Understanding the SNB surrender

I also don't think it was a stupid decision either but the way they have conducted them selves is similar to financial hooliganism with no regard to the other side. Bloody minded stupidity imo.

Fact that we are talking about Alpari and good many others having lost money and jobs is clear indication that it was a shock to the market. I can only imagine those who made money could only be the very few or those with inside information.

If the release of the news announcement was better handled; impact may have been the same or better but certainly not worse.

Knives out for the SNB!!! (n)

I agree, they handled this with the style of the Venezuelan Central Bank or below....it could really not have been handled worst.....:mad:

Which brings us again to the question why.....what was there that made them take this decision literally "over breakfast"?
 
I agree, they handled this with the style of the Venezuelan Central Bank or below....it could really not have been handled worst.....:mad:

Which brings us again to the question why.....what was there that made them take this decision literally "over breakfast"?

Dunno to be honest but if I were to hazard a guess - I'd say Mario added two lumps of sugar instead of one to Tom's tea. :cheesy:

For some reason I was thinking along the lines of Paulson versus Fuld boxing match in the Fed arena :idea:
 
They could have pegged the CHF to the $ - floor limit - instead of the Euro ...
 
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They could have pegged the CHF to the $ instead of the Euro ...

They have tried that one before and also failed miserably. For anybody with access to the Jim Rogers book mentioned earlier, it is all there to read, starting in page 193 in a chapter called....."Crisis in paper money":LOL:
 
I think the leadership or lack of it from Putin, putting forces into The Crimea and Obama over reacting with sanctions is hugely to blame for the economic woes of the planet.
Neither of them will do the honourable thing and back off a bit to let the situation de-escalate.
This is a good example why individuals should not control major decisions like economic/foreign policy. They are unreliable.

What with the Jehadis on the rampage too the world could have a torrid 2015 and worse 2016
 
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They have tried that one before and also failed miserably. For anybody with access to the Jim Rogers book mentioned earlier, it is all there to read, starting in page 193 in a chapter called....."Crisis in paper money":LOL:

Just keep printing CHF and exchange it with the $ , it is in a bull cycle anyway , and with the widening difference in IR between both currencies that should be ok :clap:
 
Did they under-estimate, misjudge or were totally not aware of these consequences???

.

No. I mean seriously, what consequences? That a few speculators got burned? Do you really think that is even part of the decision process for them? The decision for the SNB is do we try and defend Swiss exporters at the risk of destroying our remaining reserves, when we (and the markets) know that ultimately we don't have the firepower to back up our words. This is a central bank trying to make decisions in real time about real money and a real economy. Who cares about Alpari and retail traders?
 
Article with interesting comments...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-...rprise-runs-gamut-from-idiotic-to-brave-.html

“These people are meant to be the experts and yet they’ve acted in such a way that caused significant harm to the markets, something most people could have predicted would happen,”

“It is quite possibly one of the worst central bank decisions ever,”

“idiotic.”

“It suggests that they’re not perhaps the solid, stable central bank that we’d want,”

“Nobody, who’s active in the export industry, could expect that the exchange rate of 1.20 per euro would be guaranteed for ever,”

“It’s brave and justified,”

“Since 2008, markets have become too accustomed to central banks’ crisis management. Turning the money tap off at some point leads to distortions in the markets -- we see this in the U.S. and now in Switzerland.”

“I’m one of several people who think the SNB is getting unfair criticism, including from Madame Lagarde,”

“it’s to some extent understandable.”

“The trade-off was either the possibility of future poor outturns on inflation, or certain negative outcomes immediately on the economy. And they’ve chosen the policy decision that ensures bad things happen today -- that is quite a bizarre choice to make.”
 
For anyone wanting grown up commentary on this rather than conspiracy theorists or quotes from burned traders, try John Authers and Mohamed El-Erian in this weekend's FT.
 
No. I mean seriously, what consequences? That a few speculators got burned? Do you really think that is even part of the decision process for them? The decision for the SNB is do we try and defend Swiss exporters at the risk of destroying our remaining reserves, when we (and the markets) know that ultimately we don't have the firepower to back up our words. This is a central bank trying to make decisions in real time about real money and a real economy. Who cares about Alpari and retail traders?

Its not about Alpari or speculators' losses :whistling , this decision will bring the Swiss economy to its knees ...
 
Article with interesting comments...

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-...rprise-runs-gamut-from-idiotic-to-brave-.html

“These people are meant to be the experts and yet they’ve acted in such a way that caused significant harm to the markets, something most people could have predicted would happen,”

“It is quite possibly one of the worst central bank decisions ever,”

“idiotic.”

“It suggests that they’re not perhaps the solid, stable central bank that we’d want,”

“Nobody, who’s active in the export industry, could expect that the exchange rate of 1.20 per euro would be guaranteed for ever,”

“It’s brave and justified,”

“Since 2008, markets have become too accustomed to central banks’ crisis management. Turning the money tap off at some point leads to distortions in the markets -- we see this in the U.S. and now in Switzerland.”

“I’m one of several people who think the SNB is getting unfair criticism, including from Madame Lagarde,”

“it’s to some extent understandable.”

“The trade-off was either the possibility of future poor outturns on inflation, or certain negative outcomes immediately on the economy. And they’ve chosen the policy decision that ensures bad things happen today -- that is quite a bizarre choice to make.”

I see the 'idiotic' comment comes from someone at Alpari. One could say running an undercapitalised forex business and allowing gross over leverage is also idiotic. Also the comment about doing it over the weekend... Some of the biggest market moves are on Mondays after weekend news events because everyone hits the trigger first thing Monday morning to panic sell.
 
As usual it is a faceless, nameless banking gnome who has made this poor decision.

Or was it a collection ( flock, herd, pack, shoal ) of gnomes ?
 
Its not about Alpari or speculators' losses :whistling , this decision will bring the Swiss economy to its knees ...

Ha ha. As opposed to destroying your reserves and over leveraging your central banks balance sheet? Go and read an economics book. Pikkety's Capitalism in the 21st Century is quite good on the limitations of central bank policy.
 
Ha ha. As opposed to destroying your reserves and over leveraging your central banks balance sheet? Go and read an economics book. Pikkety's Capitalism in the 21st Century is quite good on the limitations of central bank policy.

So just now the SNB discovered that a floor limit will burn their reserves ?! It was a wrong decision from 2011 ...
 
No. I mean seriously, what consequences? That a few speculators got burned? Do you really think that is even part of the decision process for them? The decision for the SNB is do we try and defend Swiss exporters at the risk of destroying our remaining reserves, when we (and the markets) know that ultimately we don't have the firepower to back up our words. This is a central bank trying to make decisions in real time about real money and a real economy. Who cares about Alpari and retail traders?

Well yes that is exactly what they have done in the worst possible way and yes it should be - as a central bank part of their decision process.

Also - Euro was hit in a big way and as they have quite a bit of Euro's - they have effectively shot them selves in the foot by devaluing their reserves too.

They are non-caring hooligans who do not deserve the reputation of being central bankers bestowed on them. So what is their function. Price stability or currency stability? Massive failure either way!

People now give them due credit with the words they don't listen to others, they don't take orders and they are exceptionally brilliant and they no doubt know something we don't to have embarked down this route.

I'm sorry but whether in industry exporters v importers or financial markets these kind of shocks help no one but the accidental or guilty few.

Vandals do what they do because they can and doing the right thing and building is usually much harder than braking things which is so much easier.

We'll have to wait to see how this pans out with respect to their economy. I'd start by taking Davos to Greece or Spain some other more cost effective country.
 
I see the 'idiotic' comment comes from someone at Alpari. One could say running an undercapitalised forex business and allowing gross over leverage is also idiotic. Also the comment about doing it over the weekend... Some of the biggest market moves are on Mondays after weekend news events because everyone hits the trigger first thing Monday morning to panic sell.


Isn't Alpari owned by the Swiss?
 
Funds are at risk too

The Everest Capital Global hedge fund may be neither the first nor the last currency-market participant to feel the pain caused by the Swiss National Bank’s surprise decision to discontinue its fixing of the minimum exchange rate between the Swiss franc and the euro last week, but the fund’s suffering might be notable because it appears to have resulted in its shuttering, Bloomberg News reported.

Marko Dimitrijevic, who founded Everest Capital LLC in 1990, will close his company’s largest fund due to losses associated with massive movements in the currency market after the Swiss National Bank’s unexpected announcement Thursday that it was abandoning its policy of pegging the exchange rate at 1.20 Swiss francs per €1.00, according to a person familiar with the firm cited by Bloomberg News.

Basically, Everest Capital Global had bet (big) the Swiss franc would depreciate in value, indicated Bloomberg News’ source, who requested anonymity because the information is private. Based in Miami and Singapore, the company had about $830 million in assets under management at its largest fund at the end of last year, according to a client report cited by the news agency.

An emerging-markets specialist, Everest Capital will continue to manage more than $2 billion in assets at its other funds, which do not have the same kind of exposure to the Swiss franc as did their sibling, a person familiar with the company told the Wall Street Journal.

Other hedge-fund firms suffering Swiss franc shock include the London-based Comac Capital LLP, managing $1.2 billion, and the South Norwalk, Connecticut-headquartered Discovery Capital Management LLC, managing $14.7 billion, the Journal reported.

Armel Leslie, an Everest Capital representative at the public-relations agency Peppercomm, declined to comment to Bloomberg News about the Global fund’s closing. And Everest Capital did not reply to an email message about it sent by International Business Times before the publication of this article.

The Swiss central bank’s surprise move to scrap its three-year-old policy on the euro/Swiss franc currency pair, or EUR/CHF, caused the franc Thursday to skyrocket as much as a record 41 percent against the euro and to soar more than 15 percent against all the 150-plus currencies tracked by Bloomberg, the news agency said.

It also led to important losses for Barclays PLC, Citigroup Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG, among other financial institutions, Bloomberg News reported.

The extent of the currency-related pain at FXCM Inc., an online provider of foreign-exchange trading services, resulted in the Leucadia National Corp. agreeing to supply the company with $300 million in cash financing, the firm said in a statement Friday.

FXCM said the financing would enable it “to meet its regulatory-capital requirements and continue normal operations after [Thursday’s] loss of $225 million due to the unprecedented actions of the Swiss National Bank.”

Under the agreement, Leucadia invested $300 million in FXCM in the form of a senior secured term loan with a two-year maturity and an initial coupon of 10 percent, the loan recipient said. Both parties are based in New York.

FXCM CEO Drew Niv said in the statement, “Leucadia’s support and this financing are by far the best alternative for FXCM, our customers, our shareholders and all other relevant constituencies.”

Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, FXCM closed at $12.63 a share Thursday. The equity’s trading was halted during the regular session Friday, but the stock began changing hands again in the postmarket session: It closed at $4.38 a stub.
 
So just now the SNB discovered that a floor limit will burn their reserves ?! It was a wrong decision from 2011 ...

No it wasn't, they drew a line that until recently they didn't have to defend, and saved their exporters a great deal of FX volatility in the meantime.
 
The Everest Capital Global hedge fund may be neither the first nor the last currency-market participant to feel the pain caused by the Swiss National Bank’s surprise decision to discontinue its fixing of the minimum exchange rate between the Swiss franc and the euro last week, but the fund’s suffering might be notable because it appears to have resulted in its shuttering, Bloomberg News reported.

Marko Dimitrijevic, who founded Everest Capital LLC in 1990, will close his company’s largest fund due to losses associated with massive movements in the currency market after the Swiss National Bank’s unexpected announcement Thursday that it was abandoning its policy of pegging the exchange rate at 1.20 Swiss francs per €1.00, according to a person familiar with the firm cited by Bloomberg News.

Basically, Everest Capital Global had bet (big) the Swiss franc would depreciate in value, indicated Bloomberg News’ source, who requested anonymity because the information is private. Based in Miami and Singapore, the company had about $830 million in assets under management at its largest fund at the end of last year, according to a client report cited by the news agency.

An emerging-markets specialist, Everest Capital will continue to manage more than $2 billion in assets at its other funds, which do not have the same kind of exposure to the Swiss franc as did their sibling, a person familiar with the company told the Wall Street Journal.

Other hedge-fund firms suffering Swiss franc shock include the London-based Comac Capital LLP, managing $1.2 billion, and the South Norwalk, Connecticut-headquartered Discovery Capital Management LLC, managing $14.7 billion, the Journal reported.

Armel Leslie, an Everest Capital representative at the public-relations agency Peppercomm, declined to comment to Bloomberg News about the Global fund’s closing. And Everest Capital did not reply to an email message about it sent by International Business Times before the publication of this article.

The Swiss central bank’s surprise move to scrap its three-year-old policy on the euro/Swiss franc currency pair, or EUR/CHF, caused the franc Thursday to skyrocket as much as a record 41 percent against the euro and to soar more than 15 percent against all the 150-plus currencies tracked by Bloomberg, the news agency said.

It also led to important losses for Barclays PLC, Citigroup Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG, among other financial institutions, Bloomberg News reported.

The extent of the currency-related pain at FXCM Inc., an online provider of foreign-exchange trading services, resulted in the Leucadia National Corp. agreeing to supply the company with $300 million in cash financing, the firm said in a statement Friday.

FXCM said the financing would enable it “to meet its regulatory-capital requirements and continue normal operations after [Thursday’s] loss of $225 million due to the unprecedented actions of the Swiss National Bank.”

Under the agreement, Leucadia invested $300 million in FXCM in the form of a senior secured term loan with a two-year maturity and an initial coupon of 10 percent, the loan recipient said. Both parties are based in New York.

FXCM CEO Drew Niv said in the statement, “Leucadia’s support and this financing are by far the best alternative for FXCM, our customers, our shareholders and all other relevant constituencies.”

Listed on the New York Stock Exchange, FXCM closed at $12.63 a share Thursday. The equity’s trading was halted during the regular session Friday, but the stock began changing hands again in the postmarket session: It closed at $4.38 a stub.


I have a sneaking feeling that we may be seeing a negative knee jert response or kick in the goolies to expected ECB decision. I'm sure the SNB could not have been happy with the OMJ's decision regarding OMTs.

So after all the support they gave the Euro this may be a case of;

1. I'll show you!
2. I'll teach you!
3. I'll screw you too!
4. Eff it and let's do this now and get it over and done with!

Cut off ones nose to spite ones face perhaps ???


Heard of currency wars and this may well be the start of...

Central Bankers at War ;)
 
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