Top Takes From RealMoney

TheStreet.com brings you the news all day, and with RealMoney's "Columnist Conversation," you can see how the pros are playing it on a real-time basis. Here are the top five ideas from today:

1. Swiss National Bank

By Marc Chandler
11:59 a.m. EDT

The Swiss National Bank has turned more aggressive in its intervention, and it appears the central bank has followed up yesterday's bouts with another one today, though with somewhat diminished effect. In addition to bidding the market higher and coming in more than once, the other way the SNB has turned more aggressive is that it also appears to have intervened against the U.S. dollar as well.

The SNB's comments had suggested the focus was strictly on the euro-franc cross. That it intervened on the dollar suggests its line of attack may be more the trade-weighted index. Yesterday before the intervention, the BOE's trade-weighted index of the Swiss franc (a readily available proxy) rose to its highest level in more than three months -- roughly 1 standard deviation above its 100-day moving average. The intervention has succeeded and today's operation feels more like a "mopping-up exercise" and underscores the SNB's resolve. ...