Swiss dump the Euro.

via IBT.

The euro has been abandoned by Switzerland.
Switzerland is of course not a member of the single currency but the Swiss National Bank's (SNB) decision yesterday (15 January) to remove the enforced ceiling of 1.20 Swiss franc per euro essentially demonstrated the tax haven country's complete loss of faith in the currency that it has been pegged to for the last three years.
The Swiss franc has risen to around 15% in value against the euro since the SNB move that shocked markets globally.
In the world of foreign exchange, a 2% rise in a single day is seen as a massive jump, to put the 15% rise into context.
What's the cause?
The most pressing and unspoken reason for the SNB's decision is that in order to maintain a low Swiss franc against the euro, the SNB had to sell its franc reserves and buy euros.
This led to large increases on the euro reserves they held. As any individual might have done, the SNB decided to cut its losses on the euro and abandon what they undoubtedly see as a sinking ship.

OK.  My buddy is on vacation in Argentina or else I'd be blowing up his inbox for his take on things.

Since he isn't here I'll pass along what I've read...

1.  The Swiss dumped the Euro because the EU Federal Reserve (or whatever they call it) is about to do American style quantitative easing.

2.  Currency traders are taking a beating.  One watched stock is down 88% and they halted trading on it.

3.  Many speculate that the US will have to do another round of QE because the US dollar is getting TOO strong!  Ordinarily I'd cheer a strong dollar but it works against this globalization scheme that has been hoisted on us and will have our shores flooded with a new wave of cheap Chinese products as they keep there dollar low.

4.  Commodities are taking a beating.  Employment figures are being manufactured out of whole cloth.  The US consumer is supposedly enthused about the future but layoffs in the oil industry are coming which means that a recession is coming with a quickness.

I'm still waiting to see (meaning trying to figure out) what all this means.  I know its another danger sign on top of tons of danger signs out there.

More to come I'm sure.