Friday, January 16, 2015

What's Up, Franc?

The Swiss Franc rose by 39% in one day earlier this week. It later fell back to about a 15% gain against all other currencies for one day. A 1% daily change would represent high volatility. A 15% spike upwards is as far as I know, unprecedented.

Currencies are like has been celebrities. They only make the news when they crash and burn. A double digit daily decline is not unheard of but a double digit increase? It's like Gabe Kaplan coming back from obscurity to announce that he has cured cancer and will be awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine. This sort of thing just does not happen.

This sudden spike is profound. The ripples are yet to be felt. This is certainly bad news for  PIIGS  and European unity is in deep trouble. Germany will probably stop carrying the fraudulent countries on their backs. In the short term this is bad for Germany but if it means they jettison the dead weight, the Euro might be yet be the second coming of the Mark.