Not by the numbers
When data doesn't rule the roost - and things get interesting...
Dear Insider,
Numbers don’t actually mean that much.
At least that’s the way it seems…
On Wednesday, the Swiss Federal Council announced that it would allow a reopening of outside restaurant areas, cultural centers (museums etc), and fitness studios. This comes in spite of a decidedly upwards trend in the number of coronavirus cases being recorded.
Some experts questioned the wisdom of the move - especially when Germany and France have take a hard turn in the other direction.
But clearly, the all-powerful seven at the head of Swiss affairs decided that those numbers - for once - were not so important. What has clearly taken precedence (also in the wake of growing social unrest) is a re-opening of the economy and putting a stop to a stagnant labor market. (See below)
At the same time, the number of new vaccinations in Switzerland has failed to impress. But here again - should we really attach so much importance to the actual data?
On Paradeplatz, the shock of Credit Suisse’s CHF 4.7 billion loss in its dealings with shady outfit Archegos is slowly sinking in. Top brass at the bank have, of course, tried to downplay the loss. Their argumentation stands little chance, especially when it becomes clear that their loss was over 4x that of Morgan Stanley which reported a USD 911 million hit.
But financial wizardry with numbers still has its place - Credit Suisse and its top man David Mathers managed to turn the huge blow from Archegos into a less than CHF 1 billion loss for the quarter…
After all - it’s just a bunch of numbers…
By the Numbers
Numbers that matter…kind of… 😉
400
Have you used hand disinfectant sometime in the past year? Obviously… The exploding demand for basic products to help combat the pandemic - but not only - has given rise to a wide range of new products. The Swiss BAG (Health Ministry) has received over 400 new product registrations since the before corona reached the country. Necessity is, truly, the mother of invention.
+125%
What should food REALLY cost in Switzerland? Researchers from ETH University in Zürich took a look at exactly that question - and unearthed some surprising results. For certain products, such as meat, cheese and chicken, the (already high) prices presented to consumers in stores do not in fact represent the true, combined cost of the products. In the case of beef steak, the average price of CHF 23 per kilo is less than half what it should actually cost - a difference, in fact, of over 125%. High Swiss prices are not exactly so high after all?
- 20%
The recovery on the Swiss jobs market did not quite match expectations - or hopes. According to data released this week, the overall market fell by 20% since the beginning of 2021 - bringing it back to the same level as 2016.
Feeling smarter (already)? 😀
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The Briefing
Burning news from around Switzerland - bit by bit…
🏎 Top Tesla man joins digitalswitzerland
The imperative for more digitalization in Switzerland just got a new face. Sascha Zahnd has been named the new president of digitalswitzerland, the driving force behind a broad range of initiatives to promote digital developments in the country. Zahnd comes with an impressive resumé: until recently he was a close co-worker of Elon Musk, the legendary founder and CEO of Tesla, working as Director of EMEA. Will his Silicon Valley DNA help drive the conservative Swiss forward into the
A lonely job
The long-running negotiations about a new framework agreement between Switzerland and the EU have come down to this: on Friday, 23 April, Swiss Bundespresident Guy Parmelin will travel (alone) to Brussels to meet EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Given the continued internal opposition to the agreement in its current format - and multiple unclarified points - a happy ending does not look to be in the cards. The bigger question is…why will Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis not be traveling with him?
Not so grey
The actions of the Swiss National Bank have caused many questions (and consternation) over the years. When the SNB removed the CHF-EU peg in 2015, it sent shock waves around the world. In recent years, the Trump administration took the nasty step of adding Switzerland to a list of countries it suspected of manipulating its currency in order to benefit its trade balance with the US. This past week, the US Treasury Department took a step back and declared it had no direct evidence of manipulation. Perhaps the US is looking to placate potential partners in its international alliance-building effort to counter China’s push into Europe?
Up, up and…?
Crisis, what crisis? Just over a year after global markets took a nosedive, the Swiss Market Index (SMI) is…flying high. As of 15 April, the SMI is trading at the same level as it was before the coronavirus pandemic took the world by storm.
STAY TUNED! 😃
A special edition on the Swiss watch industry is in the works…complete with profiles and insights from an industry in flux…