ZEW-CS Financial Market Test Switzerland - Economic Outlook Brightened Up

Economic expectations for Switzerland have improved by 12.4 points in December 2012, raising the ZEW-CS Indicator to minus 15.5 points. The ZEW-CS Indicator is calculated monthly by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in cooperation with Credit Suisse (CS). The indicator reflects the expectations of the surveyed financial market experts regarding the economic development in Switzerland on a six-month time horizon.

This pronounced improvement in December is a continuation of the Indicator’s recovery which began after its almost 40-point slump in June 2012. Economic expectations now exceed the annual average of minus 25.0 points. However, these figures are not a sign of great optimism. The number of experts anticipating an improvement of the economic situation has not increased. The majority of participants (71.1 per cent) rather expect the Swiss economic situation to remain unchanged over the next six months.

Financial analysts’ assessments of the current economic environment in Switzerland reach positive ground at 6.6 points. This means that the share of experts assessing the current situation as “good” is slightly greater than the share of pessimists. This is a clear improvement compared to December 2011, when the indicator noted at minus 20.0 points. The current value is also slightly above the yearly average of 2.7 points.

For further information please contact

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

Maxime Botteron (Credit Suisse), Telefon +41 44 3329061, E-mail maxime.botteron@credit-suisse.com