USD/CHF advances to 3-week highs, finds resistance ahead of 1.0100

• DXY jumps to 2019 highs on Thursday.
• ECB’s dovish shift triggers a heavy EUR/USD sell-off.
• Risk-off mood causes pair to limit its losses.

The USD/CHF pair broke out of its daily trading range in the early NA session and touched its highest level since mid-February at 1.0088 boosted by a broadly stronger USD before going into a consolidation phase in the last hour. As of writing, the pair is trading at 1.0078, adding 0.3% on a daily basis.

The European Central Bank at its March meeting decided to change its forward guidance on the timing of the next rate hike and said that rates were expected to stay at their current levels. Furthermore, President Draghi announced that the Governing Council cut its 2019 growth forecast to 1.1% from 1.7% seen in December. The shared currency came under heavy selling pressure on Draghi’s remarks and slumped to its lowest level since mid-November, boosting the demand for the greenback.  

Earlier in the session, the data from the U.S. revealed weekly jobless claims decreased by 3K to 223K in the week ending February 25 and the unit labour costs in the fourth quarter rose by 2% to surpass the market expectation of 1.6% to provide additional support to the buck. At the moment, the DXY is near its 2019 highs, adding 0.48% on the day at 97.35.

On the other hand, the ECB’s cautious tone weighed on the market sentiment and caused European stocks to post large daily losses, helping the CHF show some resilience as a safe-haven.

Technical levels to consider