Swiss Economic Outlook Continues to Improve Slightly
CH Indicator of Economic Sentiment
The ZEW-CS-Indicator for the economic sentiment in Switzerland has increased by 6.0 points to a reading of 17.5 points in May 2016. By this improvement, economic expectations have reached their highest assessment balance since October 2015. The economic situation of Switzerland currently stands at exactly zero points. 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 on a monthly basis by the Mannheim Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in cooperation with Credit Suisse (CS), Zurich.
As in April 2016, about two thirds of the surveyed analysts continue to expect no change regarding the Swiss economic outlook over a six-month time horizon in the current May survey. There is even greater consensus regarding the assessment of the current economic situation: 90 per cent of analysts consider the current economic situation in Switzerland to be "normal". Therefore, the general consensus amongst the experts regarding the Swiss economic environment appears to persist.
There is also a growing consensus among the analysts regarding stock market expectations for the Swiss main stock market index (SMI) as well as for the German stock market index (DAX). Although the balances of both indicators have remained nearly constant compared to the expectations in April, expert’s expectations have shifted towards more constant stock market levels. About 40 per cent of the experts predict constant stock market prices for each index respectively. The percentage of analysts expecting Swiss stocks to rise has dropped to its lowest level since the indicator was launched (40.6 per cent).
Detailed Results
More detailed results – including survey participants' assessment of developments in other countries – can be found in this month's edition of the "Switzerland Financial market report".
For more information please contact
Dr. Lena Jaroszek (ZEW), Phone +49 (0)621/1235-380, E-mail jaroszek@zew.de
Lukas Gehrig (Credit Suisse), Phone +41 44 333 52 07, E-mail lukas.gehrig@credit-suisse.com