Gold 
“The Swiss National Bank has set out to halt the franc’s relentless appreciation by pledging to buy unlimited amounts of foreign currency. After seeing the euro move close to one Swiss franc in August from 1.25 franc at the start of the year, the SNB has drawn a line in the sand at 1.20 franc. The euro zoomed 8.8% higher against the franc Tuesday, and the 1.20-franc level held. But this is a big gamble.
The Swiss central bank has been here before. At times of market stress, the franc becomes a magnet for safe-haven flows. But the appreciation of the currency threatens to hurt the economy. The SNB already intervened in 2009 and 2010, but in a limited way and when the euro was far stronger. That just piled up losses for the SNB as risk-averse investors flocked to the franc. Encouragingly, the SNB did succeed in the late 1970s in putting a floor under the Deutsche mark-franc rate, albeit at the cost of surging inflation.”
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