The ZEW-CS-Indicator of Economic Sentiment for Switzerland declines by 3.7 points, reaching the 52.5 mark in February. However, the indicator still continues to hover at a relatively high level. This is revealed by the current Financial Market Test Switzerland, carried out monthly by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) in cooperation with Credit Suisse (CS).
The assessment of the current economic situation in Switzerland paints a more pessimistic picture in February versus the previous month’s survey. In the wake of the strong surge in January, the corresponding indicator retreated by 8.6 points and is now hovering at the minus 35.7 level.
A growing share of 83.3 percent of the analysts (up 8.3 percentage points) expects short-term interest rates to hold steady at the current level. Meanwhile the balance for inflation expectations declined this month. Although 31 percent of the analysts (down 17 percentage points) still predict that inflation rates will continue to climb, 69 percent (up 20 percentage points) foresee an unchanged inflation outlook on a six-month horizon.
Sentiment among the financial market analysts toward the Swiss stock market has dampened slightly. 14.6 percent (up 4.2 percentage points) expect that the Swiss Market Index (SMI) will lose ground within the next six month.
Centre for European Economic Research