Category Archives: Employment

Mtg purchase apps, Car sales comments, ADP, ISM services, Exxon capex, BOJ comment

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Up last week now back down as this sector remains in prolonged depression:

MBA Mortgage Applications
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Highlights
The purchase index has been posting outsized gains this year but not in the January 29 week, falling 7.0 percent. The refinance index, however, did post a gain in the week, up 0.3 percent. Low interest rates have triggered strong demand for mortgage applications. The average 30-year fixed loan for conforming mortgages ($417,000 or less) fell 5 basis points and is back under 4.00 percent for the first time since October, at 3.97 percent.
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Winter Weather Dings U.S. Auto Sales

Feb 2 (WSJ) — Overall, auto sales were flat for the month, declining less than 1% to 1.15 million vehicles, according to researcher Autodata Corp. January’s selling pace was an annualized 17.58 million compared with 17.34 million in December. Incentive spending jumped 13% last month to $2,932 a vehicle, according to TrueCar Inc.WardsAuto, which the U.S. government uses for economic analysis, said the annualized rate was 17.46 million and that monthly sales fell 0.4 percent from a year ago. WardsAuto said U.S. sales hit a record 17.39 million vehicles in 2015.

This is a forecast for Friday’s payroll number:

ADP Employment Report
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So with manufacturing having gone negative, which is about 15% of the economy, stands to reason some of those people are probably customers of the service sector? Skip to the charts which clearly indicate the direction it’s all going.

ISM Non-Mfg Index
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Highlights
Monthly growth is slowing noticeably in ISM’s non-manufacturing sample. The composite index for January fell a sharp 2.3 points to 53.5 from December’s revised 55.8 which is 2 points below the Econoday consensus. Slowing is most apparent in output (as measured by the business activity component) with employment growth also slowing sharply, to 52.1 for a 4.2 point dip. However new orders, at 56.5, remain solidly above breakeven 50 though here to there is slowing, from December’s 58.9. Supplier deliveries, the fourth component of the composite, slowed in the month in a sign of congestion in the supply chain in what is an offsetting positive for the month.

Other readings include a solid 52.0 for backlog orders which are extending a long string of monthly expansion that contrasts sharply with a long string of contraction in the rival PMI services report. Inventories in ISM’s sample continue to rise but at only a marginal pace. Weakness is signaled by both contraction in import orders, which points to business caution among U.S. businesses, and also for export orders, the result of weak foreign markets and the negative effects of the strong dollar. Input prices, which have been subdued, fell in the month.

A negative in the report is narrow breadth among industries with 10 reporting composite growth in the month vs 8 reporting contraction, with the latter led by continued weakness for mining. Strength is led by both finance and real estate and includes construction.

Through much of last year, this report was among the most resilient, consistently pointing to steady strength that for the most part proved correct. Today’s declines, along with the dip in the PMI services report released earlier this morning, unfortunately hint at soft growth for the first quarter while this report’s employment index, hitting its lowest point since January last year, points to modest disappointment for Friday’s employment report.

Still looks to me like it’s been falling back ever since the July spike:
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This is the ISM non manufacturing employment index for the last year:
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Exxon slashes spending after smallest profit in years

Feb 2 (Reuters) — Exxon said it will cut 2016 spending by one-quarter and suspend share repurchases. Exxon forecast capital spending at around $23.2 billion this year, a 25 percent drop from 2015. Exxon suspended its share buyback plan meant to return cash to investors in the first quarter. Exxon reported that fourth-quarter profit tumbled to $2.78 billion, or 67 cents per share, from $6.57 billion, or $1.56 per share, in the same period a year earlier. Exxon said its oil and gas output rose 4.8 percent in the fourth quarter as it pumped more crude oil.

To again quote the carpenter with his piece of wood- “no matter how much I cut off it’s still too short”:

BOJ Kuroda says ready to use more policy options to boost inflation

Feb 2 (Reuters) — “If we judge that existing measures in the toolkit are not enough to achieve (our) goal, what we have to do is to devise new tools,” BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said in a speech. “I am convinced that there is no limit to measures for monetary easing,” he said. Kuroda countered criticism that the BOJ was running out of ammunition to accelerate inflation, saying negative rates won’t hamper the bank’s efforts to gobble up government bonds. “If judged necessary, it is possible to further cut the interest rate from the current level of minus 0.1 percent,” he said.

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Consumer Credit, Jobs comments

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This is going nowhere:

Consumer Credit
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Highlights
Revolving credit showed substantial life in November, up $5.7 billion and helping to boost total consumer credit by $14.0 billion. Nonrevolving credit, boosted by auto financing and student loans, has been the foundation of strength for this series during the whole recovery, but less so in November when it added only $8.3 billion for the smallest contribution since February 2012. But it’s the gain for revolving credit, growing at an annualized 7.4 percent in the month, and the implication for credit-card use that are important for what to expect in holiday spending. The results here are positive.

Consumer credit in the United States increased by 13.95 USD billion in November of 2015, lower than a downwardly revised 15.61 USD billion in October and below market expectations of a 18.25 USD billion gain. Revolving credit rose by 5.65 USD billion, following an upwardly revised 0.65 USD billion in October while nonrevolving credit slowed to 8.29 USD billion from 15.55 USD billion.

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The jobs report looks suspect to me. For one thing, with GDP growth way down, and little if any top line corporate growth, why the hiring? That is, if the numbers are not revised, it means productivity is running negative- more jobs for the same output.
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The December jobs report is not necessarily indicative of a strong economy in the U.S., Art Cashin of UBS said Friday.

“Not to be a wet blanket, but that jobs number is a little suspect. If you look at the household survey: 485,000 [and] 35 percent of those went to people under the age of 19. Another chunk went to people over 55; only 16,000 out of 485,000 jobs went to people between the ages of 24 and 55,” Cashin told CNBC’s “Squawk Alley.”

“That sounds like a lot of part-time hiring to me,” he said

Merrill: Warm Weather “added nearly 100,000 jobs in December”

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Jobs, Wholesale trade, China, Rail traffic

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Anyone notice that the annual growth rate of employment continues the deterioration that began with the collapse in oil capex?
Or that, once again, it looks like most all the new jobs were taken by people previously considered out of the labor force?
And the anemic wage growth also contributes to the narrative of a continuously deteriorating plight for people trying to work for a living:

Employment Situation
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Highlights
The labor market is stronger than most assessments with December results well outside top-end estimates and big upward revisions underscoring the strength of prior months. Nonfarm payrolls jumped 292,000 in December which is 92,000 above the consensus and 43,000 above Econoday’s high forecast. The gain importantly is led by professional & business services which is considered a leading component for future hiring and which rose 73,000 for the second outsized gain of the last three months. Construction, boosted by the nation’s unseasonable weather, has also been adding workers, up 45,000 in December. Upward revisions to the two prior months total 50,000 with November now at 252,000 and October over 300,000 at 307,000.

Despite payroll strength, the unemployment rate held steady at 5.0 percent as more people looked for work in the month. The labor force participation rate improved 1 tenth to 62.6 percent as did the employment-to-population ratio, to 59.5 percent. Wages, also despite the payroll strength, came in unchanged though the year-on-year rate, boosted by an easy year-ago comparison, rose 2 tenths to 2.5 percent which, however, is lower than many expected. The average workweek held unchanged at 34.5 hours while manufacturing hours slipped 0.1 percent which will pull down estimates for next week’s industrial production report.

Turning back to industry payrolls, the bureau of labor statistics is highlighting a 34,000 rise in temporary help services. This is a subcomponent of professional & business services and is considered an especially sensitive barometer for future hiring. Other industries posting gains include trade & transportation at 31,000, government at 17,000, and manufacturing at a modest 8,000. Mining payrolls, hurt by low commodity prices, continue to contract, down 8,000 and are one of the few industries in the minus column.

This report is strong and should confirm confidence that the U.S. economy is, or at least was in December, largely insulated against global weakness. The strength of this report is certain to grab global attention though the lack of wage punch underscores the two-track economy and the Fed’s dilemma — strong job growth but weak inflation.

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Also decelerating since the oil capex collapse:
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So 10 million + people decided all at once they didn’t ever want to work anymore in 2008? That is, we still have massive ‘slack’ in the ‘labor market’ best I can tell:
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And this is still higher than it was in the prior recession:
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Earnings continue to grow only at depressed rates, maybe because of all the ‘slack’ in the ‘labor market?’
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Inventories fell, but sales fell even more, so the inventory to sales ratio went up.
Not good!!!

Wholesale Trade
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Highlights
Wholesale inventories fell a sizable 0.3 percent for a second straight month in November. Sales at the wholesale level fell an even sharper 1.0 percent in the month and, despite the decline in inventories, drove the stock-to-sales ratio up to 1.32 vs 1.31 in the two prior months. A year-ago, the ratio was at 1.23 in what is confirmation that inventories in the sector remain heavy. Inventories of farm products and petroleum rose due to weak sales while inventories of furniture and metals fell on strong sales. Previously released data on the factory sector show a 0.3 percent inventory contraction in November. The missing piece, retail inventories, will be posted following next week’s retail sales report.

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‘Monetary Policy’ in this case means currency management. So we called China a currency manipulator and predator when they bought fx reserves to keep their currency from getting too strong too fast from FDI flows, etc., and then when they let their currency float as FDI flows reversed we criticized them.

And we had a ‘strong dollar policy’ while at the same time telling China their currency needed to appreciate when they were buying fx to moderate the appreciation. It’s all be continuous ‘talking out of both sides of the mouth’

And with a large trade and current account surplus it’s only a matter of time until China is again accumulating fx reserves to keep their currency from appreciating. But in light of the current criticism of their weakening currency, maintaining ‘stability’ when it’s back in appreciation mode may be applauded.

China central bank to maintain prudent monetary policy, keep yuan stable

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Saudi pricing, Mtg purchase apps, ADP, Trade, Factory orders, ISM non manufacturing

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Saudi discounts for February. Some reduced, some increased, so probably more same- prices fall until Saudi output hits its capacity:
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Zig zagging a lot recently, now back down to where they’ve been for a while:

MBA Mortgage Applications
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Highlights
Mortgage application activity fell sharply in the two weeks ended January 1, down 15 percent for home purchases and down 37 percent for refinancing. Rates were steady in the period with the average 30-year mortgage for conforming balances ($417,000 or less) up 1 basis point to 4.20 percent. Weekly data can be volatile during the shortened holiday weeks, making the latest results difficult to read. This series will resume its weekly periods beginning next week.
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This is a forecast for Friday’s jobs report:

ADP Employment Report
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Highlights
ADP is calling for unusual strength in Friday’s employment report, at 257,000 for private payrolls which is far outside Econoday’s consensus at 190,000 and well outside the high estimate for 227,000. Strength of this degree would underscore the health of the labor market and would begin to seal expectations for a rate hike at the March FOMC. ADP isn’t always an accurate barometer for the employment report but today’s results could definitely affect the markets.

A bit smaller than expected, but again, both imports and exports are falling:

International Trade
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Highlights
The nation’s trade balance, reflecting weak cross-border activity, narrowed in November to $42.4 billion from a revised $44.6 billion in October. Exports fell 0.9 percent in the month to $182.2 billion with industrial supplies and consumer goods showing the most weakness. Imports fell 1.7 percent to $224.6 billion with both consumer goods and capital goods showing declines.

Despite low oil prices, the petroleum gap widened by $0.9 billion to $5.4 billion due to rising demand. The price of imported oil fell 88 cents to $39.24 for the lowest level since February 2009.

The trade gap with China narrowed by $1.7 billion in the month to $31.3 billion while the gap with Europe widened by $0.4 billion to $13.8 billion. The gap with Mexico narrowed by $1.2 billion to $5.2 billion.

The nation’s fourth-quarter trade balance adjusted for inflation is still trending slightly above the third-quarter which will pull down GDP. But the takeaway from today’s report is slowing global trade.
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Negative growth continues here:

Factory Orders
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Highlights
Flat is a good description of the nation’s factory sector as factory orders slipped 0.2 percent in November, making October’s revised 1.3 percent gain look like a rare outlier. Durable goods orders were unchanged in the month while orders for non-durable goods fell 0.4 percent on price weakness for petroleum and coal.

Capital goods data, unfortunately, are mostly weak including a 0.3 percent decline for core orders. Shipments of core capital goods fell 0.6 percent in November and follow October’s 1.0 percent decline in readings that will pull down the business investment component of the fourth-quarter GDP report.

Outside of orders, total shipments edged 0.2 percent higher to end a string of declines that go all the way back to July. Inventories also offer good news, falling 0.3 percent and bringing down the inventory-to-shipment ratio to a less heavy 1.35 vs October’s 1.36. Unfilled orders are another positive, rising 0.2 percent following a 0.3 percent gain in October.

The factory sector is not exactly robust, the result of weak demand for U.S. exports and also weakness in the domestic energy sector reflected in this report by a 13.6 percent monthly plunge in orders for mining & oil field machinery. But the nation’s economy is not narrowly focused on the factory sector, evidenced by healthy readings in today’s ISM non-manufacturing report.

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Yes, it’s above 50, but the chart indicates the non manufacturing growth rate is melting away:
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Rate hike comment, Container traffic, Employment comment

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So a Fed rate hike is nothing more than the federal government deciding to pay more interest on what’s called ‘the public debt’.

By immediately paying more interest on balances in reserve accounts at the Fed the cost of funds to the banking system is supported at that higher level, all of which influences the interest paid on securities accounts at the Fed as well, which influences the term structure of rates.

Imports up, exports down:
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Seems to me there’s a substantial number of people who can ‘get by’ without a job, but would work if they could get a meaningful paycheck to allow them to, for example, remodel a room, or take a nicer vacation, etc. but won’t take a minimum wage job that doesn’t ‘move the needle’ in that respect. And they are not considered to be part of the labor force as defined, and therefore not unemployed. And this includes older people as well. However, as macro economic forces cause a certain amount of ‘desperation’ some do ‘trickle down’ to the lower paying jobs out of necessity, which accounts for quite a bit of the reported employment growth.

Comes back to the same thing- a whopping shortage of aggregate demand vs pre 2008 and pre 2001 levels, where people who can ‘get by’ were able to get good enough paying jobs to justify working:
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As previously discussed, mainstream game theory says the ‘labor market’ isn’t a ‘fair game’ as workers need to work to eat, and business hires only if it ‘wants to.’ The charts show what happened as support for labor was phased out:
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CPI, Empire survey, Redbook retail sales, Housing index

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One of the Fed’s mandates. The ‘headline’ number is below target due to the energy impulse, but the ‘core’ rate, led by services, is on target. The question is whether energy prices, if they remain at current levels, will ‘pull down’ other prices. And the comparisons with last year are now vs the lower numbers that were released after the oil price collapse.

And not to forget that the Fed uses futures prices as indications of future spot prices, even for non perishables, which technically only represent ‘storage prices’.

So with oil futures prices substantially higher than spot (due to elevated storage costs which have been supported by Iran storing oil in anticipation of being able to sell it next year) the Fed’s forecasts will use those elevated prices to forecast that much more inflation.

United States : Consumer Price Index
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Highlights
Consumer price inflation is very low though the deflationary thrust may be clearing. The CPI came in as expected with no change in November with the core rate, which excludes food and energy, also coming in at expectations with a moderate 0.2 percent gain.

Many components show declines in the month including transportation, apparel (where low import prices are still at play), and recreation. Food prices also fell in the month, which is the first drop since March, while energy prices really fell, down 1.3 percent in November reflecting a 2.4 percent decline for gasoline in a dip that continues to extend through December as well. But there are areas showing pressure including medical care for a second month in a row. Housing is also up but only at a moderate 0.2 percent with owner’s equivalent rent also up 0.2 percent.

Year-on-year prices are showing lift but reflect easy comparisons with price weakness this time last year. The overall rate is up 0.5 percent, 3 tenths higher in the month, with the core rate up 1 tenth to 2.0 percent which hits the Fed’s target.

This report is in line with the Fed’s outlook, showing an easing, at least to a degree, in deflationary pressures. But still falling fuel prices are definitely a live risk to the Fed’s inflation hopes.

Core vs. headline CPI:
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The Fed uses the prices in green when forecasting inflation:
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More bad stuff here. Employment is the Fed’s other mandate:

Empire State Mfg Survey
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Highlights
Factory activity continues to contract in the New York manufacturing region and especially, unfortunately, employment and the workweek. The Empire State index posted its fifth negative reading in a row, minus 4.59 for December which however is the least weak reading of the run. New orders, at minus 5.07, are down for a seventh month in a row but here to the degree of contraction is easing. Not easing, however, is employment which is deeply negative at minus 16.16 for the fourth contraction in a row and the deepest since July 2009. The workweek is another disappointment, at minus 27.27 for the worst reading since even further back, to April 2009.

But there are pluses in this report led by a big gain for the six-month outlook, to 38.51 from 20.33. The gain reflects greater optimism for new orders and shipments but no greater optimism for employment where hiring is expected to be no more than moderate.

Turning back to negatives, prices received are down for a fourth month in a row, at minus 4.04. Contraction in prices for finished goods points to price concessions and lack of demand.

The recovery worst readings for employment and the workweek are definitely worrisome signs. Yes, this report has been running lower than other regional manufacturing reports but today’s results do not point to any year-end lift for the factory sector which is being hit by low exports and low prices.

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Down again, not good:
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And housing indicators continue to slow, contrary to all forecasts:

Housing Market Index
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Rail traffic, Credit check, Employment flows, State and local taxes and expenditures

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Rail Week Ending 28 November 2015: Contraction Growing Faster. Rail Traffic in November Down 10.4%.

Week 47 of 2015 shows same week total rail traffic (from same week one year ago) declined according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR) traffic data. Intermodal traffic contracted year-over-year, which accounts for approximately half of movements and weekly railcar counts continued in contraction. The 52 week rolling average contraction is continuing to grow. Rail counts for the month of Novembers showed a significant contraction.

Looks like the growth in car loans has been slowing?
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Same here?
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Real estate loan growth has been moving up even as total loan growth has not.

Perhaps banks are increasingly demanding real estate as collateral from borrowers:
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Consumer loan growth has also increased a bit even as total loan grow has not:
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So this is interesting- looks like approximately 4 million people who were not considered in the labor force, and therefore not counted as unemployed, have been getting jobs every month…
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And also each month over 4 million people have left their jobs and left the labor force and are therefore not considered unemployed:
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Lower growth of state and local govt tax receipts indicates lower growth of private sector spending as well as lower growth of state and local spending, which has already been low:
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Payrolls, Trade

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The growth rate continues to decelerate (see chart):

NFP

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Highlights
Payroll growth is solid and, though wages aren’t building steam, today’s employment report fully cements expectations for December liftoff. Nonfarm payrolls rose a very solid 211,000 in November which is safely above expectations for 190,000. And there’s 35,000 in upward revisions to the two prior months with October now standing at a very impressive 298,000. The unemployment rate is steady and low at 5.0 percent with the participation rate less depressed, up 1 tenth to 62.5 percent.

But earnings data are not impressive, up a monthly 0.2 percent vs October’s outsized 0.4 percent gain. And the year-on-year rate for average hourly earnings is down 2 tenths to 2.3 percent.

Payroll data show a 46,000 jump in construction where activity right now is very strong. This follows construction gains of 34,000 and 19,000 in the two prior months. Trade & transportation, reflecting activity in the supply chain, is also very strong with November and October gains of 49,000 and 46,000. Payrolls are also on the rise in retail trade, up 31,000 and 41,000 the last two months to indicate that retailers are gearing up aggressively for this holiday season. One negative, however, is a 12,000 dip in temporary help services which nearly cuts in half the prior month’s 28,000 gain. Demand for temporary services is considered a leading indicator for permanent hiring.

And weekly hours slipped in the month, down 1 tenth to 34.5 hours. Data on manufacturing are flat and point to little change for November production. And one negative in the report is a 1 tenth uptick to 9.9 percent for the broadly defined U-6 unemployment rate which had, however, dropped sharply in the prior months.

Despite soft spots and though earnings are flat, this report confirms that the nation’s labor market is solid and growing and, for the Fed, it supports arguments for the beginning of policy normalization.
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U6 still well above pre recession levels:
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Export weakness- much of it, as previously discussed, is oil related as oil exporting states cut back on spending and foreign oil capex declines as well- is beginning to dominate. Also, as previously discussed, falling US oil production and rising gasoline consumption are beginning to increasingly offset the drop in price for oil related imports.

In other words, all considered, the drop in oil prices is causing the negative trade gap to widen rather than narrow as most expected.

This makes the oil price collapse fundamentally a negative for the $US rather than a positive.

International Trade
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Highlights
The nation’s trade deficit came in at the high end of expectations in October, at $43.9 billion with details reflecting oil-price effects but also soft foreign demand. Exports fell 1.4 percent in the month while imports, pulled down by oil, fell 0.6 percent. The decline for goods exports, at 2.5 percent, is in line with last week’s advance data but not for imports where goods declined 0.6 percent, vs the advance reading of minus 2.1 percent. Exports of services are once again solid at plus 0.7 percent.

Low prices for oil held down imports of both crude and industrial supplies. Imported crude averaged $40.12 per barrel in the month vs $42.72 in September and, in a reminder of the commodity price collapse, vs $88.47 a year ago. Turning to finished goods, however, imports do show gains with capital goods up as well as autos and consumer goods. Country data show a narrowing with China to $33.0 billion, which ends five straight months of widening, and a widening with the EU to $13.4 billion.

This report is mixed, confirming weakness abroad but showing some life at home. But, with exports down, the data do point to a slow start for fourth quarter GDP.

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Debt and Recession, Jolts

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This shows how private sector credit deceleration is associated with recessions. It’s about the need for those spending more than their incomes to offset those spending less than their incomes. And most often private sector deficit spending decelerates some time after public sector deficit spending decelerates and fails to provide the income and net financial assets that supports private sector deficit spending.

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United States : JOLTS
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Highlights
In a positive sign for labor demand, job openings in the JOLTS report popped back up in September, to 5.526 million from a revised 5.377 million in August. Openings peaked in July at a recovery best 5.668 million. High job demand will absorb yet more slack from what is a dwindling supply of available labor, in what could precede wage inflation and become a major concern for Fed policy makers. But in a contrasting indication of worker hesitance, confidence in the strength of the labor market may be limited based on the report’s quits rate which remains stubbornly low, unchanged for a sixth month at 1.9 percent.

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Employment chart, China trade, SNB

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The red line tends to drag down the blue line, often when deficit spending gets too low:
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Exports drop again, imports drop more, so the trade surplus grows, and the US should see more imports and fewer exports, while euro zone imports are down which adds to their trade surplus:

China’s Trade Drop Means More Stimulus Measures Are Coming

Exports drop for a fourth month, import declines match record

Trade surplus to help ease currency depreciation pressure

China’s exports fell for a fourth straight month and imports matched a record stretch of declines, signaling that the mounting drag from slower global growth will push policy makers toward expanding stimulus.

Overseas shipments dropped 6.9 percent in October in dollar terms, the customs administration said Sunday, a bigger decline than estimated by all 31 economists in a Bloomberg survey. Weaker demand for coal, iron and other commodities for China’s declining heavy industries helped drag imports down 18.8 percent in dollar terms, leaving a record trade surplus of $61.6 billion.
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Fiscal stimulus this year includes more infrastructure spending and expanding the lending capacity for the China Development Bank and other policy banks. The PBOC has also made repeated reductions to the amount of reserves required of lenders.

Exports to Japan slumped 9 percent in the first 10 months from a year earlier, while those to the European Union declined 3.7 percent. Shipments to Hong Kong dropped 11.7 percent during the same period.

Slowing Growth

Exports to the U.S., China’s largest trading partner, jumped 5.8 percent in the first 10 months from a year earlier, while those to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations increased 4.2 percent. Shipments to India rose 8.9 percent.

Imports from all 10 of the major trade partners listed by the customs administration declined in the first 10 months. Imports from Australia, a major source of China’s iron ore during the real estate boom, plunged 25.7 percent.

The record trade surplus helped spur a surprise increase in foreign-exchange reserves in October despite an erosion of holdings after the PBOC intervened to boost the yuan. The central bank’s stockpile rose to $3.53 trillion last month from $3.51 trillion at the end of September, the PBOC said Saturday.

“The large trade surplus could offset capital outflow” and curb expectations for the yuan’s depreciation, Liu Ligang, chief Greater China economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Hong Kong, wrote in a note.

Looks like the Swiss National Bank, with about 550 billion in reserves in its portfolio obtained selling it’s currency for euro to hold the peg, may have been selling some of those euro to buy $ to buy US stocks:

SNB’s Stake in Apple, Microsoft, Exxon Rose in Third Quarter

By Catherine Bosley

Nov 4 (Bloomberg) — The Swiss National Bank owned more shares of Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. in the third

quarter, taking its U.S. equity portfolio to $38.95 billion.

Switzerland’s central bank held 10.3 million shares in the iPhone maker on Sept. 30, according to a regulatory filing made to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and published on Wednesday. That compares with 9.4 million shares at the end of June, an increase of nearly 10 percent.

The SNB’s stake in Exxon rose by a similar extent, while in Microsoft it registered an increase of just over 9 percent.

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