- USD/CHF struggles to extend its rally on Thursday.
- US Dollar Index pares early gains, turns flat near 100.20.
- Markets expect weekly Initial Jobless Claims in US to increase by 3 million.
The USD/CHF pair closed the first three days of the week in the positive territory boosted by the broad-based USD strength and gained around 150 pips during that period. However, the subdued trading action ahead of the key macroeconomic data releases from the US caused the pair to go into a consolidation phase on Thursday. As of writing, the pair was up 0.12% on the day at 0.9760.
DXY sits comfortably above 100
The poor performance of major European currencies during the first half of the week helped the greenback find demand and allowed USD/CHF to gain traction. After touching its highest level in ten days at 100.27, the US Dollar Index (DXY) staged a technical correction and test the 100 psychological level. Nevertheless, the index pared its losses ahead of the weekly Initial Jobless Claims data and turned flat on the day near 100.20.
Previewing the Department of Labor’s weekly data, “initial unemployment claims are expected to be 3 million in the week of May 1 raising the total to over 33 million in seven weeks, noted FXStreet analyst Joseph Trevisani. “Continuing claims are projected to climb to 19.905 million from 17.992 million.”
Meanwhile, Wall Street’s main indexes look to open the day in the positive territory with US stock index futures gaining more than 1% on the day. If the market sentiment remains upbeat, the pair could look to close the fourth straight day higher even if the USD struggles to preserve its strength.
Technical levels to watch for
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