🍷 Boring Wins

• 🇨🇭 Switzerland. Vaud's GDP growth is now expected to reach 1.8% in 2026 and 2027, compared with 1% and 1.5% respectively in the previous forecasts.
• 🇦🇲 Climate. The 17th biodiversity COP opens in Armenia with a behind-schedule objective to protect 30% of land and oceans by 2030, compared with only 18% and 12% today.
• 🇨🇭 Climate. An earthquake of magnitude 4.0 occurred near Linthal, in the canton of Glarus, followed by an aftershock ten minutes later. The authorities reported no damage.
• 🇨🇭 Innovation. The International Aeronautical Federation validates the world record of SolarStratos, whose solar and electric aircraft reached an altitude of 9,640 metres.
• 🇫🇷 Security. France's largest demonstrations in years have escalated into riots and looting, with nearly 1,200 arrests and significant damage across several cities.

Economy & Finance

• 🇩🇪 Inflation. German inflation accelerated to 3.3% year-on-year in September, compared with 2.9% in August, according to the European harmonised index.
• 🇺🇸 Growth. The Nobel Prize in Economics is awarded to Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford for their work on macroeconomics and economic fluctuations.
• 🇮🇳 Growth. India is expected to become the world's 4th largest economy in 2027 with a GDP of $4,520bn, ahead of the United Kingdom and Japan, according to IMF projections.
• 🌍 Growth. The IMF forecasts global growth close to 3% this year, supported by massive investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure despite the energy crisis.
• 🇨🇭 Jobs. The Swiss employment index from Adecco and University of Zurich reaches 131.5 points, up 0.8 point over both a quarter and a year, with manual and technical professions leading the way.
• 🇺🇸 Trade. Donald Trump suspends, in the name of national interest, new tariffs targeting Russian products and major buyers of Russian energy, two days before their implementation.
• 🇨🇳 Trade. China's trade surplus is approaching $1,000bn and could break its annual record, driven by a rise of more than one third in exports in September.
• 🇺🇸 Deficit. The US Treasury rejects the IMF's warning over United States debt, which exceeds $40,000bn, whilst the 10-year yield remains above 5%.
• 🌍 Deficit. The public deficit of advanced economies is expected to reach 5.2% of GDP this year, its highest level since 2021, warns the IMF.
• 🇫🇷 Industry. LVMH achieved €57.9bn in sales over nine months, but a sharper than expected decline in its fashion and leather goods division suggests that the luxury recovery remains uncertain.
• 🇨🇭 Raw materials. Switzerland has authorised the withdrawal of up to 30,000m³ of aviation fuel from its mandatory reserves to prevent a shortage at Zurich airport, from 15 October to 1 November 2026.
• 🇵🇹 Investment. Lufthansa wins partial privatisation of TAP Air Portugal with an offer of €1.025bn, 16% higher than that of Air France-KLM, for 44.9% of the capital.
• 🇩🇪 Pensions. German MPs have adopted a capital-funded pension scheme from age 6, with €10 paid monthly by the state into a stock market investment account until the age of majority.
• 🌍 Poverty. The number of people in acute poverty increased by 51M in 2025, to over 1.2B, a first since the creation of the UN index in 2010.

Switzerland

• 🇨🇭 Security. The St Gallen cantonal police are using drones to monitor speed on the Hulftegg pass road, between the Toggenburg and the Töss valley.
• 🇨🇭 Education. The number of primary school pupils is expected to peak in 2027 or 2028 before declining by 8% by 2035, due to falling birth rates.
• 🇨🇭 Real Estate. Siemens Switzerland will build its new headquarters in Zurich-Albisrieden, with delivery scheduled for mid-2031, following the sale of its current site to investor Procimmo.
• 🇨🇭 Real Estate. Prices for detached houses rose by 2% in the third quarter of 2026, whilst apartment prices increased by 1.7% over three months.
• 🇨🇭 Energy. The Swiss section of the Grand-Saint-Bernard tunnel will invest 2 million Swiss francs in a solar power plant with 1,000 panels, which will be commissioned between late 2026 and 2027.
• 🇨🇭 Energy. Copenhagen Atomics is settling in Zug, where the Danish firm wants to develop small thorium reactors and have its technology tested by the Paul Scherrer Institute.
• 🇨🇭 Mobility. Three autonomous vehicles from start-up iAMO have been put into service in the Zurich countryside to complement the public transport offering.
• 🇨🇭 Climate. The European Union's decision to classify the sika deer as an invasive species and intensify its hunting could push more of these Asian cervids towards the canton of Zurich.
• 🇨🇭 Science. ETH Zurich is opening an Earth observation laboratory in the canton of Lucerne to monitor landslides and crop evolution using satellite data, drones and sensors.
• 🇨🇭 Culture. The ceremony on 1 January 2027 in tribute to the victims of the Le Constellation bar fire will be held in Grône, and not in Crans-Montana, at the request of several families.
• 🇨🇭 Culture. A male gorilla, Xola, was born at Basel Zoo on 24 September, several months after his father Yeba fatally injured a newborn and a young male from the group.
• 🇨🇭 Sport. Switzerland's candidacy for the 2038 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games is progressing, following the green light from the competent commission of the Council of States.
• 🇨🇭 Appointment. After twelve years leading the Kléber-Méleau Theatre in Renens, stage director Omar Porras will step down from his position next June, three years before the end of his contract.

Elsewhere in the World

• 🇩🇪 Policy. The leadership of the Die Linke parliamentary group in Berlin is distancing itself from Vanessa Emde, who has been criticised for her statements on Israel, and has prohibited her from speaking publicly on behalf of the group.
• 🇸🇪 Policy. Despite her bloc's victory in the legislative elections, Magdalena Andersson renounces forming a government, owing to a lack of agreement between the left-wing and centre parties.
• 🇭🇪 Policy. In exile in Panama, Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado has taken the lead of a unified opposition around a project to restore democracy in Venezuela.
• 🇩🇪 Justice. A former Ukrainian officer is appearing in Hamburg, accused of having led the group responsible for the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in September 2022.
• 🇷🇺 Rights. Russia has arrested Japanese journalist Yuki Imai, from the daily newspaper Hokkaido Shimbun, accusing him of gathering information on its defence capabilities.
• 🇹🇷 Rights. Police took control of Halk TV, the main private opposition channel, and detained eleven employees as part of an investigation into corruption and money laundering.
• 🇮🇹 Security. Police dispersed groups vandalising shops and street furniture in central Milan with tear gas and water cannons, with over 200 people arrested.
• 🇬🇧 Security. The head of MI5 has warned of escalating Iranian and Russian threats to the United Kingdom, as more than 50 people have been arrested over the past year in cases linked to Tehran.
• 🌍 Diplomacy. More than 400 scientists from 34 countries, including Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio, are calling for the creation of an international body tasked with overseeing the safety of cutting-edge AI.
• 🇦🇿 Protests. Rallies and clashes break out in Azerbaijan following the ban on headscarves in schools, with several dozen arrests.
• 🇨🇦 Disasters. A major fire broke out at Wainwright military base in Alberta, resulting in several deaths and injuries according to Canada's Defence Minister.
• 🇧🇷 Climate. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell to 3,335 km² between August 2025 and July 2026, its lowest level since records began in 1988.
• 🇨🇺 Energy. Cuba is opening the exploitation of its oil and gas resources to domestic private companies in an attempt to alleviate its severe energy crisis.

• 🇨🇭 Transport. Stadler Rail is testing its narrow-gauge hydrogen train in Switzerland, a world first before its planned entry into service in Sardinia.
• 🇨🇭 Defense. Ruag and Lockheed Martin are strengthening their collaboration to assemble and test three F-35A fighter jets in Emmen, which will become one of four global sites authorised to do so from 2027.
• 🇨🇭 Stock Market. Partners Group Private Equity investors approved by 74.12% the conversion of their securities into realisable units, paving the way for the orderly liquidation of the fund listed in London.
• 🇨🇭 M&A. The European Commission approves the joint venture Peranel between Nestlé and American fund Platinum Equity in bottled water, valued at €4.9bn.
• 🇨🇭 Policy. Lindt & Sprüngli ends the tenure of its CEO Adalbert Lechner after 33 years with the group. His predecessor Dieter Weisskopf takes over leadership on an interim basis, until the appointment of a new chief executive expected in the second quarter of 2027.

SMI Index

📅 Data as of 2026-10-19 12:48

Forex CHF

📅 Data as of 2026-10-19 12:48