"The indicator suggests that analysts' are still cautious in their expectations for economic growth,"
- Credit Suisse's Maxime Botteron and Lena Jaroszek of the ZEW
Confidence among Swiss investors improved slightly this month, decreasing concerns the economy may struggle to gain the momentum due to the recession in the neighbouring Eurozone, the ZEW Center for European Economic Research said Wednesday. A gauge of investor and analysts expectations, designed to predict the economic development during the next six months, rose to 4.8% in July, up from 2.2 points a month earlier. An index remains above the 0.0 threshold, which separates optimism from pessimism, since January 2013, however, has not reached even 2010 high, suggesting the economy is developing, albeit slower than expected.
The Swiss National Bank is now expected to keep the ceiling on Swiss Franc for at least 1-2 years, suggesting there will be no shift in the franc's rate versus the single currency during the next six months. Despite healing economy, one of the major concern for Swiss policy makers remains the Eurozone, which has contracted the past six quarter, the longest-ever recession. At the same time Swiss first quarter growth outpaced even Europe's largest economy, and the SNB now projects a 1.5% expansion this year.
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