Switzerland

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) will maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy to help rein in the strong franc, Chairman Thomas Jordan Swiss told Italian-language newspaper Corriere del Ticino, published on Thursday.

"The overvalued franc, the underutilisation of production capacity and low inflation make it necessary for us to stick to our expansive monetary policy," Jordan said.

Jordan said "The franc is still overvalued, which is why negative interest rates and our readiness to intervene in the forex market remain necessary," he explained.

The country’s Court of Appeal ruled that the chocolate treat, created in 1935 and marketed with the slogan "Have a Break, Have a KitKat", is not distinctive enough in shape to warrant a trademark. Nestle had argued that the shape of the famous snack was iconic and deserved protection.

The ruling is the latest twist in a decade-long UK chocolate wars saga between Nestle and the US Mondelez International, maker of Cadbury chocolate.

Nestlé originally registered the three-dimensional shape of its four-fingered chocolate bar in 2006 with Cadbury applying to cancel the registration, a claim it won in 2012.

Sotheby’s sold a pair of pear-shaped diamond earrings at a hammer price of about $51 million Tuesday, though the 14.54-carat flawless Fancy Vivid Blue diamond that was the auction’s highlight fell short of the expected range. Apollo sold for $42.1m while Artemis went for $15.3m. But the earrings sold some way below their estimated prices of $70m.

The 16-carat "Artemis Pink" is near identical in shape. It is also one of the world’s most "chemically pure" diamonds, according to the Gemological Institute of America, which experts say gives the stone such a high degree of transparency.

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.

The number of people living in relative poverty in Switzerland is on the increase, but it is still below the European average, according to the latest report on living conditions in the alpine country. The survey for 2015, released on Monday by the Swiss statistics office (BFS), revealed that 570,000, seven out of 100 people, were living in poverty.

The BFS defines poverty as being unable to pay for the “goods and services necessary for a socially integrated life” which in 2015 applied to those with a monthly income below 2,239 francs for a single person or 3,984 for two adults and two children.

Groups with higher than average rates of poverty included people living alone, one-parent families, those without further education and people living in a home where no one works, the BFS said in a statement.

Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC is selling part of its stake in Swiss bank UBS at a loss, nearly a decade after it first invested in the bank at the height of the financial crisis.

"Conditions have changed fundamentally since GIC invested in UBS in February 2008, as have UBS’ strategy and business," GIC Chief Executive Officer Lim Chow Kiat said early Tuesday (May 16) in a statement. "It makes sense now for GIC to reduce its ownership of UBS and to redeploy these resources elsewhere," Mr Lim said.

If you want to go to Valais for shopping, now you can pay your purchases in farinets, the new ‘local currency’ of the canton.
The currency was launched on Saturday in the city of Sion; it comes in eight denominations: 1, 2, 5, 10, 13, 20, 50 and 100, and it has the same value as the Swiss franc. According to the organization, using the currency creates a spending power for the Lake Geneva region and boosts the local economy in a way that using francs and euros doesn’t always allow.

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.