ZEW-CS Financial Market Test Switzerland - Economic Activity Expectations Recover from Swiss Franc Shock

In March 2015 the ZEW-CS Indicator has risen by 35.1 points to a reading of minus 37.9 points. Thus the economic outlook for the Swiss economy has partially brightened again after having severely deteriorated in February. To some extent this improvement may be attributed to the EUR/CHF exchange rate, which, contrary to worst fears, appears to have levelled off at around the 1.07 mark for the time being. The ZEW-CS Indicator reflects the expectations of the surveyed financial market experts regarding the economic development in Switzerland on a six-month time horizon. It is calculated monthly by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) Mannheim, in cooperation with Credit Suisse (CS), Zurich.

Another driver behind the brightening of Switzerland's economic outlook may be the improved economic expectations for the Eurozone, which picked up by 21.1 points in March to a balance of 62.8 points. The economic outlook for the Eurozone hasn't been thus upbeat since late 2013. Securities purchases by the European Central Bank and the continued low price of oil are likely bolstering expectations for the Eurozone.

Meanwhile, the assessment of the present state of economic activity in Switzerland has improved only marginally (+2.7 points) to a reading of minus 2.7 points. Uncertainty about the further development of the EUR/CHF exchange rate continues to run high in March as can be seen from analysts' similar voting shares for the three answering categories of this question.

Detailed Results

Detailed results are published in this month's edition of the "Financial Market Report Switzerland", which also includes the survey participants' assessment of developments in other countries:

For further information please contact

Zwetelina Iliewa, Phone +49 (0)621/1235-346, E-mail iliewa@zew.de