Australia: A window on the future of print
Newscorp the owner of print and on line publications across the world has called time on more than 100 local and regional printed papers in Australia. All 110 will from now on only be available on line. This is part of a widespread review of the Newscorp business model. The Murdoch family have long proved themselves adept at reading market trends and this is an example of gaining first mover advantage as for sure others will follow suit.
No not a contradiction in terms but all true: the Swiss hills were alive with the sound of sex workers preparing for a return to work yesterday afternoon. However wrestling, judo and boxing as well as nightclubs which all involve “close and sustained physical contact” are still not permitted. Kind of begs another question about those Swiss erotic services, but that’s not for here. Swiss Franc CHF slightly limper versus USD at 0.97.
“Not many people know that”…with thanks to Michael Caine (87 and going strong if you didn’t know that ) but in this case it’s to do with saunas. Estonia not only has the climate but also the expertise when it comes to building and selling saunas for peoples’ back gardens. Since March the industry has started sizzling as sales have eclipsed the whole of the previous full year. Seasoned SGM-FX sauna aficionado Charles puts this down to lockdown rather than the wisdom of President Alexander Lubashenko from neighbouring Belarus; some readers may recall that it was Lubashenko who opined in April that 3 things would cure Covid: vodka, tractors and….saunas!
Have a very good and enjoyable weekend!
Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder
Blinkers on The Federal Reserve published its latest interest rate decision last night. As widely expected, it made no change to current benchmark rates. The Fed funds rate therefore remains within a restrictive 4.25-4.5% target band. The Fed did make some marginal changes to its balance sheet operations, tweaking some caps on treasury redemptions. But […]
Where’s the Trump Put? On Tuesday Trump went some way towards remediating for his comments that appeared to show a disregard for a recession over the weekend. In a Fox News interview on Sunday the President declined to rule out the prospect of a recession, contributing to the stock market decline come Monday. For what […]
Looking ahead to BoE Thursday On Thursday the Bank of England will publish its second monetary policy decision of 2025. Casting our minds back momentarily to its last publication in February, we are reminded of the surprising shift in narrative from key MPC members. The shift in voting patterns saw one member, previously viewed by […]