Swiss stock market gains from US interest rate cut

US Federal Reserve ensures gains on the Swiss stock market Keystone-SDA

The financial markets in Europe and the United States have reacted with price gains to the interest rate turnaround initiated by the US Federal Reserve. With a cut of 50 basis points, the US monetary authorities opted for the "big" option.

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According to market observers, the only time in the past 20 years that such a large cut had been made was during the global financial crisis and the coronavirus pandemic.

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This also gave the Swiss stock market a tailwind. However, gains in this country crumbled in the afternoon – the heavyweights and with them the defensive nature of the local market put the brakes on the Swiss Market Index (SMI).

The leading Swiss index gained 0.6% to 12,058 points. Other European indices such as the DAX in Frankfurt (+1.5%) and the FTSE100 in London (+0.9%) closed more strongly in positive territory. In the US, the Nasdaq technology index in particular advanced in early trading (+2.7%)

The Swiss franc weakened somewhat surprisingly in this new monetary policy environment. One US dollar cost 0.8482 francs and was thus above the 0.8456 francs of late Wednesday afternoon.

According to stock market analysts, speculation on a significant interest rate hike in the US had already increased in recent days. This had somewhat offset the “joy” over falling interest rates.

The Swiss currency has also weakened against the euro. The euro is currently trading at 0.9460 francs, compared to 0.9400 francs previously.

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

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