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Never change a winning team

We’re currently experiencing two impressive runs of remarkable and relentless period of performances. First, the Cagliari Calcio remains on a 3 consecutive unbeaten games streak in Serie A (it won 1-0 against Empoli yesterday), whereas the S&P500 just completed a run of 16 positive weeks out of the last 18 for first time since 1971! […]

Divergent

Once again devil was in the details when considering the thrilling outcome of the Super Bowl LVIII with the Kansas City Chiefs stunning the San Francisco 49ers in overtime (25-22). Be reassured (or actually not so much), there are other places where the gap is so wide that even the devil wouldn’t risk an appearance… […]

Catch me if you can!

Over the past few weeks, I have tried to show that US financial conditions may not be as restrictive as one might think, given the Fed’s swift rate hike since March 2022 (from 0.25% to 5.5% in 18 months). As a result, the US economy has proved much more resilient than expected so far. Among […]

Upside Down

One of the most interesting aspects of the markets since the start of the year has been that investors have been caught completely off-guard. Your scribe included. Actually, it has been completely upside down compared to the consensus expectations and positioning that prevailed in January: underweight in equities, long China on re-opening narrative, negative techno-long […]

Cowabunga

After the Barbie movie, it’s time for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to hit the big screen with their “Cowabunga” rallying cry, which by the way may also mean astonishment or stupor; has been adopted by surfers as a declaration of enthusiasm or exhilaration; or can be used for a battle cry. So, in the […]

Hop Schweiz!

On the eve of the Swiss national holiday, and after devoting my last week letter to the merits and, more importantly, the setbacks of the major economies and their currencies, it seemed obvious that we should take a closer look at Switzerland, its economy, its currency and its market. I received indeed many questions lately […]

In May, do what you like!

1st of May… should your humble servitor work and deliver its weekly letter? The Labor Day is an annual holiday in most countries with several markets being closed today, Switzerland included. But here in Geneva, we are working while the public sector enjoyed a day off despite the current left government has just lost its […]

The calm before the storm

Markets have gone nowhere over the last few days, with equity indices, long rates and major forex crosses experiencing contained daily variations and an overall sideways trading after a strong start of the year for both equity and bond investors. That’s certainly a symptom of a lack of conviction among them about what comes next […]

Small is insightful

There are several signs that the most acute part of the US banking turmoil may be behind us: markets have rebounded, the VIX is back to its lowest level since January 2022 (17.1), the amount of bank lending from the Fed emergency lending facilities has declined, US bank deposits are increasing again after weeks of […]