Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Switzerland’s UBS bank reported second quarter net profits of CHF2.01 billion Tuesday 27 July, higher than forecast and widely seen as a sign of the bank’s recovering health. Earnings were CHF9.19b.
UBS was bailed out by the Swiss federal government in late 2008, at the start of the global economic crisis. It was given, along with the country’s other large bank, Credit Suisse, a good report by federal financial regulators Friday 25 July when they published Swiss bank stress test results. Client outflows, which began to increase in 2008, were at their lowest level, CHF5 billion, in nearly two years. Chairman Otto Gruebel, brought in to turn the bank around after its bailout, says he is confident the client outflows can be stopped this year.
Shares in the bank rose strongly, by more than 8 percent, on the news Tuesday morning.
Links to other sites: Financial Times, Reuters, UBS
Christie's unmounted flawless 62.3 carat diamond sold for CHF8.01 million (click on image to view larger)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Forget the girl’s best friend, diamonds that investors love are dazzling the jewelry world this week. Christie’s big November precious gems and jewelry sale in Geneva Wednesday 18 November ended on a high note, with the sale of a 62.3 carat diamond going for CHF8.01 million at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues.
Overall, the sale brought in CHF32.28m, another strong sign that the market has recovered, after Sotheby’s sold CHF37 million in jewels Monday. The buyer was Aleks Paul of Essex Global Trading in New York, a dealer who also walked off with two other lots of diamonds worth more than CHF5m.
And down the street at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel the Antiquorum sale of fine watches set a record price for watches sold in 2009: CHF5.12m for the Patek Philippe Yellow Gold Calibre 89, one of only four in the world, each unique.
