Swiss consumer confidence surges
Consumer confidence in the economic situation has leapt in the first quarter of 2010, according to the latest State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) survey.
The quarterly survey index – in which 1,100 households are asked to evaluate the economic situation and their own financial status – reached a level of +14 points in April, compared with -7 points in January.
It showed that in the coming months Swiss consumers are expecting the economy to improve further as well as a much lower increase in unemployment.
By contrast, expectations about their personal financial situation and their potential to make savings were largely unchanged since last quarter.
In sub-indices of the survey which are not used to calculate the overall index, job security clearly improved (-72 as compared with -107 in January) and inflation expectations for the coming 12 months were upgraded (+52 points in April versus +37 in January). But both indices are still clearly below their respective long-term averages.
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