Tag Archive: newsletter

EU removes Switzerland from tax haven list

2019-10-13

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2019-10-13

In December 2017, the European Union (EU) set up a blacklist and a grey list of tax havens, countries it deemed were being used to help companies and wealthy individuals reduce their tax bills. Switzerland ended up on the grey list. Nations on these lists faced reputational damage and stricter controls on financial transactions with the EU.

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Never Attribute To Malice What Is Easily Explained By Those Attributing Anything To Term Premiums

2019-10-13

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2019-10-13

US Treasury CMT Yields, 2017-2019
There will be more opportunities ahead to talk about the not-QE, non-LSAP which as of today still doesn’t have a catchy title. In other words, don’t call it a QE because a QE is an LSAP not an SSAP. The former is a large scale asset purchase plan intended on stimulating the financial system therefore economy. That’s what it intends to do, leaving the issue of what it actually does an open question.

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Cashflow crisis looms over UN in Geneva

2019-10-13

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2019-10-13

The United Nations is facing a serious cashflow crisis, as 63 states – including its largest contributor, the United States – have not paid their annual dues. In Geneva, officials at the UN’s European headquarters (UNOG) are considering ways to cut costs, while the host nation looks on anxiously.

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CPI Changes On Energy: The Inflation Check

2019-10-13

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2019-10-13

CPI Changes on Energy, 1995-2019
After constantly running through what the FOMC gets (very) wrong, let’s give them some credit for what they got right. Though this will end up as a backhanded compliment, still. After having spent all of 2018 forecasting accelerating inflation indices, from around New Year’s Day forward policymakers notably changed their tune.

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Dollar Remains Soft as Risk-On Sentiment Continues

2019-10-12

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2019-10-12

Markets have seized on the possibility of a partial trade deal as well as some hopes that a hard Brexit will be avoided. The main event for the day will be President Trump’s meeting with Vice Premier Liu He. These market movements (if sustained) will take pressure off of the Fed to cut rates this month. The notion of a “pathway” to a Brexit deal continues to capture investors’ imagination.

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Monthly Macro Monitor: Doom & Gloom, Good Grief

2019-10-12

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2019-10-12

Economic Growth & Investment, October 2019
When I first got in this business oh so many years ago, my mentor told me that I shouldn’t waste my time worrying about the things everyone else was worrying about. As I’ve related in these missives before, he called those things “well worried”. His point was that once everyone was aware of something it was priced into the market and not worth your time.

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State railway company beset with fresh problems 

2019-10-12

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2019-10-12

All the Swiss Federal Railways’ new Bombardier double-decker trains will have to go in for repairs for certain parts to be replaced, it has emerged. The news of the latest technical problems was broken by Swiss public television SRF, citing internal documents. At present, 12 out of the 59 Bombardier trains are in operation on a line between Chur (in southeastern Switzerland) and Basel in the northwestern part of the country.

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Floating solar panels unveiled in Swiss Alps

2019-10-12

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2019-10-12

A solar panel project which could power over 6,000 households has been launched in a mountain lake in southwestern Switzerland. The Romande Energie company unveiled the first part of its floating solar project in Bourg-Saint-Pierre on Wednesday after six years of exploratory work. The installation consists of 2,240 square metres of solar panels sitting on a 36-part aluminium and polyethylene frame anchored to the bed of the mountain lake.

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FX Daily, October 11: Nothing Like Approaching the Edge to Focus the Minds

2019-10-11

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2019-10-11

Overview: As the edge of the abyss is approached in three distinct areas, there is hope that victory can be snatched from the jaws of defeat. US-China trade talks continue today, and there is hope of a small deal that could lead to the US not hiking tariffs next week. A shift in the UK toward a free-trade agreement with the EU seems to have opened fertile ground in negotiations that could still avoid a no-deal Brexit.

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USD/CHF: Bulls have eyes on a break into the 1.000s in pursuit of channel resistance

2019-10-11

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2019-10-11

USD/CHF levels
USD/CHF has met a confluence of support as the US Dollar extends higher. Latest positioning data shows that CHF net shorts had been climbing for a third week. FOMC minutes at the top of the hour is next major risk. USD/CHF has met a confluence of support as the US Dollar extends higher on Wednesday ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee's Minutes today and US consumer Price Index tomorrow. 

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EU removes Switzerland from tax haven lists 

2019-10-11

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2019-10-11

Switzerland has acknowledged the fact that European Union will remove the country from its grey list for tax havens following a reform of the corporate tax system. “Switzerland meets and implements international tax standards. The European Union has acknowledged this...” said a statement, released by the State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF), on Thursday.

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Nationalbank und SIX kooperieren bei digitalem Zentralbankgeld

2019-10-11

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2019-10-11

Im Kontext des neu gegründeten BIZ-Innovation-Hub-Zentrum in der Schweiz kooperieren die SNB und SIX bei einer Machbarkeitsstudie für digitales Zentralbankgeld. (Bild: Pixabay)Die Schweizerische Nationalbank (SNB) und die Bank für Internationalen Zahlungsausgleich (BIZ) haben am Dienstag eine operative Vereinbarung zum BIZ-Innovation-Hub-Zentrum in der Schweiz unterzeichnet.

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Geneva commuters fall out of love with cars

2019-10-11

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2019-10-11

Commuters in the Geneva region are becoming increasingly disillusioned with private cars and are embracing “multimodal” forms of transport, a survey has found. An in-depth survey of commuter behaviour in the Greater Geneva region – covering canton Geneva, the Nyon region in neighbouring canton Vaud, and France – has revealed an increasingly negative attitude towards driving.

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The Scientism of Trade Wars

2019-10-11

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2019-10-11

Germany Factory Orders, SA 2014-2019
One year ago, last October, the IMF published the update to its World Economic Outlook (WEO) for 2018. Like many, the organization began to talk more about trade wars and protectionism. It had become a topic of conversation more than concern. Couched as only downside risks, the IMF still didn’t think the fuss would amount to all that much. Especially not with world’s economy roaring under globally synchronized growth. Even though there were...

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Will the Clintons Destroy the Democratic Party?

2019-10-11

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2019-10-11

Political Polarization Has Exploded Since 2000
History is full of ironies, and perhaps it will suit the irony gods for The Donald to take down the Republican Party and the Clinton dynasty to destroy the Democratic Party. Let's start by stipulating my bias: I would cheer the collapse of both self-serving, venal political parties, which have stood by for decades as the rich have become immeasurably richer and the politically powerful few have disempowered the many.

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FX Daily, October 10: Setback for the Greenback

2019-10-10

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2019-10-10

Conflicting headlines about US-China trade whipsawed the markets in Asia, but when things settled down, perhaps, like the partial deal that has been hinted, net-net little has changed. Asian equities were mixed, with the Nikkei, China's indices, and HK gaining, while most of the others slipped lower. The 0.9% gain in the S&P 500 yesterday failed to lift European stocks, and the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 is near the week's lows.

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SNB and BIS sign Operational Agreement on BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Switzerland

2019-10-10

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2019-10-10

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) have today signed an Operational Agreement on the BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Switzerland. The Hub will identify and develop in-depth insights into critical trends in technology affecting central banking, develop public goods in the technology space geared towards improving the functioning of the global financial system, and serve as a focal point for a network of...

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Gold ETFs See Holdings Reach All Time Record Highs In September

2019-10-10

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2019-10-10

Gold-backed ETFs holdings, 2004-2018
◆ Global gold ETF holdings reach all time record highs, increasing by 13.4% so far in 2019 on hedging and safe haven demand. ◆ Global gold ETFs, ETCs and similar products had US$3.9bn of net inflows across all regions, increasing their collective gold holdings by 75.2 tonnes(t) to 2,808t, the highest levels of all time in September.

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New Swiss 100-franc banknote blocks certain ATMs

2019-10-10

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2019-10-10

The new CHF100 ($100) banknote, which went into circulation last month, has blocked bank ATMs in half a dozen German-speaking Swiss cantons. Bank machines belonging to the PostFinance bank do not seem to like the new blue CHF100 note, which was officially launched on September 12.

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BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Switzerland

2019-10-10

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2019-10-10

From the SNB’s press release regarding the newly established BIS Innovation Hub Centre in Switzerland: The Swiss Centre will initially conduct research on two projects. The first of these will examine the integration of digital central bank money into a distributed ledger technology infrastructure. This new form of digital central bank money would be aimed at facilitating the settlement of tokenised assets between financial institutions.

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