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© Bogdan Lazar | Dreamstime.com Every year, Lausanne-based IMD business school publishes its global competitiveness ranking. Switzerland climbed from 5th last year to 4th behind Singapore, Hong Kong and the US. Venezuela (63rd) was last. The ranking, established in 1989, incorporates 235 indicators and takes into account a wide range of “hard” statistics such as unemployment, GDP and government spending on health and...

The first week of June features the Reserve Bank of Australia meeting, an ECB meeting, and the US employment data. The RBA is expected to deliver its first rate cut in three years. The market appears to have discounted not only a second cut in H2 but has priced nearly half of a third cut as well. A soft inflation reading after the seasonal bump in April and disappointing survey data, with Brexit and trade tensions,...

There was a 3.1% jump in the number of goats in 2018, especially in mountain regions. (Keystone / Arno Balzarini) Last year 768 farmers in Switzerland called it quits, while others increased their livestock numbers and production of organic food. Figures released this week by the Swiss Federal Statistical Officeexternal link revealed a 1.5% drop in the number of farms, bringing the total down to 50,852. However, the...

Switzerland is ranked the most attractive destination for international students. Switzerland is one of the most attractive locations for highly qualified foreign workers, according to a new study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In a ranking of 35 countries presented on Wednesday, Switzerland comes third behind Australia and Sweden as an attractive destination for skilled workers...

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) piled on more bad news to the otherwise pleasing GDP headline for the first quarter. In its first revision to the preliminary estimate, the government agency said output advanced just a little less than first thought. This wasn’t actually the substance of their message. Accompanying this first revision was the first set of estimates for corporate profits. For the second straight...

Money Supply Growth Continues to Decelerate Here is a brief update of recent developments in US true money supply growth as well as the trend in the ratio of industrial production of capital goods versus consumer goods (we use the latter as a proxy for the effects of credit expansion on the economy’s production structure). First, a chart of the y/y growth rate of the broad US money supply TMS-2 vs. y/y growth in...

Swiss Franc The Euro has fallen by 0.01% at 1.1214 EUR/CHF and USD/CHF, May 31(see more posts on EUR/CHF, USD/CHF, ) Source: markets.ft.com - Click to enlarge FX Rates Overview: The US announcement to lay a 5% tariff on all goods coming from Mexico (starting June 10) until it stops the flow of “illegal migrants” spurred sharp losses in the Mexican peso and general risk-off move that strengthened the yen. The...

New Focus Article series published on data portal The Swiss National Bank is expanding its offering in the field of statist ics. It is to start publishing articles on selected statistical subjects at irregular intervals. These articles will appear on the SNB data portal (data.snb.ch, Resources, International economic affairs, Focus articles) as so-called focus articles. The first focus article is out now and...

31.05.2019 – Turnover in the retail sector fell by 0.1% in nominal terms in April 2019 compared with the previous year. Seasonally adjusted, nominal turnover rose by 0.4% compared with the previous month. These are provisional findings from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). Real turnover in the retail sector also adjusted for sales days and holidays fell by 0.7% in April 2019 compared with the previous year. Real...

View of the main building of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich. IMD ranked Switzerland highly for its university and management education. Switzerland is Europe’s most competitive nation, coming fourth in the annual global ranking of the Lausanne-based IMD business school. The small Alpine nation climbed from fifth to fourth place in the 63-country competitiveness ranking. It was helped by economic...