Switzerland’s [B]Gross Domestic Product[/B] report is expected to show the economy shrank -1.5% in the first quarter, the largest drop in at least three decades. The most recent comparable result dates back to the first quarter of 1991 when the economy shed -1.4%. Separately, the [B]SVME-Purchasing Managers Index[/B] is expected to show that manufacturing shrank for the eighth consecutive month in May, albeit at a slower pace than in April. On balance, the ability of these releases to meaningfully weigh on the Swiss Franc seems limited: Switzerland’s troubles are largely a factor of overall weakness in global demand and the surge in risk appetite across financial markets since early March suggests that traders have long since priced in a dismal outcome for the first three months of 2009 and are looking ahead to a broad-based rebound later in the year.
