Category Archive: 3) Swiss Markets and News

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Investec is a distinctive Specialist Bank and Asset Manager. We provide a diverse range of financial products and services to a niche client base in three principal markets, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia, as well as certain other geographies. Investec’s strategic goals are motivated by the desire to develop an efficient and integrated business on an international scale through the active pursuit of clearly established core competencies in the group’s principal business areas.
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Immigration to Switzerland slows for third year in a row

2017-01-27

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2017-01-27

Swiss flag is pictured next to Jet d'Eau and Lake Leman from the St-Pierre Cathedrale in Geneva
ZURICH (Reuters) - Net immigration to Switzerland slowed for a third consecutive year in 2016, potentially easing concerns over immigration that have strained Switzerland's ties with the surrounding European Union. Around 143,100 immigrants arrived in Switzerland in 2016, down nearly 5 percent from the previous year, while around 78,000 foreigners left, an increase of 5.6 percent.

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Börsen-Talk vom 27. Januar 2017

2017-01-27

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Tiefe Zinsen befeuern weitere Grossübernahmen in der Firmenwelt, sagt Peter Bänziger vom Vermögensverwalter Belvalor. Er nennt im cash-Börsen-Talk seine Aktienfavoriten und seine Erwartungen ans Anlagejahr 2017.

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Swiss fact: work days lost to strikes in Switzerland close to one ninth of neighbouring countries

2017-01-26

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2017-01-26

Protest-France
Across the ten years to 2008, Switzerland lost an average of 3 working days per 1,000 workers to strikes a year. This compares to 32 days in Austria, 33 days in France, and 55 days in Italy. Germany was close behind Switzerland with 4 days. The combined average for Switzerland’s neighbours: Austria, Germany, France and Italy, was 26 days. Switzerland’s 3 day average was one ninth or 11% of this.

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Controversial modernism in the Alps

2017-01-26

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A look back at how two brothers introduced American-styled architecture to a remote Swiss village in the 1950s. (SRF, swissinfo.ch) The Guscetti brothers, one an engineer and one an architect, built houses inspired by American modernism in the southern Swiss canton of Ticino. Houses in the village of Ambri built by the duo contrasted starkly …

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Changes to health insurance zones could lead to steep premium rises for some

2017-01-23

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2017-01-23

In Switzerland, how much you pay for compulsory health insurance depends on where you live. Premiums vary hugely by canton. For 2016, average monthly adult premiums in Basel City are CHF 545.60, Switzerland’s most expensive, compared to CHF 326.70, in lowest-cost Appenzell-Innerhoden. The difference between the two cantons is 40%.

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Exclusive: John Mauldin in DC for Trump’s Inauguration

2017-01-23

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Register online for the Strategic Investment Conference 2017 by visiting http://bit.ly/2ko2c39

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Switzerland’s costliest cantons for tax, housing, health, commuting, and childcare

2017-01-22

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2017-01-22

Credit Suisse Cantonal RDI 2016
This week the bank Credit Suisse published its cantonal cost of living report. Its ranking considers a typical household’s biggest expenses: tax, housing, commuting, basic health insurance and childcare. It takes income and deducts all of these costs to arrive at a measure of disposable income.

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Swiss fact: Switzerland has one of the world’s lowest home ownership rates

2017-01-22

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2017-01-22

Swiss-fact-home-ownership
In Romania, 96.1% of the population owns the home they live in. In Switzerland the percentage is 37.4%. Home ownership rates vary significantly across the country. The lowest rates are found in the canton of Basel-City (16.0%) and Geneva (18.3%). Relative to these two cities, home ownership abounds in Valais (57.2%), the highest. Vaud (31.4%), Zurich (28.5%), Bern (39.9%), and Luzern (34.8%) are all in between.

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The Psychological Impact Of Loss

2017-01-22

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2017-01-22

SP500-MarketUpdate
For the third time in four weeks, the market was closed on Monday due to a holiday. Not only is this week shortened by a holiday, it is also coinciding with the annual Billionaire’s convention in Davos, Switzerland and the Presidential inauguration on Friday. Increased volatility over the next couple of days will certainly not be surprising.

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Davos (According To Donald Trump)

2017-01-21

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2017-01-21

Davos According to Donald Trump
Bloomberg's Anne Swardson, Zoe Schneeweiss, and Andre Tartar perfectly summed up the state of play right now during their discussion of the World Economic Forum's annual get-together: "Never before has the gap between Davos Man and the real world yawned so widely."

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Swiss mortgage rates climb in 4th quarter

2017-01-21

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2017-01-21

Swiss-mortgage-rates
After reaching a historical low in the third quarter of 2016, rates started rising in the fourth quarter. Rate increases hit mortgage tenors of five and ten years. Compared to Q3, fixed mortgage rates on loans of ten years went up an average 0.2% to 1.62% according to price comparison website Comparis.ch.

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Finding your roots after adoption

2017-01-21

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Mischa Steiner is adopted. For a long time the 44-year-old from Basel didn’t want to know about his South Korean roots and biological family. The film “Reset Restart” documents how he began his quest to find out more about his identity and discover a new homeland later in life. (SRF/swissinfo.ch) — swissinfo.ch is the international …

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How dry conditions are damaging forests

2017-01-20

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The second half of the year in Switzerland has been exceptionally dry. The trees are suffering as a result, as an ailing forest is more susceptible to fungi and beetles. (SRF/swissinfo.ch) — swissinfo.ch is the international branch of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Its role is to report on Switzerland and to provide a Swiss …

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Swiss Real Estate Focus 2017: Vacancy rates rising at the end of the real estate cycle

2017-01-19

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2017-01-19

Window
Record-breaking purchase prices and increased vacancy rates are making property investments a careful balancing act. Achieving full occupancy for an investment property now requires active space management and discounted rents – in every segment. Rents for investment properties are expected to fall this year, while house prices stagnate.

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Thomas Meyer, Schweiz-Chef von Accenture

2017-01-19

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Maschinen sollen den Menschen immer mehr einfache Jobs abnehmen. Thomas Meyer, Schweiz-Chef von Accenture, sieht das als Chance, wie er im Video-Interview sagt. Doch er rechnet mit vermehrtem Widerstand.

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Lagarde Urges Wealth Redistribution To Fight Populism

2017-01-19

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2017-01-19

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan and Founder, Chairman and Co-CIO of Bridgewater Associates, Ray Dalio
As we scoffed oveernight, who better than a handful of semi, and not so semi, billionaires - perplexed by the populist backlash of the past year - to sit down and discuss among each other how a "squeezed and Angry" middle-class should be fixed. And so it was this morning as IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde, Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan and Founder, Chairman and Co-CIO of Bridgewater Associates, Ray Dalio, espoused on what's...

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A Recession-Proof Industry That Few Investors Know

2017-01-18

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Subscribe to Patrick Watson’s free weekly column, Connecting the Dots, at Mauldin Economics: http://bit.ly/2jIKatg

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Steuerreform holt das Geld dort, wo sich keiner wehrt: Im arbeitenden Mittelstand

2017-01-18

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2017-01-18

Swiss francs
Die kommende Abstimmung über die Unternehmenssteuerreform III führt uns einmal mehr vor Augen, wie hoch komplex diese Materie ist. Ein „Normalsterblicher“, also jemand, der sich nicht von Berufes wegen mit Steuerfragen auseinandersetzt, dürfte mit den Abstimmungsunterlagen masslos überfordert sein. Ja, selbst Ökonomen, die Fragen zur Besteuerung studiert haben, dürften bald am Ende ihres Lateins sein.

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Squeezed and angry: how to fix the middle class crisis – a look at Switzerland

2017-01-18

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2017-01-18

One of the topics at this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos is: Squeezed and angry: how to fix the middle class crisis. As a precursor, the WEF published the 135 page  Inclusive Growth and Development Report 2017, which ranks Switzerland 3rd behind Norway and Luxembourg on inclusion, out of a group of 30 advanced economies. In addition, unlike Luxembourg, which is headed slowly backwards, both Switzerland and Norway are moving towards higher...

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While Davos Elites Address Populism, Just “Eight Men Own Same Wealth As Half The World”

2017-01-17

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2017-01-17

World Economic Forum
As political and business elite gather at the Swiss ski resort of Davos, a new report is shining light on the shocking reality of the wealth gap between the very rich and poor that is “pull our societies apart.” A report by Oxfam released ahead the World Economic Forum in Davos shows the gap between the ultra-wealthy and the poorest half of the global population is starker than previously thought, with just eight men owning as much wealth as 3.6...

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