Caught our eye - week 11

This week, the Swiss music scene shows its dynamic side: Geneva-based rapper Nathalie Froehlich (pictured) is currently electrifying the club scene from Lausanne to Zurich with her «Release Tour» and raw energy. Her unpolished performance embodies the vitality of a scene that seeks direct contact and physical presence.

A contrasting breakthrough is marked by the selection of Thun singer Veronica Fusaro as Switzerland's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2026, which will take place in May in Vienna. On Wednesday, her song "Alice" was officially presented – a powerful rock ballad addressing the theme of violence against women. With this, Switzerland is sending a message with strong content to the big stage in Vienna.

Historically, March is a fateful month for the Swiss financial market. A look into the archives takes us to March 12, 2003, when the SMI hit its lowest point of 3,675 points at the height of the dotcom crisis. It was the moment of greatest uncertainty following the burst of the internet bubble.

However, the history of stock market crashes is also a story of technological and structural reorientation. Whether during the first «Black Friday» in 1869, the 1929 crash, or the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 – each collapse triggered shockwaves that permanently shaped the financial system. The «Black Monday» of 1987, when the Swiss market experienced a massive crash, also tested investors' resilience. Legendary is the «Dance of the Vampires» from 1996 (pictured), when traders in Zurich celebrated the end of open outcry trading by dancing on the tables. It marked the farewell to physical presence and the shift to digital trading on screens – a change that could hardly have been more jubilant, even in the best of economic times.

This structural courage continued: The year 2000 marked the beginning of a new era of investing with the introduction of the first ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) on the Swiss stock exchange. In March 2001, the launch of the first products on the SMI laid the foundation for the modern passive investment market.

While today, US tariffs and trade conflicts again create uncertainty, a look at the past shows that crises often provide fertile ground for technological disruptions and, thus, structural progress.

More historical Topics

With 61.9 percent of votes against, the Swiss electorate rejected the «200 Francs are Enough!» initiative on March 8, 2026. Immediately after the vote, the discussion about the scope of public service media gained momentum once again.

The focus is now on the future distinction between the national broadcaster and private media providers, particularly in the areas of sports reporting and entertainment. While the Federal Council is already considering a moderate reduction of the fee at the regulatory level, industry associations are calling for a more precise definition of the core mandate. The media policy debate is thus shifting from the level of fees to the content design of public broadcasting.

Further Numbers

In the second week of the spring session, the Council of States initiated a U-turn in energy policy: By a vote of 27 to 13, the Small Chamber accepted a counterproposal to the «Blackout Initiative» and aims to lift the ban on the construction of nuclear power plants.

The political stance on nuclear energy contrasts sharply with the on-site reality: While debates are taking place in Bern about a nuclear future, our photographer Peter Klaunzer regularly documents the unstoppable decommissioning process at the Mühleberg Nuclear Power Plant. The decommissioning is expected to continue until 2034.