It used to be considered crazy CONSPIRACY THEORY to talk about the constant and obvious central bank interventions in equity markets (or should we use TPTB’s favorite new term “fake news”). Some early conspiracy theorists began noticing that the Bank of Japan was so active buying the Japanese markets that they would eventually become a top 10 holder of 90% of all Japanese stocks.
The MSM had to finally acknowledge what was becoming so obvious to the conspiracy theorist, so The FT did write that the BoJ has been buying exchange traded funds (ETFs) as part of its quantitative and qualitative easing programme. The biggest action began last July, when its annual acquisition target was doubled to ¥6tn.
Today the Central Bank buying is reaching a fevered pitch as not unlike the BOJ, which at least keeps its capital markets distortion local, enter the Swiss National Bank, which likewise creates money out of thin air (then sells it for dollars in an attempt to keep the Swiss franc depressed) is also actively buying WORLD markets.
As, Zerohedge notes, “the hedge fund known as the “Swiss National Bank” posted its latest 13-F holdings. What it showed is that, as rumored, the Swiss National Bank had gone on a record buying spree in the first quarter, boosting its total equity holdings to an all time high $80.4 billion, up $17 billion from the $63.4 billion at the end of 2016, the biggest quarterly increase in “AUM” in history.”
First, its top 20 holdings are as shown in the following chart. The central bank was clearly not shy in adding to its top positions, especially the top position.
It may start becoming clear that there is no such thing as capitalism, only tightly controlled and manipulated central planned economies.