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Swiss National Bank Admits Directly Buying Small-Cap Stocks
While we have noted previously that "a cluster of central banking investors has become major players on world equity markets," and the BoJ has recently tripled its direct manipulative buying of stocks (after buying a record amount in August)... the conspiracy-theorist-dismissers will have to close their eyes and ears as the Swiss National Bank admits in its 2013 annual report that it greatly expanded its share of foreign stocks purchased... most notably small-cap companies.
Maybe it is time to reign in the SNB with the Gold Initiative?
h/t @Gloeschi
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So does anyone still think the Fed does not do this?
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Central Banks buying equities with "money" conjured up from thin air. What could go wrong?
By the sweat of your brow, they'll eat their bread.
Does the FED do it?
Well, what pray tell, is the Other Assets line on their balance sheet of which they disclose no details. And no, it ain't fixtures, iCrap and the like.
It's financial assets.
Doh!
Well fuck me yes AND the Fed gave these banks the printed money to buy the stawks.
This is insidious
I keep telling you guys to buy stocks before there aren't any.
If Central Banks are buying equities, one has to wonder what they do with all of the enormous VOTING POWER they have within these companies.
Exactly - does this also mean that corporations now have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize the profits of the Federal Reserve (shareholder)?
If diversification includes small-cap stocks, it certainly should include precious metals as well.
Is there even one central banker with a shred of self-restraint?
CNBC: home of ANGRY bulls
http://tinyurl.com/qb44mtq
No.
And some have said the CB's and Sovereigns may have $30 trillion in the stock market out of a $60 trillion market. If true, then what happens if they withdraw liquidity, and worse, how easy and likely for it to be a concerted effort?
Also, it's gonna be a bitch when the Swiss have to sell these stocks to buy gold.
If I were a CB what with the Anglo American cartel apparently (who it is don't matter for this purpose) pressuring the price down, I'd be buying the shit up hand over fist. And issuing my own currency to do so. Nah na nah nah nan nah
If you like your fiat, you can keep your fiat
I'll take the gold and the broad with the big tits
-Lloyd "the man" Blackfiend
PS Krugman should be climaxing in his tightie whities
Why withdraw? It's not like they have use "real" money for these purchases. They only own 50% - still room for more manipulation until we reach another threshold and more consequences.
Those swiss central bankers know that the swiss own lots of guns, right?
Absolutely shiny, After all there is no risk involved......
Isn't that illegal ?? ...... oh, never mind .
It's illegal for the Fed to directly buy them, but not for them to poof an account into existance, poof some new dollars into existance and allow other central banks to buy them.
And pretty soon, yes, the Fed will do it directly. It's only a matter of time now.
Futures are actually within Fed mandate, so that is the route by which they impact markets outside of direct bond purchases. true story, heard it from a guy who used to do research for SF Fed.
it's why i always get a kick out of ppl who mention 'the fed moving the goalpost.' shit, they shorten the field, replace yards with feet, increments into 1st downs. everyone 'wins' when the Fed drives every player to the field on the short bus. "if ppl feel wealthier, they will spend more." bang, pow, boom, by any means necessary. mediocrity rules, everyone feels pride in how 'smart' they are, monetary velocity increases. but we all know the reality...
If they can buy small-caps then they can buy gold.
So the central banks bid up stawks and all 401k holders feel richer. What happens when the central banks want to pull the rug out from underneath this charade? (we all know the answer to that one)
Would the central banks ever want to stop up bidding the markets?
When they stop, it's war.
there's no reason for them to stop in a deflationary spiral. they just keep the prop going ad infinitum. problem solved... at least, in theory. we'll see what happens when they finally go from 'lender of last resort' to 'owner of everything and its garbage'
They will only buy crap assets from the 0.1%
The SNB has to do something with all those euros that they've been buying to maintain the 1.2000 eur/chf peg. Bond yields in the short term market are so low the ponzi equity casino is the only place to play for some return.
All of the CB buying and manipulation over the last (6) years isn't going to end up on the good side of history.
I can almost guarantee that the world's central banks have the same cooperative agreements as the intelligence agencies. NSA gives american data to the UK and Isreal and vice versa to get around legalities while the central banks buy each others equity markets and bonds. Just one big circle jerk as the rest of us get fucked out of our civil liberties and our money.
It's for the children... (no really, this is a meager penance to pay for the children's "retirement" after fucking them over for so long...)
So desperate to prove a paper currency can be backed by non permanent paper instead of gold. So determined to ride this brick of a financial experiment right into the dirt. meanwhile, the ME just went on a gold standard and you need gold to buy oil. Anything and everything but gold, just like a little girl who is so angry at her parents that she runs away, but will be back home for dinner.
you can't "reign in" the bankers. The ECB, IMP, FED, et al - imagine a future global economy based entirlely upon fraud and market manipulaiton.
if you try to stop them, they'll just dispach some of their bankers to rape you, chop you up and stuff you in a suitcase. (which they see as "God's work)
Anyone who votes "yes" on the Swiss Gold Initiative will most certanily be rounded up and sent to some kind of Goverment Raping Center - where someone from UBS will re-educate them from behind.
the central planning will continue until morale improves
I wonder who votes the proxies?
<edit: a minute ago I had one upvote for this comment. Now I have no votes either way. Not that I care either way for the votes, but I've never been able to unvote something, so I'd assumed now one else could either. Is that incorrect Tylers?>
If they can find foreign stock which is not too overpriced I reckon that the Swiss National Bank reduces the amount of risk by diversifying its assets in this way. Perhaps there are other foreign assets they should also buy rather than foreign currency.
I am not sure the SNB is allowed to do this! But what worries much more is the explosion of forex holdings ( EUR and USD) from CHF 94 bn in 2009 to CHF 471 bn in sept 2014. Gold holdings are CHF 39 bn.
This story makes my blood boil more than anything else I've read today.
clocked in specially to give this post a +100
Not sure whether it's included in the 29 trillion USD equity purchases by central banks officially reported a few months ago, and what the unofficial number is.
The DAX was pumped up by the Japanese CB according to reports, either directly by them or via carry trade (borrow yen, buy anything that is moving upwards). Pumped up like a midget coed under a college stud.
The Eurostoxx indices look like a limp dick in comparison. Do they have VD?
Print your own money and buy up all the corporations of the world. What a great idea.
Just wait until the equity markets correct or selloff. All the CB's playing the long $usd and long U.S. equity market trade are going to get sucked through the event horizon and spaghettified.
This strong $ trade with rising equity markets is a disaster just looking for a place to happen. I pulled this article last night, and it's very informative. It expains the concerns over the carry trade from the Asian and emerging markets perspective.
America's currency, everybody's problem - Business News | The Star Online
There is naked short selling, but appearantly also naked buying.
This Swiss gold thing is getting really intersting.
How do these central banks vote their shares, and what percentage of a company's stock would you say a central bank would need to own before it has been effectively captured/nationalized? What percent of the companies or total market cap has to be captured/nationalized before we have defacto fascism?
Which small cap companies have been chosen to succeed?
I give thanks for the contrarian SOB's that bring us ZH, TURD, STEER, and Harvey ( and many others!).
But i wonder if we lucky few are missing something important? Tyler, is it possible that over time, the numbers of people following these Contrarian SOB's have reached critical mass that we should now organize and co-ordinate to actually DO SOMETHING to change the world?
Of course, i could be wrong. Perhaps its best that we merely weep and knash our teeth while those MFWIC's (Mother F**kers whats in charge) continue to rape our families and communities.
I would like to see an article on: "What can we do?" ...perhaps we can apply leverage at the right place and time ....to move a world.
Keep on stackin.
WHICH CURRENCIES AND ASSETS MAKE UP THE SNB'S FOREIGN CURRENCY INVESTMENTS? http://www.snb.ch/static/img/arrow-light.png); background-position: 0px 2px; background-repeat: no-repeat;" href="http://www.snb.ch/en/ifor/public/qas/id/qas_assets#">Print section
The majority of the SNB's foreign currency investments are in government bonds, bonds issued by foreign local authorities (e.g. provinces and municipalities) and supranational organisations, as well as corporate bonds, or are placed at other central banks. At the end of 2012, the proportion of equities was 12%. Around half of the foreign currency investments are denominated in euros, and just under 30% in US dollars. Other important investment currencies are the pound sterling, the yen and the Canadian dollar. Also, the SNB holds smaller investments in the Australian and Singapore dollars, the Swedish krona, the Danish krone and the South Korean won. Asian investments amount to some USD 50 billion. This prompted the SNB to open a representative office in Singapore in July 2013. This ensures a more efficient management of the SNB's Asian investments by internal portfolio managers located in the region. The SNB publishes the on a quarterly basis
http://www.snb.ch/en/ifor/public/qas/id/qas_assets#t14
That's such an old story... Tylers are falling behind here.