Switzerland’s central bank affirmed its cap on the franc and vowed to defend it with unlimited currency interventions to protect the economy. The Swiss National Bank (SNBN), led by President Thomas Jordan, kept its cap on the franc at 1.20 per euro. It also left the band for its benchmark interest rate unchanged at zero percent to 0.25 percent, as forecast by all 21 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Citing the risk of deflation and a recession, the SNB set the ceiling in September 2011 after investors anxious about the region’s sovereign debt crisis pushed the franc, popular as a haven at times of turmoil, close ... (full story)