April 2020 – Coronavirus remains the all-pervading theme preoccupying the financial markets. Its exponential proliferation outside of China, particularly in Europe, has severely undermined hopes that global companies would deliver robust earnings growth at least in the first half of 2020. The more drastic measures needed to contain the virus are further weighing on global economic growth.

March 2020 – Unfortunately coronavirus remains the dominant market theme. Because a phenomenon of this magnitude has not yet been seen in the era of globalization, its repercussions cannot be estimated and quantified with any great degree of precision. While possible scenarios can be discussed, they should not be interpreted as forecasts. The repercussions of the virus for the global economy are playing out in three dimensions. 

January 2019 - The turbulent performance of Bitcoin over the last year has brought this cryptocurrency to the attention of the wider public. But this currency has actually been around for almost ten years, and an estimated 1,600 other alternative currencies have also sprung up in the meantime. The question is often asked whether these constructs – which only exist in the form of digital code – can really be considered currencies at all in a way that bears comparison with the dollar, euro or yen. We will return to this question later in this article. First of all it is worth establishing what actually lies behind cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether and Ripple.