Switzerland's Trade Balance Holds Steady Despite Fading Export Demands

Switzerland’s trade surplus held steady at 1.44B in September, which crossed the wires stronger than the 1.20B estimate projected by economists. However, the breakdown of the report showed that exports slipped 8.2% after rising 6.4% in August, while imports fell 3.2% after rising 2.0% in the previous month. The data suggests that Switzerland will become increasingly dependent on the domestic economy for growth as export demands falter, which could lead the Swiss National Bank to lower the benchmark interest further over the coming months. Meanwhile, home values in Switzerland increased to 351.4 from 346.5 in the second quarter, which suggests that housing demands remains resilient despite the downturn in the credit market. Nevertheless, a separate report showed that the M3 money slipped to 1.1% from 2.5% in August as the SNB, along with central banks all over the globe, flooded the markets with U.S. dollars in order to restore liquidity to the credit market.