Tag Archives: Business & Economy

Investec Switzerland. The SMI is set to finish the week (-1.43%) lower, underperforming global equity markets (+1.50%), which were buoyed after US Fed Chair Janet Yellen said on Tuesday that slackening global growth called for a gradual approach to raising rates. With a negative performance of -13.2% year to date, the Swiss index is among the world’s worst performers tumbling almost twice as much as the STOXX Europe 600 Index in the year 2016. The curse lies in the safe...

Investec Switzerland. The Swiss National Bank won’t rule out another interest rate cut, though any measure must be weighed with a view to its potential side effects, Governing Board Member Andrea Maechler said. © Yulan | Dreamstime.com “We’re always looking into other options, if needed — we’re looking into all of them,” Maechler said at an event for financial professionals in Zurich on Thursday. “We’re not excluding any of them, including a possible further reduction in...

Investec Switzerland. Reuters reports that an investigation is taking place after an anonymous whistle-blower accused Novartis of paying bribes through a consulting firm to secure business advantages in Turkey worth around $85 million, citing an email seen by a reporter. © Roger Heil | Dreamstime.com The benefits are reported to include getting medicines added to lists of drugs approved for prescription in government-run hospitals and avoiding price cuts. Novartis says it...

Investec Switzerland. The SMI finished this Easter week 1.10% lower, tracking losses on global equity markets (-0.71%) following the terrorist attacks in Brussels on Wednesday. Stock markets lost momentum after the attacks as investors failed to find fresh catalysts to keep the five-week long equity rally going. Zaventem airport Brussels – © Bombaert | Dreamstime.com Commodity prices also fell this week and the US dollar strengthened on the back of higher US oil...

Investec Switzerland. Credit Suisse Group AG Chief Executive Officer Tidjane Thiam dropped a bombshell on investors: Caught off guard by a buildup of illiquid trading positions, the CEO said the bank will probably post a second straight quarterly loss as it unwinds the trades and deepens cuts at that business. © Hai Huy Ton That | Dreamstime.com Thiam, less than two months after the bank disclosed losses on the positions that led to the biggest trading revenue drop among...

Tribune de Genève. According to the Swiss paper, Tribune de Genève, Richemont, the group which owns the Cartier and Piaget brands could eliminate 170 positions at Cartier and around 120 at Piaget and Vacheron Constantin. Piaget, part of the Richemont group – © Abdul Sami Haqqani | Dreamstime.com 50 posts at Vacheron Constantin in the vallée de Joux in Vaud and 35 at Plan-les-Ouates in Geneva are set to go. At Piaget 22 positions at Plan-les-Ouates in Geneva are at risk along with a further...

Investec Switzerland. Swiss watch exports fell for an eighth consecutive month as shipments to Hong Kong extended a one-year rut caused by rich Chinese traveling to cheaper locations to buy expensive timepieces. Shipments slid 3.3 percent to 1.65 billion Swiss francs ($1.7 billion) in February, or by 7.9 percent adjusted for the number of working days in the month, according to data from Switzerland’s customs office. Exports to Hong Kong fell 25 percent, declining for a...

Investec Switzerland. The SMI is set to finish lower this week (-1.83%), underperforming the MSCI World (+1.03% ) as US stocks gained after the Federal Reserve scaled back expectations for the path of interest-rate increases on Wednesday. © Katsiaryna Pakhomava | Dreamstime.com Stocks around the world gained mid-week after Yellen and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) left rates on hold and indicated that fewer rate rises will occur this year due to sluggish global...

Investec Switzerland. The SMI is set to finish flat this week (-0.12%), outperforming global equity market (MSCI World -0.68% ) with European stocks losing value after the long awaited ECB policy meeting. Stock markets around the world were mixed with risk appetite increasing ahead of Thursday’s European Central Bank (ECB) policy meeting and falling thereafter. The ECB lowered all its main interest rates and expanded its quantitative-easing purchase plan quantity (by €20...

After nearly ten years of European Union (EU) opposition to certain controversial Swiss tax structures, Switzerland’s government agreed a deal in 2014 to do away with such arrangements. Under current rules Swiss cantons can offer preferential tax rates to certain companies, mostly multinationals with most of their activity abroad. This is now changing. What are preferential tax deals? They are special low tax deals Swiss cantons offer only to specific companies. In the canton of Vaud, the...