Jim Rogers: The Chinese yuan is the next safe haven currency.

Jim Rogers was interviewed on CNBC on Wednesday 7th September 2011 to discuss the recent move by the SNB (Swiss National Bank). Here are his views on the move and the Chinese yuan:

"The Swiss central bank's decision to set a limit on how much the Swiss franc can appreciate against the euro is "a huge mistake". The move will work for a while, but the market will have more money in the end than the SNB which risks losing a lot of money buying up lots of foreign currencies which they will eventually sell at a loss. Another risk is that the central bank will totally debase the Swiss franc trying to keep Switzerland 'competitive' which will then destroy the traditional Swiss financial industry. So this is a huge mistake for Switzerland since they are going to suffer more either way"

"RMB is best, the US dollar is probably good in the short term, but the absolute worst over the long term. There are various ways to get RMB exposure outside China, investors can now open bank accounts in renminbi in various cities like New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Singapore and others and can buy renminbi-denominated bonds in the international markets."

CHF is now effectively pegged to Euro at 1.20

In a dramatic move, the SNB has decided to put a floor on the price of the CHF vs Euro, a floor at 1.20 CHF per Euro. This is a defacto peg to the Euro as the Swiss franc is unlikely to decline and this resulted in a massive 8% move in the Swiss Franc / Euro exchange rate a massive move (probably unheard of) in the currency markets. (See chart below. Source: Yahoo Finance)


Another battle has been fought in the currency war and the Swiss Franc is no longer a safe heaven. There remains the Yen (but I wonder why) and possibly the Singapore dollar (SGD) which appreciated around 6% against the USD since the beginning of the year. Of course, there is still gold and silver which should remain the real safe heavens.