Switzerland’s central bank on Thursday softened its longstanding warning about the strong franc but still said that it was "highly valued, " suggesting Swiss officials aren’t fully satisfied yet with the franc’s weakening against the euro.
"The Swiss franc nevertheless remains highly valued, and the situation on the foreign exchange market is still fragile," the SNB said in a statement after its quarterly policy review.
Austria is set to raise 100-year debt in the latest indication of hot investor demand for long-dated sovereign bonds. It aims to raise at least €1bn; bids from potential investors have topped €11bn, dealmakers say.
A successful sale would demonstrate that demand for super-long bonds, whose prices are extremely sensitive to interest rate changes, remains solid even as central banks start winding down their crisis-era stimulus measures.
Market observers generally agree that US asset prices, namely, stocks, bonds and real estate, are expensive if not over-priced.
Big profits from the Swiss National Bank’s massive foreign currency investments should help keep the country’s public finances in the black during 2017, Switzerland’s government said on Thursday.
Interest and dividend payments from investments bought by the SNB during its campaign to weaken the highly-valued Swiss franc allowed it to hand over some 577 million Swiss francs ($605.52 million) to federal government this year. The country’s 26 cantons, or states, have received just over 1.1 billion francs.
ICOs allow start-ups to raise investment by selling new cryptocurrencies, which are similar to bitcoin, in return for cash. However, the People’s Bank of China says this practice, which has become popular around the world as well as in China, constitutes illegal fundraising.
The document defined initial coin offerings (ICOs) as an unauthorized fundraising tool that may involve financial scams, the Caixin report noted. The committee provided a list of 60 major ICO platforms for local financial regulatory bodies to inspect.
The Swiss franc’s recent weakening against the euro is a positive development but the trend was “fragile”, Swiss National Bank governing board member Andrea Maechler said on Thursday.
“Overall, the trends are pointing in the right direction for the Swiss franc, but it is too early to say whether these trends are sustainable,” Maechler told an economic conference in Yverdon-Les-Bains.
A central bank rescue of Russian bank Otkritie has eased market concerns that other banks could be in trouble, prompting banking stocks to reverse three days of losses. Russia’s central bank stepped in on Tuesday to take at least a 75 per cent stake in Otkritie, the country’s biggest privately-owned bank, to plug a hole in its balance sheet.
The bailout highlights problems among Russia’s banks and the challenge the authorities face in trying to clean up the sector.
Brexit is set to deliver a much-heralded jobs boom with over 80,000 new roles to be created in Frankfurt.
A new report released by lobby group Frankfurt Main Finance found that the expected influx of 10,000 financial services staff over the next four years – fuelled by relocation plans and a banking exodus from London – will result in the creation of up to 87,667 new roles throughout the Rhein-Main-Region.
