-European Commission
We have forgotten about the Swiss Franc for quite a long time, as it was mostly driven by fundamental news from Europe, while reports from the Alpine country produced little effect. On Wednesday we've had a great opportunity to convince ourselves in this statement once again. Despite a pickup in growth, the EUR/CHF currency pair inched lower 0.02% trading at 1.2228, almost ignoring the data release.
Nevertheless, a report from the Swiss statistical office confirmed the resilience of the Swiss economy, as economic output accelerated 0.5% in the first quarter following an expansion of just 0.2% in the final three months of 2013. The economy has received a major boost from the balance of trade, while private consumption grew 0.1%. At the same time, government consumption declined 0.8%. Moreover, investment and exports both posted solid gains, rising 0.5% and 2.0%, respectively. There are signs that growth will accelerate in the coming months, as the recent report showed manufacturing sector gathered steam last month, with a solid expansion in order backlogs. The economy has benefitted from the cap imposed in 2011, however, suffered from sluggish demand from Europe. Solid growth means that there is nothing to be worried about, meaning the SNB will remain in the "wait-and-see" mode for a long time, hence, the Franc will still be driven by fundamentals from Europe and demand for havens.
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