Luckily, half our contracts are in CHF, so what we lose on the Euro contracts we hopefully make up (to some extent) on the CHF ones (though only somewhat due to cheaper prices for foreign content (ICs, etc), Swiss labor costs the same).

But, in some cases we do have to suffer losses to keep certain long-term customers.

On the other hand, it's good for my daughter who's going to the US for a couple weeks (for the third time this year, with her saved centesimi).

Tom

Nick Hayek should do everyone a favour and just go back to work instead of asking for intervention. Intervention in the currency markets never works in the long term. What it does do is add even more volatility to the currency market in question. The SNB would without a doubt lose. And whats worse is that it isnt even their money their losing - hence the line of thinking will be something like this -

Ueli : hey hans that buying up of euros and selling of CHF didnt work, what did we do wrong.
Hans : We didnt intervene enough, we need to buy more........sell more francs, and if that doesnt work, sell even more.

It always ends badly.

CHF is currently a safe haven currency in a pond of hopeless major currencies because of all the interventions the world over i.e. bailouts in the US/Europe and continuous loose monetary policies etc etc. Until the major economies stop printing, unfortunately the situation will only worsen (as the distortions only continue and get worse). I just hope the swiss arnt going to do something stupid like start printing themselves. Unfortunately the business council is already banging the drum.

I know a few PhDs/postdocs that got accepted for european scholarships which are paid in Euros. Sucks big time if you secured a prestigious one and you're rewarded with loosing a couple of thousand chuffs.

But think about the funding short fall for the projects that are funded by the EU! Think about the reluctance of the EU to fund projects in Switzerland due to the the strong franc.

Consumables and salaries were higher before...now were are they?

If you are paid in CHF, exactly where they were before (if not cheaper).

Tom

The EU won't be reluctant to fund projects in Switzerland because they pay out in Euros.

I'd imagine you'd have more experience in applying for project than I being a post doc (What do post docs actually do? )

But you put in for a budget. You ask for x amount on consumbales, y amount for salaries etc.

They pay out in Euros for these things so when you submit for the project you have to ask for even more Euros due to the strong Swiss franc.

Then projects which are ongoing aren't adjusted...a 4 year project which was budgeted for 4 year old exchange rates just now....1.60 francs to the Euro then...1.08 today

The CHF value is the same. But the amount of Euros required to achieve that CHF is higher. When submitted proposals this needs to be taken into account.

The best what we as ordinary people can do is to enjoy the situation and make use of it. Holidays in Euroland has never been so cheap.

We're keeping the PhDs busy!

I haven't been involved with many grant applications (was talking about personal scholarships in my previous post). But my previous boss mentioned that there are often fixed amounts of money for salaries and consumables. It might vary on the grant that one's applying for though.

It's actually not the Swiss Frank rising, its the Dollar and the Euro collapsing over the years. The Swiss Frank is known to be a very stable currency and that makes it even worse because in times of economic crisis people buy it to not lose too much money.

My dad works at the stocks market. He does not excpect the Euro or the Dollar to raise anytime soon. The dollar will stay low to devalue the federal dept and with the Euro... if some country just mumbles of being out of money soon it drops 0.1 percent. And if Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland or any other country has problems like Greece it will drop even below the 1 Frank mark like the U.S. dollar did.

well, maybe the Sfr appreciation game is over?
Just in from my ex-colleagues
Go euro, go!
(well, sort of...)
bouncing from 1.08 to 1.0945 vs the allmighty swissie

Paul

too little to impact CHF rates in a meaningful way. as expected, the inflationary spigots are being opened. it seems that having gone for the worst option (QE to buy Euros) they're now going for the 2nd worst option...

inflation

Euro going down! CHF is going higher than EURO.
Just checked the exchange rate on google,
1 CHF = 0.919 EUR

How much can the SNB do to stop investors from banking on the franc in times of crises?

This bugs me. Is there a risk of Swiss salaries and consumer product prices going down?

They cant do anything that affects the markets in the medium to longer term, they can only affect some short term outcomes i.e currency controls, rates etc. With currency controls, like the ones they are suggesting, all they do is hurt the people you least want it to hurt and also add even more volatility into the markets. Hence business becomes even more unsure of the future, a disaster if you are looking to grow, expand and take on more labour. But the SNB are under pressure from politicians and the business council to 'do something', because politicians always have to 'do something'. So they will, like lowering rates which they have just done. At the moment it has hardly even reversed yesterdays rally by much, let alone what it will do for whats happened in the last month.

Loose monetary policies were to blame for much of the crisis, and look at what they think is the solution

Just checked the 3 month LIBOR; does not seem to have changed!
Aiming for close to zero when it is currently only 0.175% is anyway not a big game changer

The CHF improved about 0.02 against the euro this morning but seems to have stabilised now at that level. Really to have a significant effect on the economy the SNB needs to move the CHF by 10 times that.

There is a reason why everybody wants the SNB to do something.
It's because any profits (well... 2011 = nada, so far) are divvied up between the Confederation and the Cantons.
And we're not talking pennies.
Just for Canton Ticino we're talking about a figure slightly in excess of Sfr 70m

But still - SNB intervention sort of capsized a speculative boat that was hysterically accumulating Sfr, lately just out of sheer desperation.
The latecomers to the game got burned, whilst the long-term eurosceptics who sold eons ago (e.g. 1.35 ....) are just seeing their profit slightly trimmed.

P.

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