Rolling financial, economic and business news through the day, as Switzerland fails to grow in the second quarter of 2014
Switzerlands GDP misses forecasts with 0% growth
9.29am BST
The pound has dipped against the US dollar this morning after a poll showed the Yes to Independence camp gaining ground in the Scottish referendum battle.
Its not a big move -- sterling is down about 0.3% today. One pound is worth $1.6564, down from $1.66 last night before the poll was released.
A Scottish yes to independence poses far more questions (about the currency, the debt, the oil, the future) than it answers but my best guess is that a Yes would trigger a 3-5% fall by sterling as an initial reaction, compared to an equally unsophisticated guess that the UK leaving the EU sends sterling down 10-15%.
It is now unlikely that the gap is big enough for a no this time around to kick the issue into the long grass for ever. If, for example, the UK were to leave the EU after a referendum, Mr Salmond would leap back on the bandwagon and apply for an independent Scotland to remain in. And so on.
9.13am BST
The latest Spanish employment figures are also out this morning, and show a small rise in unemployment.
But the underlying picture does show signs of improvement within Spains chronically weak labour market.
8.35am BST
Economists are concerned by the evaporation of growth in the Swiss economy in the last quarter.
Maxime Botteron of Credit Suisse is worried that capital investment fell, saying:
For us its really below expectations. We expected a bit more growth. The trend in exports is not a big surprise. Trade data so far already pointed to a rather weak contribution of exports. What is a bit more surprising is the weak investment spending, especially in the construction sector.
The global economy isnt developing as wed expected,
We think the weakness will last into 2015. The pickup will come, but not as strongly as wed thought.
#brexit Stagnant Swiss economy sends warning msg to UK europhobes hailing CH as the model to follow after leaving EU
8.18am BST
Bloomberg pins the blame firmly on the weakness of the Eurozone, saying:
The Swiss economy lost pace in the second quarter with private consumption failing to make up for slowing exports as stagnating growth in the euro-area took its toll....
8.16am BST
These are the worst Swiss growth figures in two years, as our friends at fastFT flag up:
8.10am BST
The full Swiss GDP report is available on the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO)s website.
It shows that exports of jewellery made a notable positive contribution to growth. However, the countrys banking sector did not:
On the production side many sectors reported virtually no change in value added between the 1st and 2nd quarters.
Industry, energy and water supply made an overall small positive contribution to GDP growth, by contrast the value added in the financial sector and some public sector economic areas showed a stagnating to slightly falling trend.
8.02am BST
Todays GDP report shows that the Swiss economy has suffered a slowdown in export growth.
Exports rose by just 0.6% in April-June, down from robust growth of 2.3% in January-March.
7.49am BST
Heres Reuters first take on the unexpectedly weak Swiss GDP figures released this morning.
Switzerlands economy stalled in the second quarter, with output unchanged from the first, dragged down by weaker exports and falling construction spending, data showed on Tuesday.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a quarterly growth rate of 0.5%.
7.42am BST
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.
The breaking news this morning is that Switzerland has joined the ranks of European countries suffering a slowdown.
Another housebuilder with record results - North-focused Redrow's FY PBT up 91% to £132m. Help to Buy supported 35% of completions.
It will be a wide-ranging discussion . the bar has been raised. We have to bear in mind who the counterparties are. They are members of the International Monetary Fund, the (European) Commission, and the European Central Bank
You must understand their limits. They cannot speak politically.
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