Machinery Exporters Watch a Firm Franc Into the Davos Week

SCHAFFHAUSEN - Export managers at machinery firms along the Rhine said the franc's firmness against the euro was again a margin problem in January. Swissmem has used the word manageable for rates near 0.94 euros to the franc. Manageable is not the same as comfortable.

The Swiss National Bank has kept the option of foreign-exchange intervention on the table. Companies do not budget for speeches. They budget for the print on the screen at 8 a.m.

Capital and currency in the same week

UBS lobbyists heading to Davos will talk about equity rules, not about small-cap exporters in Neuhausen. Both files live in the same finance ministry. The later SNB stability review will treat them as one system.