- Jean-Pierre Danthine, Vice Chairman of the Governing Board
It seems that the Alpine country began this year not on a high note, as exports slumped, inflation disappointed markets on both monthly and annual basis. While labour market showed surprising resilience amid these weak fundamentals, another report from the Federal Statistics Office added to concerns the SNB will have to do more to stimulate growth rather than only keeping an eye on its 1.20 per euro cap.
According to the 2014 Index of Economic Freedom, Switzerland stands at the fourth position among the freest economies in Europe, suggesting the volume of sales of retail goods and services remains strong. Despite this optimistic fact, retail sales in Switzerland advanced only 0.3% in the first month of 2014, decelerating from previous month's revised figure of 2.5% and falling short of analysts' expectations, who projected a 2.7% increase.
Soon after the release of the data, the Swiss Franc was slightly higher against the greenback, with the USD/CHF pair shedding 0.07% trading at 0.8772. Even though the economic indicator tends to be volatile, such a week market reaction once again proves that statistics from Switzerland produce muted market reaction. Currently, the pair is likely to find support at 0.8700, while strong resistance is located at 0.8813.
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