USD/CHF retakes 0.9800 handle, focus remains on FOMC minutes

• Improving risk sentiment dented CHF’s safe-haven demand and helped gain traction.
• A pickup in the US bond yields underpinned the USD demand and remained supportive.
• Wednesday’s key focus will remain on the important release of FOMC meeting minutes.

The USD/CHF pair climbed to fresh session tops in the last hour, with bulls making a fresh attempt to extend the momentum further beyond the 0.9800 round figure mark.
 
A combination of supporting factors helped the pair to regain positive traction on Wednesday – also marking its fourth day of an uptick in the previous five – and recover a major part of the overnight intraday pullback from two-week tops.

Risk-on mood remains supportive

With investors looking past the US President Donald Trump latest comments that he is still not ready to make a trade deal with China, the prevalent risk-on mood was seen weighing on the Swiss Franc’s perceived safe-haven status.
 
Improving risk sentiment was further reinforced by a goodish pickup in the US Treasury bond yields, which underpinned the US Dollar demand and further collaborated to the pair’s positive mood through the early European session on Wednesday.
 
It, however, remains to be seen if the pair is able to capitalize on the positive momentum or bulls opt to stay on the sidelines as the focus now shifts to Wednesday’s important release of the latest FOMC policy meeting minutes for some meaningful impetus.
 
This will be followed by speeches from influential central bankers at the key Jackson Hole Symposium – including the Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Friday – which will eventually play a key role in determining the pair’s next leg of a directional move.

Technical levels to watch