The Swiss economy lost pace in the second quarter as private consumption couldn’t make up for slowing exports, replicating stagnation in the surrounding euro area. Swiss gross domestic product was unchanged in the three months through June from the previous quarter, when it expanded 0.5 percent, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs in Bern said in a statement today. That’s the weakest quarterly reading in two years and compares with a median estimate of 0.5 percent growth in a Bloomberg News survey of 16 economists. The Swiss National Bank’s three-year-old cap on the franc has helped the economy outperform that ... (full story)