Tag Archives: Business & Economy

Last Friday, the federal Swiss tax office published the latest statistics covering the wealth and earnings of the nation’s more than 5 million tax payers – Switzerland has wealth tax, so net worth is included in tax returns. The highest percentage of the very wealthiest (CHF 10 million plus) lived in Schwyz. Geneva also made the top five cantons in this category. Freienbach in Schwyz source_wikipedia_Roland zh The 2013 figures published last Friday show, from 2010 to 2013, the total net worth...

Investec Switzerland. A rally in pharmaceutical and banking shares helped boost the Swiss Market Index this week as investors weighed the prospect of a Trump’ presidency in the United States. © Chriscintron | Dreamstime.com Stocks in the healthcare sector jumped after Donald Trump’s victory as drug pricing reforms, proposed by Hillary Clinton, are now unlikely to materialize.  Pharma heavyweights Roche and Novartis helped drive the SMI to outperform global stocks by a...

Investec Switzerland. Today, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) announced a new agreement with the Federal Department of Finance, to pay the Swiss confederation and cantons CHF 1 billion per year, as was previously the case. The deal will run from 2016 to 2020, according to an official press release. © Phillip Judd The deal differs from the past because it requires shortfall payments. In years when the SNB doesn’t have enough reserves, the payment can be reduced and any shortfall...

Investec Switzerland. If there’s one country with reason to resent the rise of populist movements, it’s Switzerland. Twenty-two months after it abandoned its 1.20-per-euro exchange-rate cap, the Swiss National Bank still finds the franc in focus every time there’s a major event that threatens to upset markets. Donald Trump’s ascendancy to the White House pushed the currency to the strongest level since the wake of June’s Brexit vote, and options prices suggest more gains are...

Where you are born makes a big difference to the chances of getting a job when you leave school. In 2015, youth unemployment rates in some OECD countries such as Greece (49.8%), Spain (48.3%) and Italy (40.3%) were all close to 50%. In others such as Germany (7.2%), Austria (10.6%) and Switzerland (8.6%), youth unemployment was far lower. Why? The Young Workers Index 2016, an annual report by PWC, offers some insights. © Monkey Business Images | Dreamstime.com PWC’s analysis ranks 35 OECD...

Investec Switzerland. The Swiss government urged rejection of a popular initiative that would transform the monetary system and end fractional-reserve banking, according to its dispatch to Parliament. The measure seeks to put the central bank solely in charge of money supply and forbid commercial banks from granting loans that aren’t fully backed by deposits, effectively ending the way banking has been conducted for centuries. It’s a system known as Vollgeld — or “whole...

Investec Switzerland. While the bearish sentiment that engulfed European equities in recent weeks is being vindicated, health-care stocks are easing the pain. The region’s largest industry group headed for its biggest jump in more than 14 months, tempering losses for equity benchmarks after Donald Trump won the race to govern the region’s biggest export market. Novo Nordisk A/S and Shire Plc rose more than 5 percent, after investors punished the shares in recent weeks amid...

Investec Switzerland. TAG Heuer is opening an office in Silicon Valley, marking the first time a big Swiss watchmaker has expanded into the cradle of the U.S. technology sector and cementing its smartwatch alliance with Google and Intel Corp. © Tomnex | Dreamstime.com The office, which opened Nov. 1 and is located on Intel’s campus in Santa Clara, California, will house about a dozen research and development employees, according to Chief Executive Officer Jean-Claude Biver....

Investec Switzerland. TAG Heuer is opening an office in Silicon Valley, marking the first time a big Swiss watchmaker has expanded into the cradle of the U.S. technology sector and cementing its smartwatch alliance with Google and Intel Corp. © Tomnex | Dreamstime.com The office, which opened Nov. 1 and is located on Intel’s campus in Santa Clara, California, will house about a dozen research and development employees, according to Chief Executive Officer Jean-Claude Biver....

Investec Switzerland. The SMI is set to finish the week notably lower as investors continue to dump equities amid worries about the implications of next week’s US election, the trajectory of interest rates and mixed corporate earnings. © Daniel Raustadt | Dreamstime.com Until a week ago the market had confidently calculated a Clinton win but new FBI investigations appear to have put Trump firmly back in the race. The MSCI All Country World Index sank to its lowest level...