Index

Switzerland ranked third with 92 points in a global list of countries assessed for health care availability and quality (HAQ), while the tiny European nation of Andorra topped the list with an overall score of 95 out of 100, followed by Iceland (94), according to the latest report by the British medical journal The Lancet.

At the bottom of the table was the Central African Republic, scoring just 29 on the overall index, while UK ranked 30th and US 35th with an overall score of 81, tied with Estonia and Montenegro.

The vast majority of millionaires across seven international markets think the current period is the "most unpredictable" ever, according to a new study by Swiss bank UBS on Wednesday.

A total of 2,842 high net worth individuals, at least 30 per cent were women, were interviewed in the U.K., Italy, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico with each millionaire having at least $1 million in investable assets (excluding property). Mexican millionaires topped the list with 90 percent agreeing that we’re currently living through the most unpredictable period in history. The biggest domestic issue raised in Mexico was that of corruption.

Emerging consumers markets continue to drive luxury market growth and Switzerland remains one of the world leaders in the luxury industry, due to the solidity of its watch brands. Two Swiss groups are in the top 10: Richemont is second, Swatch Group sixth. The French giant LVMH, including Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Bulgari and Tag Heuer brands, ranked first with a turnover of $ 22.4 billion (CHF 22.54 billion).

The Swiss country is one of the most solid luxury markets; in total there are ten Swiss companies in the top 100, according to the fourth annual Global Powers of Luxury Goods report issued by Deloitte Global.

At the beginning of October 2016, I wrote an article about the STOXX Supersector Europe 600 Basic Resources Index, and the possibility for this Index to start an intermediate uptrend. From that period we had an increase of about 36% until late February 2017, and now we are in a retracement window that started on February 22th with a drawdown of about -13%.

To better understand the performance of this Supersector it is advisable to take into consideration the historical graph prices of the last twenty-seven years.

Swiss companies are at the top of the list of the most profitable companies in Europe: Roche and Nestlé are in the Top 10, ranked first and third respectively, according to the EC consulting firm.

In the top 100 companies worldwide, there are eight Swiss groups: in addition to Roche – with an Ebit of €12.9 billion recorded in 2016 – and Nestlé we can find Novartis (12th place), ABB (69th), LafargeHolcim ( 72th), Richemont (88th), Swisscom (96th), and Syngenta (98th).

Between american companies, Apple has achieved operating profit of $ 60 billion last year, as equal as the five most profitable European companies.
According to the study, which considered the 600 (300 + 300) largest groups listed in Europe and the United States, 30% of American companies are on average more profitable than those of the Old Continent. Their operating margins last year were 12.7% (11.9% in 2015) compared with 9.8% (9.6% in 2015) for European companies.

Reporters Without Borders (RWB) released its annual 2017 World Press Freedom Index which revealed Switzerland is still one of the world’s top ten countries.

The annual Index is produced by Reporters without Borders (RWB), a French-based, international non-profit organization. The Index underlined the Swiss government’s current debate over the mandate of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG-SSR) and the future of Billag, the licence paid by the public. A potential 2018 referendum could see the end of Billag and therefore the end of SRG-SSR, it said.

Switzerland’s private consumption growth continued to remain around its long-term average, survey data from the UBS investment bank showed Wednesday.

The UBS Consumption Indicator stood at 1.50 in March, and the February figure was revised downwards slightly to 1.45. Following strong growth at the beginning of the year (5.5%), domestic tourism fell by 0.8% in February compared with the same month in the previous year. Consumption was driven by solid automotive demand: new car registrations grew 4.8%.

The United States remains the country with the highest annual military expenditure in the world, according to new figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). US military spending grew by 1.7 per cent between 2015 and 2016 to $611 billion, for the first time in six years. Military expenditure by China, which was the second largest spender in 2016, increased by 5.4 per cent to $215 billion, a much lower rate of growth than in previous years.