Swiss National Bank

Nerves are frayed, tempers flare, the euro teeters

• Greek Banks Under Pressure (WSJ)
• France Seeks Eurozone Stability Package (FT)
• Germany Dashes Eurozone Expectations (FT)
• Geithner Says European Leaders Know They Must Do More (Bloomberg)
• In Athens, Party Aims to Delay Austerity (WSJ)
• Rajoy Battles ECB for Loans; Monti Appeals for EU Action (Bloomberg)
• Nokia Slashes 10,000 Jobs, Cuts Outlook (WSJ)
• H-1B Visas Hit the Cap, Sending Companies to Plan B (Businessweek)
• Swiss National Bank Vows to Defend Currency Floor (WSJ)
• Euro Crisis Deeper With Moody’s Downgrading Spain, Cyprus (Bloomberg)
• When all else fails... Truckers As Leading Indicator Show Stable U.S. Economic Growth (Bloomberg)

• How original: Syria prints new money as deficit grows (Reuters)- America is not Syria
• Former SNB head Hildebrand to become BlackRock vice chairman (FT)
• Osborne says Greece may have to quit euro (Reuters)
• Osborne Risks the Wrath of Merkel (FT)
• China second-quarter GDP growth may dip below 7 percent - government adviser (Reuters)
• Italian Borrowing Costs Surge at Auction of 1-Year Bills (Bloomberg)
• Greeks withdraw cash ahead of cliffhanger vote (Reuters)
• Merkel’s Choice Pits European Fate Against German Voter Interest (Bloomberg)
• Italy Tax Increases Backfire as Monti Tightens Belts (Bloomberg)
• Dimon says JPMorgan failed to rein in traders (Reuters)

All you can read.

I believe this is Germany’s final push for EU control. If this fails and Germany ceases to offer additional bailout funds in some form then the EU will collapse (as noted earlier, the ECB, IMF, and US Fed cannot prop the EU up nor will the ESM mega bailout fund work). Spain’s literally on the verge of seeing a bank holiday. Germany is the only one who might have the funds to prop it up. And Germany wants gold. In plain terms, the EU will likely not last through the summer. It’s literally GAME OVER time. Various proposals will crop up (such as Germany’s “cash for Gold” program), but no one (not even Germany) actually has the funds to support the avalanche of banking failures that is coming.

Watch out for exchange controls in Switzerland this weekend.

Swiss National Bank currency reserves just topped CHF300bn in May for the first time on record. As SocGen notes this jump from a mere CHF66bn in April is the second largest rise since August last year - right before the SNB put in place the 1.20 cap in EURCHF. The increase in reserves is not a major surprise after EURUSD plummeted over eight big figures last month and the SNB was left with no choice but to step up its EUR purchases in order to defend the cap. However, the size of the increase may cause fresh political consternation as the cost of unlimited foreign currency purchases continues to climb and a definitive resolution of the euro crisis is still remote. What worries us more is the market's 'hedging' of a tail-risk event in Europe has driven risk-reversals in EURCHF (a way of understanding the bullish/bearish bias in FX options prices) that implies a 1.10 level for EURCHF which is somewhat incredibly supported by an analysis of the variation in ECB and SNB balance sheet changes. As the threat of capital controls looms large and Swiss 2Y rates press back towards -30bps, we wonder how long until a new 'equilibrium' cap is adjusted down to 1.10.

An uplifting story of austerity and growth at the edge of Eurozone mayhem.

I believe this is Germany’s final push for EU control. If this fails and Germany ceases to offer additional bailout funds in some form then the EU will collapse (as noted earlier, the ECB, IMF, and US Fed cannot prop the EU up nor will the ESM mega bailout fund work). Spain’s literally on the verge of seeing a bank holiday. Germany is the only one who might have the funds to prop it up. And Germany wants gold.

It ain't about Greece any longer.

A picture says more than a hundred words, so I wanted to present in graphical terms what happened at the Swiss National Bank over the last few quarters.  Central banks have tried to “manage” currencies in the past. Sooner or later, market forces win. As all other major central banks keep printing additional Euros, Dollars, Yen etc., the SNB looks prone to lose this game. A run on the Swiss Franc could lead to a further increase in prices of Swiss government bonds. Swiss equities however would decline, at least measured in Swiss Francs.

The most recent money supply data from the Swiss National Bank (SNB) has shown increases of huge amounts. As compared with its loss of 19 bln. francs in 2010 (3% percent of the Swiss GDP), the central bank printed tremendous 17.3 bln. in the week ending in June 1st and 13 bln. in the one ending in May 25th. These numbers were not seen since August 2011 when the SNB increased money supply by 50 bln and 40 bln per week buying the EUR/CHF at rates between 1.00 and 1.13. Now, however they are buying at 1.20 and are risking extreme losses, especially because many other central banks are dumping euros.

German taxpayers still have an opportunity to just say no

It's blood in the streets out there: nobody wants Euros because nobody knows if Greece will be in the EMU on Monday... Or Spain for that matter, which is now fresh out of towels. You just happen to have the position of an FX trader at the SNB and everyone wants your money. What do you do? What do you do?

Long-time euro-skeptic and President of the Swiss National Bank unloads