Chart of the week: Switzerland the safe haven

Investors rattled by the prospect of a global slowdown and a worsening trade war are heading for Switzerland; the local stockmarket index has just hit a new record.

The politically stable country compares favourably to the shaky eurozone and increasingly fraught global geopolitical backdrop, while the index also boasts more stable, dividend-paying multinationals such as Nestl and Roche than other markets, as Bloomberg points out.

It also bodes well that the Swiss franc, along with the Japanese yen, is deemed a safe haven when the global economy is slowing. Indeed, according to a study by JP Morgan, the franc was the best-performing currency during the last four US interest-rate cutting cycles.

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Michael Klein, The Conversation