Free Republic

SHANGHAI: China's national foreign exchange market will introduce direct trading of the Swiss franc, the operator said on Monday, as the country pushes greater international use of its yuan currency. Trading of the Switzerland currency against the yuan begins on Tuesday, the China Foreign Exchange Trade System said in a statement on its website. Direct trade increases efficiency and cuts transactions costs as deals do not use a third currency like the US dollar. The country's foreign exchange market already hosts direct trading of a number of currencies, including the Singapore dollar, the euro, Britain's pound and the New Zealand...

Miami-based Everest Capital Fund was knocked down last week after the Swiss National Bank unexpectedly allowed the Swiss franc to trade freely against to the euro, according to a report from Bloomberg . The $830 million fund has reportedly been wiped out, according to media reports.

Yesterday, when we got the first news of huge P&L losses at various publicly-traded banks not to mention the collapse of several retail brokers culminating with the bailout of FXCM by Jefferies, we reminded that seconds after the SNB shocker, we tweeted what was quite obvious to anyone who realized that speculators were most short the CHF since the summer of 2013. We also added that "We have yet to find out just which hedge funds were blown up yesterday", for the simple reason that unlike public banks who have an obligation to reveal news, especially bad, to their shareholders,...

All morning, mainstream media has been down-playing the insolvency of various retail-focused FX brokers using words like "contained" and even suggesting retail "moms-and-pops" should not be allowed to trade FX. Now, we get more news from a non-retail institution: -CITIGROUP SAID TO LOSE MORE THAN $150 MLN ON CURRENCY MOVES So should Citi be banned from FX trading too? It appears so. Citi's head of European FX sales is "said to leave" the company. -CITIGROUP HEAD OF EUROPEAN INVESTOR SALES, FX, SAID TO LEAVE

"As if millions of macro hedge funds suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced" Over two decades ago, George Soros took on the Bank of England, and won. Just before lunch local time, the Swiss National Bank took on virtually every single macro hedge fund, the vast majority of which were short the Swiss Franc and crushed them, when it announced, first, that it would go further into NIRP, pushing its interest rate on deposit balances even more negative from -0.25% to -0.75%, a move which in itself would have been unprecedented and, second, announcing that the 1.20...

Swiss ATMs refuse to deliver Euros...

Global markets were thrown into turmoil on Thursday as a shock move by Switzerland to abandon its more than three-year-old cap on the franc sent the currency soaring and Europe's shares and bond yields tumbling. The franc jumped by almost 30 percent in a chaotic few minutes after the 1.20 per euro cap in place since late 2011 was lifted, surging past parity to trade as high as 0.8052 francs per euro. It was trading at 1.02600 at just after 1200 GMT. The move reversed an earlier rebound in risk appetite following an overnight recovery in commodity prices. Over 100...

While the move by the SNB to basically link its currency to the dying Euro was shocking and will send shockwaves throughout the global financial systems for months to come, in many ways it was inevitable. The central planners are still in control and they are getting increasingly desperate. Part of their desperation manifests itself in acts to prevent markets from sending out signals to investors and the general population. This is why Central Bankers print money and buy government bonds. This is why the ECB is buying worthless PIIGS debt. This is why the SNB decided to destroy its...

<p>The Swiss Parliament is expected later this year to discuss the creation of a gold franc — a parallel currency to the official Swiss franc, likely triggering a broader debate about the role of the precious metal in the Alpine nation.</p>

French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo goes on trial in Paris tomorrow in a civil lawsuit by the Grand Mosque of Paris and the Union of Islamic Organisations of France for publishing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a special issue a year ago.

A majority of French people believe the switch to the euro five years ago was bad for their country, according to a recent poll, which suggests the French blame the common European currency for damaging economic growth and causing price hikes. The TNS-Sofres survey published on Wednesday (27 December) by Le Pelerin magazine showed 52 percent of respondents said giving up the franc for the euro has been "quite bad" or "very bad" for France, up from 45 percent three years ago in a similar survey. Fifty-one percent of the 1000 participants in the telephone poll said the single currency...

The achievement of economic and monetary union by 11 European countries in 1999 was based on a deal: Germany, the strongest member, gave up the Deutschemark on the understanding that the others would not debauch the new common currency, the euro. Nearly eight years on, that inherently doomed project is coming apart at the seams.The fundamental problem is that the economies of the "Germanic" members have diverged so far from those of the "Latin" bloc that the single interest rate set by the European Central Bank (ECB) is becoming a huge political liability. An inkling of this came last year,...

Muslims accused of attacking French police PARIS, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- French police say radical Muslims of North Africa origin, living in poor housing estates, are targeting officers in what they call an "intifada" campaign. Such attacks are injuring an average of 14 officers every day, reports Britain's Daily Telegraph. France's Interior Ministry said about 2,500 officers have been targeted this year. One police union was quoted as saying there exists a state of civil war waged by unemployed youths living in the densely populated low-income housing projects. The union is asking the government to provide its officers with armored...

FRANCE's triumphant campaign against the European constitution is now turning its guns toward the single currency as the crisis in European politics continues to spread.Phillipe de Villiers, the nationalist MEP who spearheaded the referendum fight against the European constitution, is now calling for a popular vote on France's continued membership of the single currency. The French establishment remains united behind the euro, just as it did behind the constitution. But an opinion poll conducted by Ifop has suggested that the Elysee is out of touch with public sentiment, with 61 per cent of French voters saying they miss the franc....

French nostalgic for the franc (snip) Three out of five French people miss their old currency, replaced by the euro in 2002, a survey for Valeurs Actuelles magazine showed on Wednesday. In February 2002 that figure was just 39 percent. (snip) In Germany, the other driving force behind EU integration, 56 percent want to see the return of the mark, according to a survey published earlier this year by Stern magazine, which found the euro being blamed for price rises and economic woes. (snip) But European policymakers insist the euro is here to stay.

America and the Eurasian Alliance – Part I Dr. Alexandr Nemets Thursday, May 15, 2003 U.S. Administration’s Plans According to available information, the Bush administration’s plans in regard to the Middle East, for the second half of 2003-2004, are as follows: 1) Rebuild Iraq, primarily by restoring crude oil production to the 1989 level or even greater, up to around 6.5 million barrels a day (325 million tons a year),most of which would be exported. As a result, Iraq would receive a lot of money for solving its most urgent socioeconomic problems while the world crude oil price (NY oil...

<p>Colin Powell deserves a Purple Heart and maybe even a Bronze Star, not for his service in Vietnam or even as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but for his heroism on the Franco-German front in the second Iraqi campaign.</p>

<p>Colin Powell deserves a Purple Heart and maybe even a Bronze Star, not for his service in Vietnam or even as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, but for his heroism on the Franco-German front in the second Iraqi campaign.</p>