If there’s one country in the world that represents neutrality, Switzerland is. This tiny country at the heart of Europe represents a safe haven for the world. People from around the world are sending their savings or extra money in Switzerland deposits, for whatever the reason. The country has not been involved in any major conflicts and, to this day, it is not part of the European Union or the Eurozone. Yet, it is surrounded by European Union members and Eurozone countries. Because of that, it wasn’t possible for it to completely isolate from the rest of the world from a trade point of view, and there is a special treaty that allows Switzerland access to the single market. There are advantages and disadvantages to having a status like the Swiss economy has. Firstly, the fact that it still has its own currency is an advantage as monetary policies can be pursued to influence its value. These don’t have a happy ending all the time, though! It is famous now the moment that the SNB (Swiss National Bank) dropped the peg on the EURCHF pair. For those of you that are not familiar with it, for years, the SNB kept the EURCHF pair above 1.20 level in an artificial manner. This is not difficult to do if one considers that the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) acts the arbitrage part in the whole story. However, when the ECB (European Central Bank) decided to cut the interest rates (the rate corridor) in the negative territory, it was too much for the SNB. In fact, the bank was forced to drop the peg because its profitability was in danger. The whole process was expensive for the Swiss central bank as it resulted in a multi-billion Swiss Francs loss, and, even more importantly, its reputation was damaged. Like anything in this world, time solves all these problems and these days are few people that remember the chaos that followed the EURCHF peg was dropped. Secondly, a disadvantage would be that worldwide flows are pouring in its currency and this makes for unusual circumstances the central bank must face. All in all, it is not clear if this status is a blessing or a curse.
What Data Matters for the Swiss Economy?
The Swiss currency is the Swiss Franc (CHF). It is one of the strongest currencies in the world, and trading it is subject to a lot of pain. This is coming with side effects both for the Switzerland population as well as for its economy. Strong currencies are difficult to deal with as exports are becoming less and less competitive. Because we do live in a globalized economy, exporting more than importing would result in a trade surplus that is easier to handle than a deficit. Below are some of the things to consider when trading the Swiss Franc.
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The Libor Rate
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) is meeting quarterly to assess the state of the economy and the event is not much publicized. This central bank is not so popular like the ECB, BOJ or the Fed, and this is related to the fact that the meetings are not held so often. However, when the SNB has something to say, everyone listens. The current SNB President, Mr. Jordan, is an active member of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and his opinion is highly valued worldwide. The interest rate decision is called the Libor rate and represents the London interest rate for 3-month Swiss franc deposits. As it can be seen on the image below, this is negative, currently to -0.75%. History tells us that this level is more than six-month-old. Why is the SNB pursuing a negative interest rate on 3-mont Swiss franc deposits? The answer is because it is trying to curb the flows into the Swiss currency. The CHF is bought when market participants or other people all over the world are looking for safety for their funds. A negative interest rate for CHF deposits implies that people are paying money to the banks for the privilege of depositing money with them. This is an absurd concept in most of the world, but these days it is a common practice in many central banks jurisdictions.
The SNB Monetary Policy Assessment
This is the primary tool used to communicate the monetary policy and it is a press conference. Like the Libor decision, it is scheduled quarterly and contains decisions on interest rates as well as commentary about the economic conditions that influence the SNB optic.
CPI – Inflation
Inflation plays its role in the SNB decision-making process. Higher inflation is treated with higher rates, while lower inflation with lower rates. In Switzerland, though, the SNB is more flexible with inflation. The rise or fall in inflation is not being watched that strict like it is in the other parts of the world. The SNB can let the inflation overshoot a bit over two percent if this would curb the flows in the CHF. Moreover, the SNB is constantly intervening in the Forex market to control the value of the CHF. Last years saw many events that were considered a risk, becoming reality. To give you just two examples from 2016, the Brexit vote and the U.S. Presidential election, both resulted in two outcomes that were considered risky. This means the SNB had to intervene because in these situations traders and investors are buying the CHF against everything to protect investments in front of the unknown. To tell the truth, the SNB is one of the most active, if not the most active central bank on the currency market. Because of its strong currency and with limited resources to change that, the Swiss economy is in an almost deflationary state. Lower oil prices made things even worse, and this is something the central bank is still fighting. Any other economic data, while important for the economy, it is not considered important for the Forex traders, therefore, it is discounted. If you trade the CHF, keep an eye on the SNB and you’ll be on the safe side of the market.
Recommended Further Readings
- Fundamental Analysis
– Explaining the Eurozone Economic Data - Fundamental Analysis
– Explaining the United Kingdom Economic Data - Fundamental Analysis
– Explaining the Canadian Economic Data - Fundamental Analysis
– Explaining the Australian Economic Data - Fundamental Analysis
– Explaining the Japanese Economic Data - Fundamental Analysis
– Explaining the New Zealand Economic Data
Other Educational Materials
- “The capital structure of Swiss companies: an empirical analysis using dynamic panel data.” Gaud, Philippe, Elion Jani, Martin Hoesli, and Andre Bender. European Financial Management 11, no. 1 (2005): 51-69.
- A composite indicator of a firm’s innovativeness. An empirical analysis based on survey data for Swiss manufacturing. Hollenstein, H., 1996. Research Policy, 25(4), pp.633-645.
