Zurich (awp) – Key economic news of the day:
MONETARY POLICY: The Swiss National Bank (SNB) raised its inflation forecast sharply amid soaring oil prices and the war in Ukraine. The issuing institution, on the other hand, temporized on the level of interest rates, keeping its expansionary monetary policy unchanged. The Swiss central bank now expects inflation of 2.1% this year, against only 1.0% at the last point in mid-December.
BANKS: The two major Swiss banks Credit Suisse and UBS have made progress in terms of stability in the face of possible financial crises, noted the policeman of the financial markets (Finma). The other national establishments of systemic importance, on the other hand, were reprimanded, their emergency plans being deemed “unexecutable”. “We are seeing further progress in the stabilization and liquidation planning of the institutions concerned,” said Rupert Schaefer, head of the stabilization and liquidation division at Finma.
ELECTROTECHNICAL: ABB is stalling on its decision on the future of the turbocharger business, which was renamed Accelleron last February. The Zurich electrical engineering giant, which is still aiming to outsource or sell this unit, will deliver the results of its reflections at the end of the 2nd quarter of 2022 and no longer before the end of the first part, as initially planned. “We still intend to divest from the turbocharger business – Accelleron – but we will not make the final decision in a rush,” ABB CEO Björn said at the annual general meeting. Rosengren.
BUILDING MATERIALS: The Paris Court of Appeal will deliver its decision on May 18 on the validity of the indictment for “complicity in crimes against humanity” of the French cement group Lafarge for its activities until 2014 in Syria, AFP learned from sources familiar with the matter. The hearing in the investigating chamber, chaired by judge Eric Halphen, lasted about three hours, in the presence of a large number of lawyers.
BANKS: Another costly legal case is looming for Credit Suisse. The number two Swiss bank, already mired in the debacle of the Archegos and Greensill funds, is on the way to losing a lawsuit brought in Bermuda against a local insurance subsidiary, Credit Suisse Life Bermuda. If necessary, a sum of more than 500 million dollars (462.25 million Swiss francs) would be at stake. this procedure, for which provisions have already been made.
INSURANCE: Last year Helvetia posted a net profit multiplied by almost two to 520 million Swiss francs, boosted by the contribution of Caser and by a juicy income from investments. The Spanish health insurer, taken over in mid-2020, contributed 72 million to the performance, when the return on investments and property income reached 1.83 billion. Business volume increased by 15.5% to 11.22 billion Swiss francs, driven by the non-life segment (+22.6% to 6.66 billion) and life deposits (+44.7% to 414.6 million). However, gross life premiums also climbed 3.9% to 4.15 billion.
PHARMA: Mail-order medicine specialist Zur Rose widened its net loss last year. Promotional spending weighed on profitability, while the introduction of e-prescribing in Germany is long overdue. It will take a little more patience than expected to see the company reach its operational break-even point. While sales, already published, recorded double-digit growth last year, the net loss widened to 225.7 million Swiss francs, against 135.6 million a year earlier.
AIR TRANSPORT: Chairman of the board of Flughafen Zürich, Andreas Schmid, will not stand for re-election at the 2023 general meeting. His designated successor, Josef Felder, will be proposed as vice-chairman at the shareholders’ meeting this month next. Andreas Schmid has chaired the Kloten tarmac operator since 2000, the statement said.
ENERGY: The German government has announced that it is giving itself the possibility of “suspending” the closure of certain coal-fired power stations to replace Russian gas, but is keeping the objective of phasing out this fossil energy in 2030. “The closure of coal-fired power plants may be suspended until further notice after review by the Federal Network Agency,” says an agreement signed between the parties of Olaf Scholz’s coalition.
CONFLICT: The stock market has partially resumed on the Moscow Stock Exchange after a month-long hiatus, a very controlled reopening after the imposition of unprecedented sanctions by the West for Russian intervention in Ukraine. During this partial resumption of quotations, with only around thirty shares available, the Moex index, denominated in rubles, gained 9.07% at 08:10 GMT, while the RTS index, denominated in dollars, lost 5.28 %.
CONSUMER GOODS: The American Paramount+, Paramount Global’s streaming service, has announced a long-term partnership with Gaumont, a French production company, known for recent hits like “Lupin” or “Narcos”, to produce series worldwide. This partnership was announced by Raffaele Annecchino, CEO of International Networks, Paramount studios and streaming services, during a speech at the Professional Forum of Series Mania, Europe’s largest series festival, in Lille.
INDUSTRY: Russian steel giant Severstal, whose main shareholder Alexei Mordashov has been sanctioned by the EU, is fighting to avoid what would be the first default by a major Russian company since the start of the intervention Russian in Ukraine. In a press release published on the London Stock Exchange website, the group specifies that a “test” payment sent on March 16 had not “reached the account of the issuer”, a Luxembourg group, indicating that “the payment was frozen” by the latter’s bank, Citibank.
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