le News

Investec Switzerland. The value of the Swiss National Bank’s U.S. stock portfolio jumped to a record in June, helped by equity market gains. © Vividrange | Dreamstime.com 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. SNB spokesman Walter Meier declined to comment on the filing, which is...

Silver kangaroo coins have seen sales surge to over 10 million coins which is double the expected demand for the year. Silver Kangaroo Coins 1 oz (2016) Introduced to the market less than 11 months ago in September 2015 at a launch attended by GoldCore, sales of the new release Perth Mint’s 2016 Australian Kangaroo 1 ounce silver bullion coin were anticipated to reach 5 million coins in their introductory first year. Yet sales of the silver coins have already surged to a...

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. © Mirko Vitali | Dreamstime.com As it did last year, Switzerland topped the chart this year with the world’s most expensive Big Macs. At...

The Trump and Clinton election is set to be one of the "ugliest" and "messiest" U.S. elections ever, astute gold analyst Frank Holmes warned this week. He believes this is a reason to own gold and will be one of the factors that will see a resumption of gold's bull market after the summer doldrums which we explore below. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump delivers a speech at the Republican National Convention on July 21, 2016 (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) Gold...

Investec Switzerland. 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 with a slump at the wealth management and securities-trading units. © Denis Linine | Dreamstime.com Net income slipped to 1.03 billion francs from 1.2 billion francs a year ago, the Zurich-based bank said in a statement Friday. That beat the 668...

Investec Switzerland. 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. © Josefkubes | Dreamstime.com Japanese shares received a short-term boost after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s announced plans of a 28 trillion yen ($265 billion) economic stimulus drive, including a 13 trillion yen fiscal spending package for...

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 firms’ profitability. © Simon Zenger | Dreamstime.com Thursday’s results from Credit Suisse suggest Thiam may escape that fate while Cryan’s effort to revamp the German lender stalls. After a first-quarter loss, the Swiss bank posted a...

Investec Switzerland. 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. © Lucaderoma | Dreamstime.com 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. That could put U.K. patients at risk of not getting access to medicines as...

Investec Switzerland. The Swiss Market Index is set to finish the week slightly higher as investors digest second quarter earnings reports and central bank policy announcements. © Taina Sohlman | Dreamstime.com Global financial markets showed resilience this week following the failed coup attempt in Turkey over the weekend.  Second quarter earnings proved to be the main drive of sentiment with shares from Europe to the US fluctuating as investors watched earnings releases...

Investec Switzerland. Givaudan SA, the world’s largest flavors and fragrance company, reported first-half profit that beat analyst estimates on increased demand for perfumes. © Ragsac19 | Dreamstime.com 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...