The Swiss Franc gained slightly against the dollar after the Swiss Unemployment data was released in line with the expectation at 2.5%. The jobless rate remains at its lowest in almost five years. The continued economic growth prompted companies to increase hiring.
Headlines:
Swiss May Not Take Novartis to WTO
The judicial snub to Swiss pharma major Novartis by the Madras High Court is unlikely to send the Swiss government to the World Trade Organization (WTO), challenging India?s intellectual property right (IPR) regime. Visiting Swiss federal councilor in the department of economic affairs, Doris Leuthard, said the issue was between a private company and the Indian judicial system, and the Swiss government did not have anything to do with it.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Healthcare__Biotech/Pharmaceuticals/Swiss_may_not_take_Novartis_to_WTO/articleshow/2263858.cms
Source: Economictimes.com
Swisscom’s Profit Rises 59% on FastWeb; Stock Jumps
Swisscom AG, Switzerland’s largest phone company, posted the biggest quarterly profit jump in almost two years after the purchase of FastWeb SpA bolstered Internet- service sales. The stock rose the most in almost five years. Net income climbed 59 percent to 475 million Swiss francs from 299 million francs a year earlier, when Swisscom paid a 180 million-franc court penalty. Sales rose 13 percent to 2.72 billion francs. Analysts expected profit of 455 million francs on revenue of 2.6 billion francs, the medians of six estimates in a Bloomberg survey.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=a6g8l1rhJOxU&refer=europ
Source: Bloomberg.com
Friends Provident Reverses Loss, Pushes Back Profit Target
Friends Provident Plc, the British insurer that agreed to an $8.2 billion takeover, reversed a year- earlier loss and extended the timeframe for hitting profit goals. Net income in the first six months of the year was 47 million pounds compared with a loss of 12 million pounds a year earlier. Slow sales of its investment and protection products will ``lengthen the timescale’’ for reaching targets for U.K. new business profit, it said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=a4Q1RzXE.YVI&refer=uk
Source: Bloomberg.com
Currency Market
The Swiss Franc gained slightly against the dollar after the Swiss Unemployment data was released in line with the expectation at 2.5%. The jobless rate remains at its lowest in almost five years. The continued economic growth prompted companies to increase hiring. The franc fell against the Euro for a third time today as global stocks rallied and investors increased carry trades. As of 13:00EST the pair was trading at 1.1960.
Equity Market: Swiss Market Index
Swiss shares surged following gains from US equity markets and strong quarterly reports of many companies further paced the rally. Switzerland’s largest phone company, Swisscom AG, posted the biggest quarterly profit jump in almost two years. Swiss telecoms group also issued optimistic full year guidance pushing the telecommunications sector to the roof. Banking stocks were up across the board after the Federal Reserve said U.S economic growth probably won?t be held by current defaults in the mortgage market, with Julius Baer up 3.6 percent and Credit Suisse up 2.8 percent. At close the Swiss market index was up by 217.21 points closing at 8964.18
Fixed-Income Market: 10-Year Swiss Government Bonds
Bonds experienced a volatile session today but eventually closed down as strong earning reports from corporate boosted investors? confidence in riskier assets. The benchmark 10-year were up 7.3 basis points at 3.126
