Make it Easier to Break Contracts

2018-08-19

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2018-08-19

Swiss-health-insurance
Swiss health insurance companies are aiming to change laws to make it easier for them to unilaterally end complementary insurance contracts, according to the newspaper Le Matin.

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If You Want to Survive this Election with Your Mental Health Intact, Turn Off the “News” and Social Media Now

2018-08-19

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2018-08-19

Media Concentration
If you want to preserve your sanity and avoid unhappy derangement, turn off all corporate and social media from now to Thanksgiving. Since elections are extremely profitable for traditional media / social media corporations, your sanity will gleefully be sacrificed in the upcoming election--if you are gullible enough to watch the "news" and tune into social media.Elections are extremely profitable because candidates spend scads of cash on media...

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Swiss cereal harvests set to drop in 2018 after hot weather

2018-08-18

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2018-08-18

Bread wheat, barley, and rapeseed harvests look set to be considerably lower in Switzerland in 2018 compared to previous years, due to the prolonged heat and drought-like conditions this summer. The figures, collected by the Swiss granum organization, were based on data supplied by 29 cereal collection centres, covering 35% of the Swiss barley market, 50% of the bread wheat market, and 55% of the rapeseed market.

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What’s Hot Isn’t Retail Sales Growth

2018-08-18

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2018-08-18

US Retail Sales, June 2011 - 2018
Americans are spending more on filling up. A lot more. According the Census Bureau, retail sales at gasoline stations had increased by nearly 20% year-over-year (unadjusted) in both May and June 2018. In the latest figures for July, released today, gasoline station sales were up by more than 21%.

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Fundamental Price of Gold Decouples Slightly – Precious Metals Supply and Demand

2018-08-18

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2018-08-18

Gold and Silver Price
Keith Weiner’s weekly look on Gold. Gold and silver prices, Gold-Silver Price Ratio, Gold basis and co-basis and the dollar price, Silver basis and co-basis and the dollar price.

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FX Daily, August 17: Dollar Limps into the Weekend

2018-08-17

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2018-08-17

The US dollar is trading heavily against most of the world's currencies today.  The main exceptions come from the emerging markets where the Turkish lira, Russian ruble, and Mexican peso are the chief exceptions, and their losses are modest.  This week's dollar gains are being pared in largely corrective activity and amid a light news stream.  The threat of more sanctions on Turkey if it does not release the American pastor is helping the...

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London House Prices Fall At Fastest Rate Since Height Of Financial Crisis

2018-08-17

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2018-08-17

London House Prices Bubble, 1995 - 2018
– London house prices fall at the fastest annual rate since height of the financial crisis – London house prices fall in 5th month in row, worst falls since 2009 – London rents dropped at the fastest rate in eight years – ONS – Brexit, London property slump put brake on UK house price growth – Consumer spending declined in July as inflation increased

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Zurich scientists urge state pension fund to divest from fossil fuels

2018-08-17

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2018-08-17

Professors and researchers from Zurich’s Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) have joined the chorus of civil society actors calling for the Swiss state pension fund to divest from fossil fuels. In a letter to Publica, one of the largest pension funds in Switzerland, 166 experts from ETH Zurich, including 128 professors, demanded it stop investing in climate-damaging companies within five years.

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Great Graphic: Crude Approaches Year-Old Trend Line

2018-08-17

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2018-08-17

Crude oil has been climbing a trendline for the past year. This Great Graphic depicts this trend on a weekly bar chart. Depending exactly the line is drawn, it comes in now near $65 a barrel. The technical indicators are consistent with further losses.

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Monthly Macro Monitor – August 2018

2018-08-17

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2018-08-17

US Real GDP, Q1 2013 - Q1 2018
The Q2 GDP report (+4.1% from the previous quarter, annualized) was heralded by the administration as a great achievement and certainly putting a 4 handle on quarter to quarter growth has been rare this cycle, if not unheard of (Q4 ’09, Q4 ’11, Q2 & Q3 ’14). But looking at the GDP change year over year shows a little different picture (2.8%).

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Who Would Invest in a Gold Bond?

2018-08-17

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2018-08-17

Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet famously dismissed gold. “Gold has two significant shortcomings, being neither of much use nor procreative.” I have recently written about how a government with gold mining tax revenues can use gold. The benefits of issuing gold bonds include reducing risk, and getting out of debt at a discount. Pretty useful, eh?

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FX Daily, August 16: Emerging Markets Stabilize, Dollar Eases a Little

2018-08-16

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2018-08-16

Two developments have helped turned sentiment, or at least arrested the markets' momentum. First, the developments in Turkey, where officials have taken a few measures that will make it somewhat more difficult to access the lira.

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Swiss Labour Force Survey in 2nd quarter 2018: Number of persons in employment rises by 0.7 percent, unemployment rate based on ILO at 4.6 percent

2018-08-16

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2018-08-16

Unemployed According to ILO
The number of employed persons in Switzerland rose by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter 2018 compared with the same quarter of the previous year. The unemployment rate as defined by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) rose during the same period by 0.2 percentage points to 4.6%. The EU's unemployment rate based on the ILO definition decreased from 7.6% to 6.9%.

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