The pronounced growth momentum that continued to drive the business performance of the Swiss mechanical and electrical engineering indus-tries (MEM industries) at the beginning of 2014 gave way to stagnation in the third quarter of the year. New orders more or less hovered at their prior-year level, advancing 0.3 percent, while sales fell by 4.2 percent. At present, companies do not expect to see a rapid improvement in the business climate owing to the weak economic trend in the main European markets.
