Volatility and uncertainty are growing after the measures on the Swiss franc
The 'bomb' dropped in the trading rooms of the Swiss central bank has claimed victims on the markets. Apart from the losses inflicted on many debtors in Swiss francs, such a strong and unexpected move has introduced uncertainty into the markets, and heightened the degree of volatility. The euro paid the price (1,163 against the dollar), which weakened in the prospect, confirmed by the Swiss move, that the ECB will soon launch a quantitative expansion operation extended to public securities. The massively revalued Swiss franc settled around parity with the euro (it was at 1,20 before the announcement).
The flight to safe-haven goods and currencies benefited gold, which is quoted at around 1260 $/ounce, and the yen, which strengthened around 116 against the dollar. In the equity field, the MSCI Asia Pacific regional index recorded -0,6% in the early afternoon in Japan, and the Nikkei, which suffered from the strong yen, lost almost 2%. The Shanghai stock exchange (+1,1%) went against the trend, starting to record the longest positive weekly series in the last eight years. WTI crude oil is at 46,7 $/b, and the differential with Brent (48,6) has widened again. Stock futures on Wall Street were negative (-0,6%).
