-
AFP
—
1/7
Black stock exchange Monday, also for investors in Switzerland.
—-
Keystone
—
2/7
The stock exchange experts at Raiffeisen are short: “The abundance and extent of bad news is currently too much for the stock exchange.”
—-
STEFAN BOHRER
—
3/7
How long can this crisis in the financial markets continue? “It depends on how quickly the national banks react,” says Christian Gattiker (51), head of equity research at Bank Julius Baer.
—-
Look graphic
—
7/7
The price of oil fell in the night to Monday.
—-
—-
It is one of the blackest trading days in years. The corona crash, as the fall of the course on this Monday is already known, caused investors massive losses. The Paris stock index CAC 40 drops 8.4 percent, the London FTSE 100 drops 7.7 percent, and the Milan stock exchange is even 11 percent lower.
–
There is also talk of “panicky sales” in Zurich. The leading Swiss index SMI falls massively, temporarily losing almost 700 points or 7 percent. There have been no such losses in five years when the minimum exchange rate was surprisingly lifted in early 2015. At the close of trading, the minus was 5.6 percent.
–
The biggest SMI losers: financial stocks. Credit Suisse is down 12.9 percent, UBS by 10.4 percent. The insurer Zurich lost 9.4 percent.
–
Even more blatant on the US stock exchange: Shortly after opening, trading was even interrupted for a while because so many wanted to get rid of their shares. “The fear of a global recession is currently deep in the neck of investors,” says one trader. “And the sharp fall in oil prices then finally panicked the markets,” adds another.
–
Black Monday with the oil
The biggest daily loss since the Gulf War in 1991 came from oil prices. The Brent variety crashed down almost 30 percent to $ 31 per barrel (159 liters). The reason: Saudi Arabia has started a price war with Russia. Duration: indefinite, maybe months.
–
The two major oil producing countries are fighting over market shares and production cuts. The fact is that the oil market is threatened by a massive oversupply in spring. At the same time, the Corona crisis triggered fears that an economic downturn would also mean that less crude oil would be used in industry. Price war and corona crisis – a toxic mixture.
–
Escape to the Franks
Security is required. The euro exchange rate fell to CHF 1,054 on Monday. That is the lowest level in around five years. The dollar weakened more sharply: The US currency plummeted to CHF 0.918. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) has to react.
–
The latest data show that the SNB is currently intervening significantly on the foreign exchange market and selling francs so that our currency does not become even stronger. It was like this last week. Proof of this: The average Swiss franc sight deposits at the SNB rose by another CHF 2.7 billion to CHF 598.5 billion, as the SNB announced on Monday.
–
Negative interest rate soon at 1 percent?
The development of sight deposits is considered a good indicator of the weakening of the Swiss franc’s Swiss franc. It buys foreign currencies and credits the corresponding franc amount to the banks in their SNB accounts. In the past six weeks, sight deposits have increased by a good eleven billion.
–
How long can this crisis in the financial markets continue? “It depends on how quickly the national banks react,” says Christian Gattiker (51), Head of Equity Research at Bank Julius Baer, to BLICK. The SNB is also still under pressure.
–
It has held negative interest rates at 0.75 percent since 2015. Will it lower the key SNB interest rate to minus 1 percent? The National Bank announced its interest rate decision on March 19. It is quite possible that the SNB will come with it earlier. Because the European Central Bank (ECB) will not officially make its rate decision until next Thursday. Does the ECB calm the markets?
—
Related
