This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.

Swiss Bank Intervention Time ?

Tyler Durden's picture




 

First Mauritius decides to politely put the endless lies coming out of the lips of the Geithner-Bernanke duo on mute, and now the Swiss Central Bank is rumored to be intervening. Someone is actively selling copious amount of CHF and buying USD. Hopefully no suitcases full of fake Obama dollar bills ($100,000,000,000 denomination) will be found on the Italy-Switzerland border tomorrow.

 

- advertisements -

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Mon, 11/16/2009 - 23:44 | 132769 knukles
knukles's picture

Resistance is Futile.  Never argue with minter which buys its ink by the 55 gallon drum.

Mon, 11/16/2009 - 23:47 | 132782 RobotTrader
RobotTrader's picture

Heh...

Scoop 'em up....

 

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 00:06 | 132810 lsbumblebee
lsbumblebee's picture

Hey we all have to pitch in. The Yen is exhausted.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 00:09 | 132814 JamesBrrando
JamesBrrando's picture


KeyserSöze 
on Sun, 11/08/2009 - 22:38
#124259

The MSM is pumping the "dollar" carry trade because that is what they want the dumb money to do....

When the Yen collapses in on itself it will send the USD/JPY parabolic and completely BLOW out the USD shorts...it will be hilarious.

 I am slowly changing my tune on longterm bullish in America after reading a large portion of the HC bill it is awesome.  OUR goverement is going to completely screw a bunch of seniors and with Cap and trade coming up on December 7th we can drive them into total poverty...hopefully all in the same year! FUCK YEA!!!

The elitist/bankers/fed can completely wipe out  the "useless" aging population and wipe out the middle class by taxing them for the elder seniors and all the money given to Goldman, JP Morgan and the rest of the Rothchild cartel....

I gotta say I am absolutely impressed! I am glad the rest of America is so ignorant, how else could they take such a ram rod like this with a smile on their face as they mindlessly repeat, "hope and change"...fucking brilliant.

[Totally sarcastic of course]

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 00:24 | 132827 lsbumblebee
lsbumblebee's picture

...candy-colored clown they call the sandman...

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 09:04 | 133024 Biff Malibu
Biff Malibu's picture

TEAM AMERICA!!!!

 

FUCK YEAH!!!!

 

HERE TO SAVE, THE MUTHA-FUCKIN' PLANET!!

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 09:38 | 133050 Gordon_Gekko
Gordon_Gekko's picture

"BLOW out the USD shorts"

Why does everyone assume the reason behind a plunging USD is that people are "shorting" the dollar? It's more likely that existing holders are dumping the POS.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 11:42 | 133179 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

It's more likely that all the new dollars being created to pay for the FG deficit are crowding out the old ones.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 17:04 | 133608 VegasBD
VegasBD's picture

thank you GG! it doesnt have to be shorted to go down....it can go down simply by being wanted less.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 00:08 | 132812 Oso
Oso's picture

how much dollar would have to be bought to make that move, a yard?

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 00:18 | 132820 max2205
max2205's picture

TD, ever think about finding out who electronically withdrew 500 B from money markets last 9/15? The fed shut them down and they estimate 5.5 T would have left. I think this was a pearl harbor attack and we are now living under coersion. Ben has a gun to his head!?!

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 00:20 | 132822 JamesBrrando
JamesBrrando's picture

holy crap

please elaborate on that juicy lil nugget i missed

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 00:23 | 132825 max2205
max2205's picture

You will recall that, shortly before the end of the 2008 political campaign, the White House announced a threat to the entire financial system and called on Congress to enact emergency spending powers. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 was enacted on October 3, 2008.
Just eighteen days earlier an event occurred that slid under the radar screen of virtually the entire mainstream media. On Thursday, September 15, 2008, at approximately 11 A.M., the Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous draw down of money market accounts in the nation, amounting to $550 billion dollars. It occurred within an hour or two. The money was removed electronically.
It has never been made public which accounts were affected, nor where the withdrawn funds were sent. If we knew those facts, we would know who launched an attack on the United States that has been more devastating than any in our history.
Had the Federal Reserve not closed down the accounts involved it is estimated that by 2 P.M. $5.5 trillion would have been withdrawn and the entire economy of the nation would have collapsed. It would have been followed within a day with the collapse of the world’s economy.
What followed was the sub-prime mortgage loan debacle that can be traced to the government’s intervention into the housing loan marketplace via Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They ended up owning fifty percent of all the loans.
Americans were using home ownership as a credit card and government policies were mandating the issuance of bad loans in the name of “social justice.” Home ownership became “a right”, not an aspiration.
Throughout the 1990s, as communities revalued homes, increasing their alleged worth in order to impose higher property taxes, it was only a matter of time before a financial collapse became a reality. Virtually every State was spending beyond its means and increasing property taxes was the preferred choice to make up the difference.
That collapse, however, was initiated by unknown persons at precisely the time Americans were preparing to select a new president. That was not a coincidence.
In the October edition of “Budget & Tax News”, a publication of The Heartland Institute, a non-profit, free market think tank, there was an article by Sandra Fabry, the government affairs manager for Americans for Tax Reform and executive director of the Center for Fiscal accountability, a project of the organization.
The article was titled “61% of National Income Goes to Government.”
“Americans this year had to toil until August 12 to pay for federal, state, and local governments, according to the annual Cost of Government Day report by the Americans for Tax Reform Foundation and Center for Fiscal Accountability.”
“In 2009, the government will consume a whopping 61.34 percent of national income.”
The redistribution of income has reached a point in which 30.36 percent of the money Americans earn is consumed by federal spending. State governments take their percentage as well in income, sales, and other forms of taxation.
It means that Americans worked for 111 days of the year just to pay for the costs of the federal government and federal spending has reached a record 28.5 percent of GDP.
With the passage by the House of the government’s attempted takeover of the nation’s healthcare system and the up-coming cap-and-trade bill, a massive tax on energy use, there is no telling how many more government spending programs, huge redistribution schemes, Americans will be obliged to pay for.
The Obama administration swiftly embarked on an unprecedented spending spree, “bailing out” General Motors and Chrysler, in effect owning AIG, the insurance giant, and giving funds to various banks to “stimulate” loans, i.e. credit, that Americans and their business enterprises depend upon to function.
Peter Schiff, CEO of Euro-Pacific Capital, has long argued that the problems of the American economy were created by excess credit and debt, and that a massive infusion of credit and debt into the economy only exacerbates the problem. He is right.
The “stimulus” has not worked and the billions still unspent by the program should be returned to the American treasury. Taxes should be cut in order to allow Americans to save or spend their own money. Contracts with civil service and teacher’s union should be renegotiated. A vast regulatory revision to remove obstacles to economic growth should be implemented.
Meanwhile the government’s “official” figures say 10.2 million Americans are out of work, but the actual figure is estimated to be closer to 17 million or more. Nothing is being done to facilitate hiring with tax credits and reduced taxation of small businesses, nor are the highest corporate taxes in the world being reduced to encourage domestic investment and growth.
And our present difficulties began on September 15, 2008 in a calculated attack that got Barack Obama elected and was immediately followed by all the subsequent efforts to grow the federal government ever larger to make more Americans dependent upon it. The Obama administration has increased the national debt more than all previous presidencies combined.
There is a determined effort under way to undermine the free market capitalist system that made America the greatest economic and military power in the world. Both the White House and the Democrat-controlled Congress are parties to it, but the identities of those who launched that September attack remain hidden.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 00:30 | 132830 JamesBrrando
JamesBrrando's picture

Thanks, and holy freaking cow!~

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 01:36 | 132885 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

"Meanwhile the government’s “official” figures say 10.2 million Americans are out of work, but the actual figure is estimated to be closer to 17 million or more."

Did you mean these numbers? I think you meant 10.2% U3 and 17.5% U6 unemployment? We have over 300 million people in the country (maybe 330, at present?).

This does not change your point. If I wrote it, I would want to know.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 01:56 | 132896 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

I would say that "attack" on our financial was largely from a base of many, many large money market account holders and not from some shadowy cabal with ill intent. I obviously have no hard evidence to the contrary of your suggestion, but I believe September 15 was the day where Lehman formally declared bankruptcy. Our only real attempt of letting a TBTF institution actually fail lead to these massive money market withdrawals. I'd say not a coordinated attack, just a good old fashioned run on the banking system. I'd argue this event, as unnoticed as it was, became the line in the sand for Bernanke and company...a call to arms for massive government intervention in our financial markets.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 02:14 | 132904 Jendrzejczyk
Jendrzejczyk's picture

I was skeptical about the $550 billion story but finally found a working video here:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ca2_1234032281

 

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 02:15 | 132905 Reductio ad Absurdum
Reductio ad Absurdum's picture

This is all an urban myth that's been circulating. Ad Fontes:

1. The start of the myth:
"Almost Armageddon", New York Post (September 21, 2008)
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09212008/business/almost_armageddon_130110.htm
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/item_6Ir9jcaDd2knbCMbFFzotL

2. Main source for the myth:
Representative Kanjorski (D) on CSPAN (January 27, 2009)
http://cspan.org/Watch/watch.aspx?MediaId=HP-A-14757 (start about 22:45 into the video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBkUcuRjErc

3. "Tyler Durden" comments on the story:
How the World Almost Came to an End on September 18, 2008 (February 8, 2009)
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/how-world-almost-came-end-2pm-september-18

4. Felix Salmon tries to debunk it:
Kanjorski and the Money Market Funds: The Facts (February 12, 2009)
http://seekingalpha.com/article/120220-kanjorski-and-the-money-market-fu...

The claims in the myth are false or exaggerations. Lehman Brothers collapsed on September 15, 2008 causing a lot of ordinary people to take money out of investment accounts (i.e., uninsured money market accounts) and transfer the money to FDIC insured bank accounts. The government's response was to insure money market accounts on September 19, 2008 (see http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/hp1147.htm or Bloomberg, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ajCjBX3zUQRw&refer=home). The withdraw of money occurred over many days and was not as large as claimed in the myth. The myth is sometimes further spiced up by claiming the "run" occurred on September 11.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 06:00 | 132965 gatopeich
gatopeich's picture

Thanks for the clarification.

At any rate, the claim that the money was transferred electronicaly yet at the same time anonymously was smelly.

Reminds me of a call I got recently about a property I am selling. Some guy wanted to buy it a any cost, then he claimed he could not come into the country to close a deal because of the police.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 02:28 | 132914 agrotera
agrotera's picture

Dear max2205, are you looking for this:

http://market-ticker.org/archives/590-FLASH-Fed-Speaking-Out-Both-Sides-Of-Mouth.html

If you figure out what happened here, and find your answers, will you please find me here one day, and let me know?  Thank you so much!!!!!

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 03:34 | 132935 Miles Kendig
Miles Kendig's picture

agrotera, always ready with the link!  I could use your help on a project.  If you are interested, please write to my avatar atlivedotcom.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 09:30 | 133044 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

What happened is that Knajorski (& other morons that pose as »representatives«) were sold a boatload of CRAP for them to utter the »ayes« on the upcoming vote v 2.0. And ZIRP does not destroy the MMs, right?

So, IMO these bollocks go sth like: no one withdrew anything serious from anywhere, including their own heads from where the sun does not shine…

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 09:47 | 133057 max2205
max2205's picture

I will. No one can deny that the fed would ID forensically where the withdraws came from. If I take 50k out of the bank the are papers to fill out.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 10:34 | 133091 Gordon_Gekko
Gordon_Gekko's picture

"On Thursday, September 15, 2008, at approximately 11 A.M., the Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous draw down of money market accounts in the nation, amounting to $550 billion dollars"

As I recall, this is what Benny boy told CONgress. What is to say he wasn't flat out LYING to get them to approve the looting program (TARP)?

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 00:27 | 132821 Missing_Link
Missing_Link's picture

So why are they buying USD?

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 01:01 | 132861 Cursive
Cursive's picture

Why?  Because if the USD goes, everything goes.  The USG sucks a lot, but it is still more powerful and more reliable than any other government (please note the AND construct in my logic).  Nothing could currently replace the USD, so the global central banks will rally together to save it.  A better question is "Why now?"  And, if this proves to be yet another head fake, "When?"

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 06:03 | 132966 gatopeich
gatopeich's picture

I wish I could say that my government is more reliable than USG.

But anyway they are buying USD because they don't want things to change. And again they are using our money to maintain their system.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 08:21 | 133005 jm
jm's picture

Just a thought about "why now".

Next week there are some COMEX gold options expiring.  If our Swiss banking friends short gold have to cover @ ~$1,200 an ounce, it may ruin them.  Maybe the Swiss public is little infomred and resistent to an endless bailout.  May be the first shot in a dollar pump. 

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 08:48 | 133016 ConfederateH
ConfederateH's picture

Because, by all appearances, uncle sam still has the Eidgenossen* by the balls over the UBS's tax idiocy and the continuing OECD war against tax havens.

(* Eidgenossen=Swiss)

 

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 00:34 | 132836 glenlloyd
glenlloyd's picture

Any intervention will have little to no lasting effect unless it's continual. Just like c4c once you stop the hangover comes.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 00:38 | 132841 TumblingDice
TumblingDice's picture

The swiss can print faster.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 00:48 | 132849 cthulhu
cthulhu's picture

The Swiss are known for their precision engineering -- like printing presses that can produce banknotes at a record pace.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 01:12 | 132867 FischerBlack
FischerBlack's picture

What rumors are you hearing about an intervention? The Swiss National Bank might have a liquidity swap to retire in the near future so they want to acquire the dollars they need during this 75% off sale we're having.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 04:25 | 132951 Artful_Dodger
Artful_Dodger's picture

Hi.

Might we have already seen evidence of this? I thought the CB swaps were of a 3 month duration? Or can the banks roll them over?

Please forgive my ignorance!

AD

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 01:26 | 132870 mblackman
mblackman's picture

Hey Cursive. I'll take a couple of whatever you are drinking because it must be good stuff. Sure seems to have done the trick on you!

"Nothing could currently replace the USD..."???? 

Have you been paying attention to what is going on? Obviously not.

Max2205

Not sure where you get your information on the $550 billion withdrawal but if its correct, it has some very sinister implications. The rest of what you say rings true... and its the kind of tune most Americans (and just about everyone else) have chosen to ignore at their peril...

 

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 01:41 | 132888 Cursive
Cursive's picture

Well, mblackman, why don't you tell us all what magical instrument would replace the USD?  Because you can't.  Because one doesn't exist.  Why don't you try paying for your next 9MM from Wal-Mart with your Krugerrands or Canadian Maple Leafs.  Don't have those?  It'll be even harder if you don't have some type of coin.  Listen, if the USD doesn't exist, you probably don't want to be in "civilization."  I would suggest you buy up some rural land and start looking into heirloom seeds.  As long as we have civilization and a new world currency hasn't taken hold, nothing could replace the USD.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 08:19 | 133004 MsCreant
MsCreant's picture

SDRs could get legs. If they all do it and we don't...

Also, US already has some in its reserves (I choked typing that).

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 10:38 | 133099 Cursive
Cursive's picture

Agreed.  SDR's are a future possible alternative, but not ready ATM.  It's not the the USD is not replaceable, it's that it's going to take a lot of work and change in practices to make it so.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 10:01 | 133066 Cursive
Cursive's picture

Exactly what I thought.  Nobody has an answer for what or how to replace the USD.  It is possible, but we'd have experienced the overthrow of multiple governments before that were to happen.  It's the TEOTWAWKI scenario.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 01:23 | 132874 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

What is exactly MAx referring to as an attack?was't this people and businesses withdrawing money for fear of banks collapsing after lehman failure?

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 01:25 | 132878 rhinotrader
rhinotrader's picture

Operation Bernard

 

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 01:25 | 132879 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

The video with Rep Kanjorski talking about the $550 Billion draw down from money market accounts.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ca2_1234032281

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 01:47 | 132892 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Are we sure that the $550T withdrawal wasn't just some prankster adding a bunch of zeros to his withdrawal slip at his local bank branch to get a laugh at the teller's reaction?

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 02:14 | 132906 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

The Swiss Central Bank did this same thing a month ago in order to try to stem the fall of the dollar vs. the Swiss Franc in order to keep the Swiss exports competitive. It did not work then and will not work now.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 02:14 | 132907 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

i am surprised hat japan has not yet imploded based on the yen appreciating so much but we will see...

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 05:27 | 132959 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Bernanke said the Fed was "attentive to the implications of changes in the value of the dollar". Some short term dollar shorts were spooked, and the dollar rallied briefly against everything. Stay of the crack Tyler.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 06:59 | 132980 A Man without Q...
A Man without Qualities's picture

I bought CHF in Dec 08 as part of a "safe currency" basket as well as NOK, Gold and Euro.  In March I reconsidered this owing to the fact it wasn't the end of the world and that I thought that the status of the CHF as a reserve currency was overdone, given the risks of the financial system, especially the CHF mortgages to Eastern Europe, so I sold out of the position.  Looking back, I am glad I did this and the timing was excellent (and a bit lucky) as I bought at 1.05 and sold at 1.17 (and the fact I invested in copper miners with the proceeds, but that's another story).

Essentially, I am of the view the Swiss Central Bank will remain a periodic seller of CHF, to prevent a too rapid rise in the currency because of the loan book of the major banks and possibly because there has been a loss of USD deposits because of the tax attack by the US.

Whether this will turn out to be the right thing to do in the long term, I am not so sure.

If you are looking for a "safe" currency, I do not go for either CHF or JPY, but I think the most important thing to remember is to reconsider this constantly and the greater and more rapid the Dollar appreciation, the likelier the chance of central bank intervention.

 

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 07:39 | 132991 Mr.Kowalski
Mr.Kowalski's picture

If any big country.. Japan, China, EUtopia go down, we all sink with it. So far, Japan is the closest to the edge.

http://themeanoldinvestor.blogspot.com/2009/11/sum-of-all-fears.html

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 09:23 | 133035 time123
time123's picture

It looks like the Euro will be moving lower against the US dollar over the next months and that should cap gold upside for a while.

It all has to do with interest rate differentials and relative economic growth. Europe is likely to experience banking issues again.

time123

admin: http://invetrics.com

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 09:44 | 133053 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Alas the dollar rally is upon us. The herd are deluded if they think the U.S. is the only currency in danger.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 09:53 | 133061 max2205
max2205's picture

The withdraws were funding maybe 1 to 16 mth CP that would have been called? So the Fed had to "find" dead presidents to replace the money quickly. Maybe they printed and replaced the money in those funds and asked for permission later (TARP)

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 10:42 | 133103 Bruce Krasting
Bruce Krasting's picture

The Swiss have been intervening against the Euro. They have been protecting the 1.51 level. But dollar intervention? That would be interesting.

The Swiss do not care about the dollar. that is beyond their control.

In looking at this over a long period of time the trade is to go against the snake. By that I mean if CB's are buying you shoud be selling. Why? This is not a line in the sand situation. You do don't step up and say, "the Euro will not go above 1.50".  This is going to be an orderly retreat. So when the CB are buying it is a sign of weakness, not strenth. Only policy options will strenthen the dollar. Bernanke said those options are at least 9 months away.

 

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 11:11 | 133133 Racer
Racer's picture

Would it not take very much to trigger a rally in the dollar where everyone is bearish on the dollar?

A vicious triggering of stops could cause a big spike up and with all the markets so sensitive it could snowball very fast indeed.

The Fed have wound up a coiled spring that could jump at any time!

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 11:23 | 133147 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

39 million people on food stamps (13% of population), 17.5% of the population are long term unemployed, 50% of workers pay little or no income taxes. This is the great depression except the soup lines are transacted on the internet. Much of the "stimulus" money sent to State Government to fund deficits. Worthless debt rolled over and refinanced via the FED programs. Not only will these pattern continue it is likely to expand in my opinion. It's too late for the middle class.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 11:29 | 133157 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Yes. And every one in the dollar carry/short, and long the markets, expect to be the first one out. Could be crowded.

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 11:44 | 133184 DaveyJones
Tue, 11/17/2009 - 12:07 | 133210 Grand Supercycle
Grand Supercycle's picture

 

USDCHF will rally along with the USD Index.

http://www.zerohedge.com/forum/market-outlook-0


 

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!