USD/CHF breaks above parity first time since May as Wall Street opens higher

• USD/CHF extends gains for the fourth day in a row.
• US Dollar Index fails to stretch higher after inflation data.
• Wall Street opens the day higher.

The USD/CHF pair gathered strength in the last hour and rose above the critical parity level for the first time in nearly 2-months. As of writing, the pair was trading at 1.0016, up 60 pips, or 0.6%, on the day.

The data from the United States on Wednesday showed that the annual inflation measured by the core-CPI rose to 2.3% in June from 2.2% in May to meet the market consensus. On a monthly basis, however, the CPI grew 0.1% in June following May’s 0.2% reading. The mixed data didn’t allow the buck to preserve its momentum and the US Dollar Index was last seen at 94.50, where it was virtually unchanged on a daily basis.

Despite the modest USD sell-off, increasing risk appetite weighed on the CHF, which is usually seen as a traditional safe-haven, in the session and provided an extra boost to the pair. Reflecting the positive sentiment, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were up 0.6% and 0.5% respectively.

There won’t be any other macroeconomic data releases from the United States in the remainder of the day and the risk perception could remain as the primary driver of the pair’s action.

Technical outlook

The RSI indicator on the daily chart continues to march north toward the 70 mark, suggesting that the pair could go higher before becoming technically overbought. On the upside, resistances align at 1.0055 (May 10 high/2018 high), 1.1000 (psychological level) and 1.0170 (Mar. 7, 2017, high). On the other hand, supports could be seen at 1.0000 (psychological level), 0.9920 (20-DMA) and 0.9860 (Jul. 9 low).