Swiss ADRs Gain Big As Swiss National Bank Surprises With Currency Revaluation

The Swiss National Bank surprised markets on Thursday and abandoned its fixed peg against the Euro. Moving ahead of an anticipated move by the European Central Bank to quantitatively ease, the SNB felt it could no longer enforce that line, sending the Franc 14 percent higher.

Equities on the SIX Swiss Exchange were down sharply. However, for Swiss ADRs trading in the U.S., this is causing large price jumps – the result of a sharply lower Franc.

The higher Franc is likely to make it more challenging for Swiss companies to do business internationally. That could ultimately mean lower long-term values.