Swiss franc

So, you know, I think part of this...

One, the stated reasons here, they're saying, well, the reason we're in this pickle is because of flagging demand for watches holistically in Asia and the Middle East because of the Swiss exchange rates, because of the strength of the Swiss franc, and because of tariffs in the United States.

Now, every watch brand is facing those challenges, yet Zenith is the one that's sort of folding up shop.

So there's a lack of, I think, and we'll talk about the history here.

Stuck their finger in the air and said, oh, yeah, I mean, look at this.

Yeah.

You know, the Swiss franc is really strong.

You've got tariffs in the US.

When China's economy looks healthier, demand for factories or from factories is stronger and investors feel comfortable taking risks.

Several things can support Asia at the same time and the Kiwi dollar can respond to some of those global forces but the kiwi dollar has its own economy and its own central bank the reserve bank of new zealand so let's not treat kiwi like it's just a smaller version of aussie now and now take the Canadian dollar CAD Canada exports a lot of energy so oil prices can matter for obvious reasons right but higher oil prices don't automatically mean a stronger Canadian dollar the Bank of Canada Canada's economic data and the interest rates picture between Canada and the US might matter more at that moment okay And then there is the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc.

In uncertain times, investors have often moved toward those currencies for safety.

The U.S. dollar can also benefit when investors around the world want easy access to dollars.

The yen can also be driven by the Bank of Japan and interest rate differences between the countries.

Okay.

So the Swiss franc has the Swiss national bank in the background and the US dollar can become stronger for different reasons.

Investors looking for safety or strong US data, higher US yields or a hawkish Fed.

Yeah.

The Swiss franc is down 8 percent in purchasing power.

The euro is down 22 percent.

The US dollar is down 26 percent and the British pound is down 27 percent.

It's a universal slide.

But wait, we're taught as investors that currencies like the Swiss franc or the U.S. dollar are the ultimate safe havens.

But this data argues that holding cash is essentially a guaranteed real term loss.

A guaranteed loss in real purchasing power.

In Asia, the Nikkei 225 is down 2.1% and China's Shanghai Composite is down 1.4%.

In foreign exchange, the euro buys 1.12 U.S. dollars, while the dollar buys 0.82 Swiss francs, the euro buys 0.92 Swiss francs, and the dollar buys 157 yen.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield is 4.93%, down one basis point.

Brent crude is up 2% at $117 a barrel, while gold is down 1.2% at $3,984 an ounce.