Weekly Report 27/2026

Swiss Stock Market Hits New All-Time High

It certainly doesn’t feel like euphoria—quite the opposite. Amid a period of global turbulence, the Swiss Market Index reached a new all-time high. The index, which launched at 1’500 points in June 1988, closed at 14’172 points last week. This corresponds to an annual return of 6.1% over the past 38 years—achieved in the rock-solid Swiss franc amid low inflation. Since the end of 2025, the SMI has risen by 6%, and there is still no end in sight to this trend.

The Swiss benchmark index has recently benefited from its defensive heavyweights—Novartis, Roche, and Nestlé. Often, when stocks on globally significant markets begin to slide, investors turn back to the conservative SMI. Technology and growth stocks in both the U.S. and Asia have recently come under pressure. While the SMI gained ground, the technology-heavy Nasdaq lost 3.3% last week.

Although Alphabet was added to the Dow Jones Index, its stock is trading only 8% higher than at the start of the year. Most recently, the stock lost 5%—not because of its financial results, but because key experts have left the company. John Jumper, a Nobel laureate and co-developer of Alphabet’s AI ecosystem, moved to Anthropic. A few days earlier, the co-head had moved to OpenAI. This reduced Alphabet’s value by tens of billions.

That says everything about the true competitive advantage of AI. Chips, GPUs, and data centers can be bought, but exceptional AI researchers cannot. AI is no longer just a race for infrastructure; it is a battle for talent. When it comes to the technology that is currently transforming the world the most, silicon is not the scarcest resource. It is the people who know how to turn it into groundbreaking achievements.

As expected, consumer sentiment improved in both Europe and North America, driven by the peace plans in the Middle East. In particular, inflation concerns eased due to lower energy prices. Economic expectations brightened slightly, although the rapid adoption of AI is causing staffing setbacks in the tech and financial sectors.

At the major Spanish bank Santander, up to 3’000 employees are expected to participate in a voluntary early retirement program. Banks across Europe are adapting their structures to the increasing use of AI. The technology is intended to make processes more efficient and reduce staffing needs. UBS currently has 500 AI applications in use and is in the process of introducing another 700 to maintain its competitiveness. But this affects even small Raiffeisen banks in central Switzerland: The bank in Freiamt, for example, is halving its branch network from four to two locations.

The ifo Business Climate Index, Germany’s most important economic barometer, rose for the second consecutive time. Signs of easing tensions are also evident in the fact that the Strait of Hormuz has recently been traversed by 20 to 30 ships per day.