"Evidently, the situation for industry has stabilised, although it is too soon to talk about a sustainable recovery"
- Swiss SVME purchasing managers' association and Credit Suisse
Confidence among Swiss investors stagnated this month, raising 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, remained unchanged at 2.2 in June, meeting analysts' expectations. An index remains above the 0.0 threshold, which separates optimism from pessimism, since January 2013, suggesting the economy is developing, albeit slower than expected.
The Swiss National Bank now expects the domestic economy to expand as much as 1.5% this year, while it will update its growth forecasts later this week. Another major concern for Swiss policy makers is a highly valued Swiss Franc, the fact which could weigh on economic performance as well. During the last policy meeting, the SNB also claimed it is not planning to change its policy on the Franc, although it would not think out any steps to reach its goals. The central bank also expects the inflation rate at minus 0.2% in 2013 and sees a pickup in the next year, with consumer prices rising 0.2%.
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