The Swiss franc fell against the euro on Monday after the Swiss National Bank warned there were downside risks to the economy from exports and retail trade. SNB Vice President Philipp Hildebrand was quoted at the weekend, as saying the central bank will reassess its 2 percent economic growth forecast in the next few weeks.
"The important economic growth indicators are robust, just as before," Hildebrand told Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag in an interview published on Sunday. "But there are cooling off tendencies in exports and retail trade. The risks, and above all the uncertainty, for our economic growth have undoubtedly increased," Hildebrand said.
The franc has retreated from a record high against the US currency of 1.0734 per dollar, hit last week after the Federal Reserve cut US interest rates by a hefty 50 basis points. The franc was at 1.0889 per dollar, almost unchanged from 1.0895 per dollar measured late on Friday in New York, having fallen to 1.0920 earlier on Monday.
The franc was at 1.6140 per euro, lower than Friday's late New York level of 1.6123 per euro. "We see limited room for higher CHF rates on fundamental grounds," UBS analyst Reto Huenerwadel said. "This holds particularly true, since we get the impression that SNB officials become ever more explicit about the downside risk to their Swiss growth outlook."