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Tag Archive: Business & Economy

Negative interest pushes Switzerland’s 2016 budget into positive territory

2016-08-25

2016-08-25

Switzerland’s budget for 2016 is looking better than expected. Instead of a shortfall of CHF 0.5 billion, the latest figures forecast a surplus of CHF 1.7 billion. Overall income was up CHF 1.2 billion and costs were down CHF 1.0 billion. This CHF 2.2 billion shift took the annual forecast from CHF -0.5 billion to CHF 1.7 billion. The biggest driver of the change was the effect of negative interest rates.

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Britain’s Brexit binge on Swiss watches

2016-08-24

2016-08-24

The pendulum for Britain has swung back to positive, and it’s tourists who’ve pushed it there.Britain was one of the few bright spots for Swiss watch exports in July, rising 13.4 percent from a year earlier and counteracting a massive 26 percent drop in June, according to data published by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry on Tuesday.

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Swiss market lower this week as US stocks reach new record highs

2016-08-20

2016-08-20

The Swiss Market Index is set to close lower this week underperforming global equities as US stocks reached new record highs and emerging markets outperformed on a weaker dollar. Oil also made further gains this week as investors bet that talks between OPEC members and other producers may result in action to stabilise the market in the coming weeks.

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Swiss National Bank’s U.S. equity holdings hit record $61.8 billion last quarter

2016-08-03

2016-08-03

The value of the Swiss National Bank’s U.S. stock portfolio jumped to a record in June, helped by equity market gains. The holdings climbed to $61.8 billion from $54.5 billion at the end of March, according to calculations by Bloomberg based on the central bank’s regulatory filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and published on Wednesday.

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Switzerland has world’s priciest Big Macs. So eat Swiss chocolate instead.

2016-08-01

by Phillip Judd

2016-08-01

The Economist invented the Big Mac index in 1986 as a tongue-in-cheek guide to currency valuations. Because the well-known burger is the same throughout much of the world, the magazine thought it could be used as a measure of how over or undervalued a currency was. An overpriced burger suggests an overvalued currency and a cheap one an undervalued currency.

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Swiss stock market rally loses momentum

2016-07-30

2016-07-30

The Swiss Market Index and global stock markets failed to extend last week’s rally after the Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan left rates unchanged and gave mixed messages about the global economic outlook.

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UBS beats profit estimates as CEO pushes ahead with cost cuts

2016-07-29

2016-07-29

UBS Group AG beat analysts’ second-quarter profit estimates and said it’s on track to cut costs by 2.1 billion Swiss francs ($2.2 billion) through 2017, with Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti struggling wi...

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Credit Suisse’s turnaround is working, but vulnerable

2016-07-29

2016-07-29

Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. Just a month ago, Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam and Deutsche Bank CEO John Cryan risked, as one hedge fund manager put it, becoming the dead men walking of European banking as they struggled to shore up their...

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Swiss markets fluctuate on earnings data

2016-07-22

2016-07-22

The Swiss Market Index is set to finish the week slightly higher as investors digest second quarter earnings reports and central bank policy announcements.

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Roche CEO worried about U.K. drug research following Brexit

2016-07-22

2016-07-22

The U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union poses a threat to research and development in the pharmaceutical industry, Roche Holding AG Chief Executive Officer Severin Schwan said. A departure would mean the country would have to set up its own system for approving drugs for sale, a job now done for bloc members by the European Medicines Agency.

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Givaudan profit beats estimates on U.S. fragrance demand

2016-07-19

2016-07-19

Givaudan SA, the world’s largest flavors and fragrance company, reported first-half profit that beat analyst estimates on increased demand for perfumes. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 13 percent to 638 million francs ($649 million), the Vernier, Switzerland-based company said in a statement on Monday. Analysts had predicted 576 million francs. Sales gained 6.2 percent on a like-for-like basis to 2.33 billion...

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Novartis says profit may drop

2016-07-19

2016-07-19

Novartis AG said profit may fall this year as the Swiss drugmaker increases spending on the heart medicine Entresto and faces declining sales of its best-selling cancer treatment Gleevec. Core operating income will either be about the same as 2015 or decline by a percentage in the low single digits at constant exchange rates, Novartis said Tuesday in a statement. Sales will show little change.

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Swiss stocks higher on stimulus bet

2016-07-15

2016-07-15

The Swiss Market Index (SMI) is set to finish this week higher tracking equity market gains around the world as investors begin to anticipate a new wave of economic stimulus from central banks.

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Swiss government rejects union demands for pension increases

2016-07-14

2016-07-14

Various Swiss unions along with the socialist and green parties have launched an initiative to increase pensions. Their plan, which demands a 10% increase in pension payments, will be put before Swiss voters in a referendum on 25 September 2016.

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QE and stress tests could cause a state of emergency for some insurers

2016-07-13

2016-07-13

European insurers, whose profits are being eroded by Mario Draghi’s quantitative-easing program, face a stress-test headache that risks requiring them to set aside more capital, further hurting their ability to make money. The timing of the regulator’s “stress test couldn’t be worse as the results will be rather negative,” said Lutz Roehmeyer, who helps oversee about $12 billion as director of fund management at Landesbank Berlin Investment.

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Post-Brexit relief rally fading – Swiss quality stocks as safe haven

2016-07-08

2016-07-08

The SMI is set to post moderate losses this week as the post-Brexit relief rally faded and commodities slipped. Swiss stocks outperformed key European markets as investor’s fled to quality stocks such as Nestlé, Novartis and Roche.

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Some question price of Swiss stocks as safe haven status awakened

2016-07-06

2016-07-06

Swiss stocks, dislodged in 2015 as a haven from European volatility, have seen the status restored following Brexit — so much that some investors are balking at valuations. After trailing shares from Germany to France and Italy for most the past year, the Swiss Market Index is finding a new appeal in the fallout of the U.K. vote to leave the European Union.

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Brexit shakes global markets and the SMI

2016-06-24

2016-06-24

The Swiss Market Index (SMI) is set to post a modest gain this week despite confirmation that the UK has decided to leave the European Union. The SMI opened almost 7% lower following the announcement before recovering.

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Swiss tax redistribution in 2017 – winners and losers

2016-06-23

2016-06-23

Switzerland has a system known as la péréquation financière nationale in French, or Finanzausgleich in German, which requires “rich” cantons to give money to “poor” cantons. Yesterday, the Swiss federal government published the numbers for 2017.

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