Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. The prospect of more stimulus from Mario Draghi has been boosting most European stock markets. Switzerland has been lagging behind. Hurt by a strengthening franc, the Swiss Market Index has largely missed out on the rally that has added about $6 trillion to equities since the September lows of […]
Archives for 2015
Switzerland’s 117 metre vertical forest
In 2017 a vertical forest will begin to rise from a building site located in Chavannes in west Lausanne. The tower will rise to a maximum of 117 metres and be covered with trees equivalent to around one hectare of forest. The tower’s designer is Milan-based architect Stefano Boeri. Already in Milan Two similar towers, […]
Half of Swiss jobs will be lost to automation, says Deloitte.
An analysis by Deloitte shows that 48% of current Swiss jobs could be lost to automation. Administrative, secretarial, agricultural and production jobs are most at risk. Most jobs set to go require low levels of education but some requiring highly educated people will disappear also. Self-driving vehicles, 3D printers, speaking robots and artificial intelligence will […]
Geneva’s housing shortage attracting fraudsters
Tribune de Genève. This week the Geneva daily went undercover and identified one of many fraudulent advertisements for apartments in Geneva. Responding to an advertisement on the website immostreet.ch, they were given a false name, told they couldn’t view the apartment because the owner lives abroad, and asked to send funds to a bank account […]
Swiss “Jetman” takes to sky alongside an Airbus 380
Former Swiss fighter pilot, Yves Rossy, known as “Jetman” recently flew in formation with an Airbus 380 in Dubai with his famous jet pack. Born in Neuchatel, Switzerland in 1959, he previously flew for the Swiss military and as a commercial pilot for Swiss Air. Recently, he and Frenchman Vince Reffet jumped from a flying […]
Swiss unemployment up in October
Swiss unemployment crept up in October 2015. The industries with the highest unemployment were hotel and restaurant workers at 9.4% and watch makers at 8.3%. Marked differences across cantons remained. The three highest were Geneva (5.6%), Neuchatel (5.4%) and Vaud (4.8%). Of these three, only Vaud changed from September, registering a decline of 0.1. The […]
Switzerland’s ambition for a weaker franc seen as a forlorn hope
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. Currency markets just won’t cooperate with Thomas Jordan. When the Swiss National Bank president repeated a warning for buyers to steer clear of the “significantly overvalued” franc last week, the impact of his words was blunted by a European Central Bank pledge to reassess its stimulus plan. Switzerland’s currency […]
SMI breaks 9,000 despite disappointing results
6 November 2015 – Weekly Swiss and global market roundup. Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. The SMI broke through the 9,000 barrier for the first time since August this week, despite weak company news, after the Swiss franc fell sharply against the dollar and pan-European cyclical stocks outperformed on expectations that the European Central […]
What is art for? Lausanne’s Mudac might have the answer
Last week I went to Mudac, Lausanne’s Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts’ and was fortunate to share a lunch table with both the Museum’s director Chantal Prod’Hom and Yves Mirande, the organiser of one of their latest exhibitions, to discuss what art means. The first thing that struck me when I arrived was […]
Ageing wine – a cellar might not be the best place
This week’s wine is one from the Badoux wine team, quite an innovative crew. Lettres de Noblesse 2012, Merlot d’Yvorne Badoux Vins, Aigle It’s not just Bordeaux and Ticino who can produce great Merlot, it’s also Yvorne, a small, wine growing area in the Aigle district of the Chablais wine region in Vaud. 100% Merlot, […]
