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Every year in the Chinese lunar calendar is associated with one of 12 animals combined with one of five elements: metal (gold), earth, water, wood or fire. This year is the year of the fire monkey and celebrations to mark the new year take place on 8 February 2016. What will the monkey do next? © Marigo20 | Dreamstime.com Fire monkeys have large personalities but are prone to irritability. Smart, courageous, ambitious, adventurous but unpredictable. The last such year was in 1956. What...

Investec Switzerland. The SMI is set to underperform global markets this week after stocks lost ground on disappointing earnings reports and gloomy economic data releases. Stock markets around the world are also set to finish the week mostly lower as the fluctuating oil price, global growth concerns and deflationary pressures continue to rattle investor confidence. © Patrick Poendl | Dreamstime.com A Bad week for Swiss banks The underperformance from Swiss equities this...

Investec Switzerland. Last October, Credit Suisse Group AG Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam called two of his bank’s businesses the “ugly ducklings that no one likes.” He’s just been reminded why. © Simon Zenger | Dreamstime.com The Zurich-based lender’s units that trade corporate bonds and securitized products contributed about $500 million in so- called mark-to-market losses in the fourth quarter of 2015, according to the bank’s presentation to investors. That...

Investec Switzerland. Switzerland is welcoming ChemChina’s $43 billion takeover of Syngenta SA, the Alpine nation’s biggest-ever deal, with open arms. © Dusan Kostic | Dreamstime.com The only continental European country to strike a free-trade agreement with China, Switzerland has long been an attractive hunting ground for companies from the Asian giant. Unlike the U.S., which has blocked Chinese deals and where the ChemChina’s Syngenta purchase may face regulatory...

Switzerland was placed fourth globally in the 2016 Economic Freedom index published by the Heritage Foundation on Monday. One of only five countries declared economically free, Switzerland ranked top in Europe and was the only country in the top five not to lose any ground. In fact it improved by half a point. 178 countries were ranked and the average score was 60.7. The overall rankings can be seen here. Why did Switzerland score so well? With an overall score of 81 out of 100, Switzerland...

Investec Switzerland. UBS’s results are a reminder that even the strongest boats are being buffeted by the storm in financial markets. Tuesday’s slump in profit from both investment banking and wealth management sent the shares to the lowest in a year. It also puts in question the premium valuation the bank has enjoyed over its peers. The Swiss bank has been the model for European firms looking to reinvent themselves after the financial crisis — it moved decisively in 2012...

Investec Switzerland. The SMI is set to end the week modestly lower along with global stocks after earnings reports from pharmaceuticals heavyweights Roche and Novartis fell short of analyst’s estimates. Global markets experienced another volatile week amid ongoing speculation over whether central banks will come to the rescue of turbulent financial markets. A bad week for Novartis – © Lucaderoma | Dreamstime.com The slowdown in China and central remained central to...

Investec Switzerland. The soaring cost of some medicines has sparked a controversy that’s hampered drugmakers’ ability to raise prices in their biggest and most profitable market. © Robert Byron | Dreamstime.com Novartis AG Chief Executive Officer Joe Jimenez figures the golden days of unfettered price increases are over in the U.S. “Those days are over,” Jimenez said in a Bloomberg Television interview with Manus Cranny. “You have to assume that there is going to be...

Investec Switzerland. Swiss watch exports dropped 3.8 percent in December, led by a plunge in shipments to Hong Kong and ending 2015 with the first annual drop in six years. For the year, shipments slipped 3.3 percent to 21.5 billion Swiss francs ($21.2 billion), the Swiss customs office said in a statement Tuesday. That compares with a 1.9 percent rise the previous year, when the value of sales reached a record 22.3 billion francs. The last annual slump was in 2009, when...

Investec Switzerland. Swiss stocks are set to outperform global markets this week after another volatile session of trading that saw some stock indices suffering losses not seen since the depths of the global financial crisis. © Christy Thompson | Dreamstime.com Investor sentiment was hit early this week after China recorded its weakest annual pace of growth in a quarter century and the IMF downgraded global economic forecasts for 2016. However, the prospect of further...