Economics
SNB Records 15 Billion-Franc Loss After Stock Market Rout
- Foreign currency reserves fell to 729 billion francs in Dec.
- Swiss consumer prices rose just 0.7 percent last month
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The Swiss National Bank ran up a loss of 15 billion francs ($15.3 billion) in 2018 as the global stock market rout and a rallying franc took a toll.
Equities -- including U.S. bluechips like Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc. -- make up 20 percent of the SNB’s massive holdings of foreign currencies. U.S. and European stock benchmarks fell in 2018, while the franc gained against most of its G-10 peers, leading to a 16 billion-franc loss on that portfolio alone.