USD/CHF registers four-day losing streak as coronavirus keeps risk-tone heavy

• USD/CHF holds onto losses amid fears of coronavirus outbreak.
• Soft coronavirus statistics from China fail to counter widespread disease data from the rest of the globe.
• China’s ability to meet phase-one deal terms seem to gain a little appreciation among traders.
• The US New Home Sales, Swiss ZEW Survey can offer intermediate moves.

USD/CHF flashes 0.03% loss while trading around 0.9760 during early Wednesday. In doing so, the quote declines for the fourth day in a row and the reason could be traced from the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

The Chinese disease is now present in the key European economies while also tightening its grip in the rest of Asia. The latest numbers suggest that the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Italy has increased to 323 whereas South Korea confirmed 169 new cases.

The figures from China are bucking the trend as the death toll keeps receding to 52 by the end of February 25 versus 71 a day ago.

That said, Reuters cited risks of coronavirus weighing on Asian economies while the AP News raised doubts about the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.

With this, the US 10-year treasury yields remain sluggish around 1.34% with NIKKEI -1.34% to 22,212 by the press time.

Amid all these updates, investors paid a little heed to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) headlines suggesting China’s will be able to fully match the phase-deal terms.

Looking forward, the Swiss ZEW Survey – Expectations for February, expected 13.6 versus 8.3, acts as the immediate catalysts on the economic calendar ahead of the US New Home Sales data for January. The US housing market indicator is likely to rise to 0.71M from 0.694M prior.

While the numbers from the economic calendar could offer intermediate moves, the broad direction is likely to be derived from coronavirus headlines that have so far favored the risk-off.

Technical Analysis

With the pair’s latest declines below a 21-day SMA level of 0.9763, USD/CHF prices can drop further towards 50-day SMA, near 0.9735 now. On the upside, 200-day SMA at 0.9852 acts as a strong resistance.