The train, which takes sightseers to the Jungfraujoch in the Bernese Alpes, carried 916,500 passengers in 2016, significantly fewer than the year before. In 2015, a record 1,007,000 made the journey. Despite the decline, 2016 was still the second best performance recorded. And, at the price of CHF 218.80 for a first class round trip, brought in […]
SMI set to end 2016 in negative territory
30 December 2016 – Swiss and global market roundup. Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. In the last week of the year, the Swiss Market Index deepened its loss for the year as banks continued lower on low trading volumes. The SMI is set to end 2016 with an annual loss of 6.8% as banking and […]
Miners, including Swiss-based Glencore, unearth a profit bonanza with rally set to last into 2017
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. Miners had been digging in one of Australia’s oldest collieries for almost a century until operations wound down a year ago, the victim of plunging global commodity prices. Now owner Glencore Plc is resuming output at the Queensland site, the latest sign of a profit bonanza bringing the world’s […]
Sentiment appears positive as investors close their books for the year
23 December 2016 – Swiss and global market roundup. Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. Ahead of the Christmas break, trading volumes were thin this week amid a lack of new market catalysts. Swiss and European equities were generally unchanged through the week, tracking global stock markets. Overall, sentiment appears to be positive as investors close […]
Seven banks fined in Swiss probes of rate-rigging cartels
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. Switzerland handed out about $100 million in antitrust fines against seven U.S. and European banks for participating in cartels to manipulate widely used financial benchmarks. JPMorgan Chase & Co. was fined 33.9 million francs ($33 million) for operating a cartel with Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc for more […]
How gifts destroy billions of dollars of value
If you haven’t had a chance to go Christmas shopping don’t despair, gifts destroy value. For example, someone on a diet is unlikely to place much value on a box of chocolates. The difference between what was paid for the chocolates and what the recipient would have paid represents destroyed value. They could have been […]
Swiss watch exports poised for worst year since 1984: chart
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. The number of watches Switzerland exports is on track to reach the lowest level since 1984, when digital timepieces were in vogue and Swatch Group AG had just been formed in reaction to low-cost competition. Three decades later, difficult times are back: 11-month data is due Tuesday after the […]
Swiss to avoid EU clash as immigration bill passes final hurdle
Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. After three years of uncertainty, Switzerland may just have solved its immigration dispute with the European Union. Lawmakers in Bern on Friday passed a bill designed to curb EU immigration by giving locals a head start on filling job vacancies. By supporting the measure — which sidesteps quotas — […]
December rally continues this week for SMI
16 December 2016 – Swiss and global market roundup. Brought to you by Investec Switzerland. 2016’s December rally continued this week as Swiss and European equities outperformed global stocks. The US dollar continued to surge after the Federal Reserve increased interest rates for only the second time in a decade on Wednesday. Fed Head Janet Yellen […]
Swiss fact: Switzerland is one of the world’s top 5 coffee exporters
According to UN trade statistics, the small Alpine nation exported US$ 2.4 billion1 of coffee in 2013. This figure is far higher than its cheese (US$ 615 million2) or chocolate (US$ 822 million3) exports, two far more famous Swiss exports. In 2013, Swiss coffee exports ranked 4th behind Brazil ($5.3b), Germany ($3.4b) and Vietnam ($2.9b). Ethiopia, […]
