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Investec Switzerland. Investors appear to be staying on the sidelines this week ahead of the weekend’s Italian referendum. Swiss stocks are set to finish the week lower, underperforming global equities as food giant Nestle and pharmaceutical heavyweights Roche and Novartis drag the index down. © Lupoalb68 | Dreamstime.com It’s been a volatile trading week across financial markets. Oil prices jumped almost 9% on Wednesday after OPEC members finally agreed a deal to cut...

After seven years on top, Swisscom has been beaten by Sunrise. The German telecommunications expert and magazine publisher, connect.de and its partner P3, travelled roughly 7,000 km by car around Switzerland testing Swiss mobile networks. Tests were also made while walking and on trains. The results were published on Tuesday. © Hai Huy Ton That | Dreamstime.com Out of a possible 1,000 points, Sunrise was awarded 951, Swisscom 933 and Salt, formerly Orange, 878. Connect.de described...

Submitted by Paul Craig Roberts, Vladimir PutinPresident of RussiaMoscow28 November 2016 Dear President Putin, Now that CIA agent Craig Timberg posing as a Washington Post reporter has blown my cover and exposed me as a Russian agent, I was wondering if I might ask you for a Russian passport and a bit of diplomatic cover, perhaps assistant press officer at the Russian embassy in Washington, until I can get out of the country. I saw that you gave a passport to Steven Seagal, so I am hopeful...

Switzerland retains its number one spot in IMD‘s most recent 2016 World Talent Report. Unlike the other 60 nations in the study, which have seen their performance gyrate, a plot of Switzerland’s rank over the last ten years is a perfectly straight line. First ten years in a row. © Damedeeso | Dreamstime.com The study looks at three things: investment in people, ability to attract skilled foreigners, and readiness, a measure of the availability of skills in the talent pool. Investing in...

Investec Switzerland. Swiss banks focused on property lending are taking more risks to compensate for the impact of record-low interest rates, increasing the threat of a real-estate bubble, Swiss National Bank Vice President Fritz Zurbruegg said. © Vladek | Dreamstime.c “Exceptionally low interest rates are putting pressure on interest rate margins and this is weighing on the profitability of Swiss banks,” Zurbruegg said in a speech in Bern on Thursday. That “creates an...

Investec Switzerland. Richemont’s plan to slash 210 watchmaking jobs in Switzerland is sending shockwaves from Geneva to some of the country’s remote mountain villages, the cradle of high-end watch manufacturing. © Wing Ho Tsang | Dreamstime.com In Le Sentier, a town perched in the middle of the Jura mountain range, straddling the border between France and Switzerland, some 400 people protested Thursday against plans to cut the workforce of Vacheron Constantin and Piaget....

Investec Switzerland. Swiss pharmaceutical and luxury goods giants pulled the Swiss Market Index (SMI) down again this week as investors dropped large cap firms. Global stocks however continued to rise, along with energy prices, on the promise of Trump’s reflationary administration. The US dollar headed further up, reaching decade highs. © Asdf_1 | Dreamstime.com Better-than-expected economic reports from the US fueled speculation that the economy is strong enough to...

Today, Swiss Rail announced big price increases on some tickets and passes. The new prices will apply from 11 December 20161. New Swiss Rail uniforms – source: Swiss Rail According to the Swiss government consumer price index, average prices declined by 2.1% between October 2010 and October 20162. Over the same six years, from December 20103 to December 2016, the price of a second class Swiss Rail GA pass will have gone up by 22.3%, a rise of 25.0% in real inflation-adjusted terms. Over the...

Investec Switzerland. Swiss watch exports plunged 16 percent in October, the biggest monthly drop in seven years, as demand weakened in almost every major market for Rolex and Omega timepieces. © Oleg Palchyk | Dreamstime.com Shipments fell to 1.68 billion francs ($1.7 billion), the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry said in a statement Tuesday. The decline was much greater than expected and was made worse because October was the weakest month of last year, according to...

Investec Switzerland. Switzerland risks becoming dependent on electricity imports as its citizens prepare for a plebiscite on whether to hasten its exit from nuclear power. Liebstadt nuclear power station_© Gregory Perkins | Dreamstime.com The nation faces losing a third of domestic supplies and becoming a net buyer of power if it opts to start closing its five nuclear plants as early as next year. The Swiss will vote on Sunday and the anti-nuclear proposal has a slender...