SNB & CHF

It is a very interesting discrepancy: Health Care Costs Have Fallen By 0.6%  On one side, Swiss Statistics regularly publishes the consumer price index. In this statistic health care prices have fallen by 0.6% against the previous year: one major reason is the stronger franc that allowed for buying health equipment at lower price abroad. We should remind that Swiss Statistics uses these effective prices for inflation...

The U.S. Elections: The Latest Crack in the System The 2016 U.S. presidential elections are unprecedented: I don’t believe we have ever witnessed before a campaign year so toxic, so dangerously divisive and full of ad hominem attacks. Both camps have vilified the opposition and their followers, creating a schism in society. There has been no rational dialogue on the issues that truly concern the American public....

The Swiss plane Solar Impulse 2 has come back to Switzerland after finishing its round-the-world flight. (Carlo Pisani, swissinfo.ch) The plane covered more than 40,000 km (24,800 miles) in 16 months, becoming the first solar-powered aircraft to fly around the planet without the use of fuel. Solar Impulse 2 left Abu Dhabi on March 9, 2015 and returned on July 26, 2016, completing the record-breaking circumnavigation of the earth after 550 hours in the air. Along the way, the solar...

After one and a half years turnover positive once again Neuchâtel, 24.11.2016 (FSO) – Industrial production in the secondary sector rose by 1.1% in 3rd quarter 2016 in comparison with the same quarter a year earlier. Turnover also rose by 1.1%. Orders received increased by 6.6% and orders on hand grew by 2.8%. This is shown by provisional results from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). In comparison with the...

Three years after Lloyds Banking Group Plc sold its private bank in Geneva, the only signs of life at the now-empty building are piles of cigarette butts and nutshells lying on its dirty window ledges. The riverside offices at Place de Bel-Air are a short walk away from the remaining private banks, hedge-fund managers and luxury-goods stores in the heart of the Swiss city. The locked entrance, where millionaire clients...

Swiss Franc EUR/CHF - Euro Swiss Franc, November 23(see more posts on EUR/CHF, ). Source: - Click to enlarge The GBPCHF rate has slipped a little in early morning trading today as investors await the UK budget due today. Amongst the usual leaks and rumours there appears likely to be a budget which will not be overly generous as some expect but will seek to keep the UK economy on a fairly stable course. UK...

The Trump Trade After 35 years of waiting… so many false signals… so often deceived… so often disappointed… bond bears gathered on rooftops as though awaiting the Second Coming. Many times, investors have said to themselves, “This is it! This is the end of the Great Bull Market in Bonds!” And then, at the appointed hour, expecting the rapture… they took the leap of faith only to come crashing down on the rocks below....

Today Credit Suisse released its latest annual global wealth report, which traditionally lays out what is perhaps the biggest reason for the recent “anti-establishment” revulsion: an unprecedented concentration of wealth among a handful of people, as shown in its infamous global wealth pyramid, an arrangement which as observed by the “shocking” political backlash of the past few months suggests that the lower ‘levels’...

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 timepiece. © Oleg Palchyk | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge 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...

Switzerland risks becoming dependent on electricity imports as its citizens prepare for a plebiscite on whether to hasten its exit from nuclear power. © Gregory Perkins | Dreamstime.com - Click to enlarge 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...