Tag Archive: newsletter

Silver Backwardation Returns, Gold and Silver Market Report 2 March

2020-03-02

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2020-03-02

Silver Spot Price Bid-Offer Spread
The big news this week was the drop in the prices of the metals (though we believe that it is the dollar which is going up), $57 and $1.81 respectively. Of course, when the price drops the injured goldbugs come out. We have written the authoritative debunking of the gold and silver price suppression conspiracy here. We provide both the scientific theory and the data.

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FX Daily, March 2: Central Banks’ Words of Assurance have Short Life

2020-03-02

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2020-03-02

Overview: Comments beginning with Powell before the weekend, and BOJ and BOE earlier today promising support have saw equity markets briefly stabilize after last week's dramatic moves. The G7 will hold a teleconference this week, but speculation of a coordinated rate move does not seem particularly likely. Most of the large stock markets in the Asia Pacific region rallied, led by a 3%+ advance in China.

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Potential relief for some Swiss renters

2020-03-02

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2020-03-02

Every three months the rate of interest used to benchmark Swiss rents is reviewed. If it goes down some renters have the right to request a decrease in rent. This time the reference rate fell from 1.50% to 1.25%. The last time it dropped was 2 June 2017 when it fell to 1.5%. The rate is based on the average Swiss mortgage rate over three months.

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SNB Profit in 2019: 48.9 billion (2018: loss of CHF 14.9 billion, 2020 Does not Look Good)

2020-03-02

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2020-03-02

Income Statement for 2019
The increasing volatility of SNB Earnings Annual results are not really definite. Given that the SNB accumulates foreign currencies with interventions, they have huge swings. But the SNB may lose 50 billion in one year and win 60 billion in the next year or vice verse. Good years of the Credit Cycle This trend was … Continue reading »

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Drivers for the Week Ahead

2020-03-02

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2020-03-02

The dollar has softened as Fed easing expectations have picked up. Late Friday, Chair Powell issued an unscheduled statement saying the Fed is monitoring the virus and will act as appropriate. This is a big data week for the US; the Fed releases its Beige Book report Wednesday. Super Tuesday comes this week; Bank of Canada meets Wednesday.

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Swiss price watchdog calls for reduction in train ticket prices

2020-03-02

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2020-03-02

With track fees for rail companies set to drop, savings should be passed on to customers, Stefan Meierhans told the weekly NZZ am Sonntag. The call comes on the heels of revelations that two state-owned rail firms wrongly claimed millions in subsidies.

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The Limits of Force: A Bayonet in the Back Will Not Restore China’s Economy

2020-03-02

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2020-03-02

Exponential Growth and the Expansion of the coronavirus
Force cannot restore legitimacy, trust or confidence, nor can it magically erase the consequences of a still-unfolding national trauma. The Chinese authorities threatening to punish workers who refuse to return to work are getting a lesson in the limits of force in an unprecedented national trauma: a bayonet in the back will not restore the legitimacy and confidence that have been lost.

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Mises: To Adopt Keynesian Terminology Is to Legitimize It

2020-03-02

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2020-03-02

Some years ago, there was published a book in the German language with the title L.T.I. These three letters stood for three Latin words, lingua Tertii Imperii, the language of the Third Reich. And the author, a former professor of Romance languages at one of the German universities, described in this book his adventures during the Nazi regime.

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Transport operators told to pay back millions in state subsidies

2020-03-01

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2020-03-01

Two more Swiss state-owned transport companies have been ordered to pay back more than CHF50 million ($51 million) in wrongly claimed subsidies. The authorities are also looking into the possibility of criminal prosecutions in connection with the worsening subsidies scandal.

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Could the Covid-19 Pandemic Collapse the U.S. Healthcare System?

2020-03-01

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2020-03-01

Еxponential growth and the expansion of the coronavirus
Disregard these second-order effects at your own peril. A great many systems that are assumed to be robust are actually fragile. Exhibit #1 is the global financial system, of course, but Exhibit #2 may well be the healthcare system globally and in the U.S.

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The US’s “Free Trade” Isn’t Very Free

2020-03-01

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2020-03-01

Taxes on US imports as a share of total imports value
The false notion that the US has eliminated virtually all of its barriers to foreign imports has been repeated more and more in recent years. The claim is made both by advocates for free trade and by critics of free trade. For instance, Patrick Buchanan has claimed only American elites "are beneficiaries to free trade" while implying the US either has free trade, or something close to it.

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Close to one fifth of households in Switzerland behind on debt payments

2020-02-29

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2020-02-29

In 2017, 18.9% of Switzerland’s population lived in a household with outstanding debt repayments, a percentage that has rose from 17.7% over the proceeding 4 years. The most common forms of outstanding debts were taxes, health insurance premiums and phone bills. 9.9% of households had outstanding tax payments, 7.3% owed health insurance money and 5.2% had an outstanding telecommunications bill.

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Swiss business takes on global waste

2020-02-29

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2020-02-29

Mr. Green, a recycling subscription service with a social mission, has been a big hit with busy families and businesses in cities in Switzerland. But can it work in Africa? Swiss entrepreneur Keiran Smith had no connection with Kenya before starting Mr. Green Africa.

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Swiss parliament assumes control of Crypto probe

2020-02-29

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2020-02-29

The Swiss parliament has insisted that it will take control of and merge the ongoing investigations into the Crypto spying affair that has rocked the Alpine nation. On Wednesday, members of the parliamentary control delegation decided to immediately take over the direction of investigation launched by the Federal Council (executive branch) on February 11.

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Goldman: 3 Key Reasons Why We Are Bullish On Gold

2020-02-29

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2020-02-29

10 Year Gold Price in USD/oz
On “Bloomberg Commodities Edge”, Bloomberg’s Alix Steel and Naureen Malik talk with Jeff Currie, global head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs. They discuss Goldman’s bullish stance on gold.

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Coronavirus – das Ende der Globalisierung!

2020-02-28

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2020-02-28

Das sogenannte Coronavirus (COVID-19) breitet sich immer weiter aus. Weltweit sind bereits über 82.000 Menschen infiziert und über 2.800 daran gestorben (Stand 27.02.2020). In China stehen 760 Millionen Menschen unter Quarantäne – das ist ein Zehntel der Weltbevölkerung! Seit Januar wurden global 200.000 Flüge gestrichen und hunderte von Containerschiffen liegen vor Anker.

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Dollar Mixed as Coronavirus News Stream Deteriorates

2020-02-28

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2020-02-28

The virus news stream continues to deteriorate. Lower US yields and growing concerns about the spread of the coronavirus in the US are taking a toll on the greenback. OPEC officials are trying to work out another supply cut; The outlook for Turkey is going from bad to worse. Simply put, there is nothing the Fed can do to address the economic impact of supply chain disruptions and social distancing.

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FX Daily, February 28: Fallout Accelerates

2020-02-28

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2020-02-28

Overview: The dramatic response by investors to Covid-19 continues unabated and worse. The slide is accelerating. The S&P 500 posted a 4.4% loss yesterday, its worst session since 2011, and the sell-off is continuing. Many markets in Asia Pacific, including Japan, China, Korea, Australia, India, Singapore, and Thailand, fell by more than 3%.

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Swiss Retail Sales, January 2020: +0.6 percent Nominal and -0.1 percent Real

2020-02-28

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2020-02-28

Switzerland Retail Sales YoY, January 2020
28.02.2020 - Turnover adjusted for sales days and holidays rose in the retail sector by 0.6% in nominal terms in January 2020 compared with the previous year. Seasonally adjusted, nominal turnover fell by 0.6% compared with the previous month. These are provisional findings from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

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USD/CHF Price Analysis: Dollar bouncing after falling to three-week’s lows, trades above 0.9700 figure

2020-02-28

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2020-02-28

USD/CHF daily chart
USD/CHF is bouncing from daily lows while nearing the 0.9730 resistance. As the bounce can be short-lived, the level to beat for sellers remains the 0.9680 level. USD/CHF is trading below the main daily simple moving averages suggesting an overall bearish bias in the long term. The spot is just below the 50 SMA.

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