Tag Archive: newslettersent

Great Graphic: Trade-Weighted Dollar

2017-05-13

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2017-05-13

US TWI has appreciated a little since the end of Q1. The euro and sterling's strength are exceptions to the rule. The dollar has edged up against the currencies of the US top four trading partners here in Q2.

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Will Gold or Silver Pay the Higher Interest Rate?

2017-05-13

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2017-05-13

This question is no longer moot. As the world moves inexorably towards the use of metallic money, interest on gold and silver will return with it. This raises an important question. Which interest rate will be higher?

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How The US Government Let A Giant Bank Pin A Scandal On A Former Employee

2017-05-12

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2017-05-12

UBS Zurich
The following is an excerpt from David Enrich's nonfiction financial and legal thriller The Spider Network: The Wild Story of a Math Genius, a Gang of Backstabbing Bankers, and One of the Greatest Scams in Financial History. (Read part of the prologue here; another excerpt can be found here) This excerpt takes place shortly after the accused mastermind of the Libor scandal, Tom Hayes, is fired from his job at Citigroup, kicking government...

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FX Daily, May 12: Markets Becalmed Ahead of US data and Weekend

2017-05-12

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2017-05-12

The foreign exchange market is becalmed, and the major currencies are little changed. The US dollar is mixed, but mostly a little lower. Sterling is the weakest of the majors, off 0.3%, near $1.2850, having been rebuffed by offers in front of $1.30 several times. It has not recovered from the quarterly inflation report and Carney's press conference.

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SocGen: Beware The Ghost Of 1993

2017-05-12

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2017-05-12

The Vix is at its lowest level since 1993, Commodities and rates are dragging the AUD down
With Monday's financial media blasting reports about the VIX collapse to levels not seen in 24 years, going all the way back to 1993, it is worth remembering that the near record low volatility collapse of 1993 did not end well either for stocks, or for bonds, with the great 1994 bond tantrum. Reminding us of that, and of broader implications for the cross-asset space, is SocGen's Kit Juckes with his overnight note, "The ghost of 1993"

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Swiss happy with chemical controls in Geneva

2017-05-12

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2017-05-12

Despite a lack of progress to limit products such as asbestos and the herbicide paraquat, Switzerland is largely pleased with the results of a summit on chemicals and hazardous waste held in Geneva. “We obtained much more than we expected,” Franz Perrez, the head of international affairs at the Federal Environment Office, told the Swiss News Agency on Friday.

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The Triumph of Hope over Experience

2017-05-12

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2017-05-12

Voodoo Central Planning
On Wednesday the socialist central planning agency that has bedeviled the market economy for more than a century held one of its regular meetings. Thereafter it informed us about its reading of the bird entrails via statement (one could call this a verbose form of groping in the dark).

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The Wrong People Have An Innate Tendency To Stand Out

2017-05-12

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2017-05-12

Japan Government Bond Yields, January 1985 - May 2017
I don’t think Milton Friedman would have made much of chess player. For all I know he might have been a grand master or something close to that rank, but as much as his work is admirable it invites too the whole range of opposite emotion. He was the champion libertarian of the free market who rescued economics from the ravages of New Deal socialism, but in doing so he simply created the avenue for where Economics of that kind could be transposed...

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A Problem Emerges: Central Banks Injected A Record $1 Trillion In 2017… It’s Not Enough

2017-05-11

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2017-05-11

Aggregate Balance Sheet Of Large Central Banks, 2000 - 2017
Two weeks ago Bank of America caused a stir when it calculated that central banks (mostly the ECB & BoJ) have bought $1 trillion of financial assets just in the first four months of 2017, which amounts to $3.6 trillion annualized, "the largest CB buying on record."

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Swiss Consumer Price Index in April 2017: Up +0.4 percent against 2016, +0.2 percent against last month

2017-05-11

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2017-05-11

Switzerland Consumer Price Index (CPI) YoY, April 2017
The consumer price index (IPC) increased by 0.2% in April 2017 compared with the previous month, reaching 100.9 points (December 2015=100). Inflation was 0.4% compared with the same month the previous year. These are the results of the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

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Weekly SNB Interventions and Speculative Positions: After French Elections

2017-05-10

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2017-05-10

SNB Sight Deposite, May 08
The centre-left politician Macron has won the French elections. His success moved the EUR/CHF up to 1.0960, mostly caused by FX speculators. But serious investors - i.e. not FX speculators - did not follow the political event. The SNB had to intervene for 1.6 bn francs.

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Swiss National Bank releases new 20-franc note

2017-05-10

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2017-05-10

Second ninth-series note showcases Switzerland’s creativity. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) will begin issuing the new 20-franc note on 17 May 2017. It is the second of six denominations in the new banknote series to be released. The current eighth-series banknotes will remain legal tender until further notice.

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FX Daily, May 10: Markets Adjust to North Korean Threat, Fifth Fall in US Oil Inventories and Trump Drama

2017-05-10

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2017-05-10

Investors absorbed a few developments that might have been disruptive for the markets with little fanfare. North Korea's ambassador to the UK warned that his country would go ahead with its sixth nuclear test, as South Korea elected a new president who wants to reduce tensions on the peninsula.

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Unemployment benefit scam rocks Vaud

2017-05-10

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2017-05-10

Last week, the regional newspaper 24 Heures, uncovered a fraudulent scheme allegedly involving two workers from the union Unia, which may have cost Vaud’s social security system as much as CHF 3 million. The alleged fraud is centred on the construction industry, where bosses of small businesses along with two staff from the union Unia managed to deceive the canton’s unemployment fund.

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Auto Pressure Ramps Up

2017-05-10

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2017-05-10

Motor Vehicle Sales And Production, January 2011 - May 2017
The Los Angeles Times today asked the question only the mainstream would ask. “Wages are growing and surveys show consumer confidence is high. So why are motor vehicle sales taking a hit?” Indeed, the results reported earlier by the auto sector were the kind of sobering figures that might make any optimist wonder.

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“Sell in May and Go Away” – in 9 out of 11 Countries it Makes Sense to Do So

2017-05-10

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2017-05-10

Sell In May
An Old Seasonal Truism Most people are probably aware of the saying “sell in May and go away”. This popular seasonal Wall Street truism implies that the market’s performance is far worse in the six summer months than in the six winter months.

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Switzerland Unemployment in April 2017: Decreased from 3.4 percent to 3.3 percent, seasonally adjusted remained unchanged 3.3 percent

2017-05-09

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2017-05-09

Switzerland Unemployment Rate Not Seasonally Adjusted, April 2017
Registered unemployment in April 2017 - At the end of April 2017, 146,327 unemployed persons were registered with the Regional Employment Services Centers (RAV), according to the SECO surveys, 5,953 less than in the previous month. The unemployment rate thus fell from 3.4% in March 2017 to 3.3% in the reporting month.

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FX Daily, May 09: Dollar Firms amid Position Adjustments

2017-05-09

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2017-05-09

The election of Macron as French President has set off a bout of position adjustment that has seen the euro push back into the $1.0850-$1.0950 range that had confined activity for the two weeks between the first and second rounds of the French presidential election.

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Silver Elevator Keeps Going Down – Precious Metals Supply and Demand

2017-05-09

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2017-05-09

Marantonacron Still Life New
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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